Increasingly the services sector is seen as important to economic development. In recent years competition has increased within this sector, in particular, within the professional service sector. Consequently, as competition increases service firms need to provide value for clients and need to differentiate their service offerings from those of competitors. In other words, service firms must be innovative in order to attain and maintain profitable organisational performance. Innovation is seen as a core capability, and a key source of competitive advantage. Nonetheless, despite the importance of innovation to all organisations, prior research has focused on manufacturing and high-technology industries. While this has contributed to our understanding of innovation within these industries, the role and significance of innovation in service industries is less well understood. Importantly, our understanding of innovation within the professional service sector is underdeveloped. This research addresses this significant gap. The aim of the thesis is to create new knowledge by providing a clearer understanding of the organisational innovation capabilities and their effects on organisational performance within professional service firms (PSFs). Specifically, the research is designed to: (1) develop and validate an organisational innovation capabilities scale for PSFs; and (2) model the relationships between dimensions of organisational innovation capabilities and dimensions of organisational performance in PSFs. An integrated multi-methods research program was undertaken. First, a critical review of relevant literature was conducted to identify the key constructs and theories on organisational innovation. Second, Study 1 consisted of thirty-seven semi-structured in-depth interviews with professional service providers. The key objective of Study 1 was to determine the types of innovation capabilities specific to PSFs. Additionally, the interviews assisted in refining constructs for the conceptual model. Third, Study 2a involved the development of a multi-dimensional innovation capabilities scale for PSFs (n = 255) which was validated on a sample of professional executives (n = 208). Refinement of existing organisational performance measures was also carried out. Fourth, Study 2b tested the hypothesised relationships of the structural model, and provided insights into the firm characteristics that influence organisational innovation capabilities. The findings of this research highlight the importance of innovation within a professional service context. Specifically, this research found that the ability to innovate is viewed as a way to add value for clients, differentiate the firm and the firm’s services and products and to attain competitive advantage. Professional service innovation capabilities was found to be a multi-dimensional construct comprised of client-centred solutions, marketing strategy and technology innovation capabilities. The results support a positive and significant relationship between client-centred solutions innovation capability and customer performance, and in turn, firm performance. The results also support a positive and significant relationship between marketing strategy innovation capability and firm performance. Interestingly, no support was found for a relationship between technology innovation capability and firm performance. Further, PSFs in country and regional areas had a higher level of total innovation capability and technology innovation capability than their city counterparts. Small PSFs, where the total number of employees was approximately three, and whose main client-base were individual or corporate clients had a higher level of client-centred solutions innovation capability. Finally, the findings and frameworks developed in this thesis provide a basis for the development of a clearer understanding of the conceptual and empirical links between organisational innovation capabilities and performance outcomes within the professional service firm context, thus contributing to theory and practice.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ADTP/279142 |
| Creators | Suellen Hogan |
| Source Sets | Australiasian Digital Theses Program |
| Detected Language | English |
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