Title: Collaboration for continuous innovation: routines for knowledge integration in healthcare

Authors: Peter Markowski; Mandar Dabhilkar

Addresses: Stockholm Business School, Stockholm University, SE-106 91 Stockholm, Sweden ' Stockholm Business School, Stockholm University, SE-106 91 Stockholm, Sweden

Abstract: Routines allow organisations to perform basic functional activities and to continuously adapt through innovation. To understand how the search for new knowledge occurs, this paper explores how knowledge is integrated in search routines for innovation, and how search routines differ between contexts. Becker's (2005) general model, based on the notions of antecedents and routine characteristics, is adapted to develop a framework for analysing search routines for innovation. The framework is then applied in two case studies of healthcare clinics employing iterative and sequential modes of healthcare, respectively. The cases illustrate how the context affects the form of the search routine. The study demonstrates the viability of empirically investigating routines using a coherent framework, to understand how contextual factors affect routines at the operational level.

Keywords: search routines; knowledge integration; collaboration; healthcare operations; continuous innovation; iterative care; sequential care; collaborative innovation.

DOI: 10.1504/IJTM.2016.078569

International Journal of Technology Management, 2016 Vol.71 No.3/4, pp.212 - 231

Published online: 24 Aug 2016 *

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