New Publication from the Predecessor Project Audio-PSS

Kiel University is pleased to announce the publication of the research paper on innovation acceptance of frontline employees entitled “Employee acceptance of disruptive service innovations at the frontline: The role of collective sensemaking processes”. The study by Christopher Garrelfs, Carsten Schultz and Marie Lüngen was conducted as part of the associated BMBF project Audio-PSS. The study is based on the example of hearing acoustics. It analyses the effects of the degree of innovation and competitive threats from other market participants on the acceptance of radical service innovations among service employees. Incremental innovations, such as digital hearing aid support, were compared with radical innovations, such as AI-based hearing aid fitting. The results show that service employees have a preference for incremental innovations and that competitive threats do not cause any significant differences in innovation acceptance. The exchange of information within the working group and the entrepreneurial orientation of the organisation play a moderating role. The findings of the study contribute to a better understanding of the acceptance of service innovations and offer valuable implications for practice and research.

The study is freely available (Open Access) and can be found at: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/caim.12563.