Old Wines in New Bottles: Repurposing and Leveraging of Existing Resources for Crafting Novel Information System-Based Organizational Innovations

Abstract

In this research, we propose, define and empirically examine the idea of resource repurposing for innovation (RRI). Firms are increasingly introducing innovative products and services by repurposing their existing resources, products and services instead of trying to build something completely new from scratch. While these practices have become prevalent, they have remained overlooked by researchers. We introduce the construct of RRI by drawing on the related and relevant theories of architectural innovation, bricolage, exaptation and recombination. Further, we argue that our conceptualization of RRI is built on the basis of two important dimensions: the extent of resource modification, and the site of innovation manifestation. Therefore, RRI can be practiced in four different ways. We proposed a preliminary framework to study the RRI approach and its relevant dimensions and antecedents. Through a qualitative exploratory study, we interviewed 22 informants from 20 firms in North America that are active in a wide range of different industries. We performed content analysis by conducting an extensive coding process on the transcribed interviews. Our findings reinforced that RRI is a multidimensional construct with four different facets. Also, the patterns of RRI practices can be influenced by key organizational characteristics such as company size, technology, innovation and knowledge management, and employee training policies and activities. Further analysis of the emergent themes in the empirical data reinforced our preliminary assumptions that knowledge creation capabilities, resource digitalization, resource diversity and IT integration capabilities may influence different types of RRI practices. The constructs, findings and conjectures provided by this study may pave the way for future research on the novel construct RRI.