When Disruptive Innovation is not only about Companies - A Societal Perspective

Abstract

<p> Whenever disruptive innovations occur, they hold significant implications for the organisations involved. Consequently many studies have been carried out to investigate disruptive innovations from the (for-profit) organisations perspective with little focus on other affected actors. Without diminishing the importance of the organisational perspective, this paper presents an exploratory study on the impact and implications of disruptive innovations on three actors - Individuals, organisations and the society. The paper additionally outlines a classification of possible impact categories of a disruptive innovation in a wicked-empower framework. For theoretical and practical utility of the framework, the paper advances a sense-making model for assessing the potential impact of an emerging disruptive innovation from the three actors&#39; perspective.</p>