Digital Innovation: Definition and Research Frontiers

This chapter revisits our integrative definition of digital innovation in which we draw from long-standing ideas of the unique characteristics of digital technology and their implications for innovation. We define digital innovation as the co-creation of novel offerings through recombination of digital and/or physical components. Viewing digital innovation as an iterative, open-ended organizational activity, we argue that conventional assumptions of industrial innovation such as the producer–consumer divide, process–product distinction, and value creation are not very productive for thinking about digital innovation. Using these ideas, we review recent efforts on the research frontier to highlight emergent topics that will likely keep IS researchers occupied for several years. This chapter is intended as a starting point for anyone interested in digital innovation in IS research.