Innovation capacity and the role of information systems: a qualitative study

Today businesses are facing radical transformations through digitalization of services and products. Accordingly, their ability to innovate is increasingly linked to the capacity to innovate through information and communication technologies (ICTs). This article investigates the role of information systems (IS) as a key factor for innovation capacity. To this end, the article discusses an interpretive framework for understanding the degree of capacity of innovation through information systems (IS) reached by a given company and the contradictions that bound its evolution. An interpretive study is also presented, where the framework has been applied to seven French companies from various industries. Consistently with the framework, the interviews address process areas and practices related to three core categories: management, innovation engineering and support. The study reveals seven fundamental contradictions that can explain the main tendencies observed across the companies.