Abstract:

Innovation has always been important for the survival and renewal of industry and business. Recently there has been increased interest in the ability of organisations to react and find new innovative solutions to unforeseen events such as pandemics or sudden changes in conditions and requirements. Many universities now offer courses or degrees in entrepreneurship, in managing change or even innovation but less is known about working adults, who have perhaps completed their education, but who need to remain innovative throughout their careers. In this paper we look more closely at how the ability to be innovative can be learned and developed at work. The study is based on a hybrid literature study, whereby we firstly search the main journals on innovation and assess how they define learning in relation to innovation. We then carry out a systematic review of peer-reviewed publications over a ten-year period on learning, innovation and learning to cope with the unforeseen. Out of 3000 abstracts, we systematically reduce this to 128 full-text studies on learning and innovation, which we analyse more closely. We discuss the findings in relation to various learning theories such as knowledge building, expansive learning and experience-based learning. We then summarise our findings and discuss how this theme can be further developed with future research. Preliminary findings suggest that the field of innovation research has considered various learning concepts, such as interactive learning, interdisciplinary learning, project-based learning and employee-driven learning and innovation and there are discussions on the need for a better understanding of the micro foundations of innovation. The systematic study suggests that organisations have less emphasis on education, but more on developing capabilities, such as the capability to visualise the future, the capability to be creative or flexible. We discuss how these capabilities might be viewed through a pedagogic lens and make some suggestions about how the gaps in our knowledge might be addressed.

Keywords:

Innovation, unforeseen, adult learning, workplace learning.