Call for papers: Special Issue on “User Experience and Agile Innovation: A Future of Servitisation”

Call for papers: Special Issue on “User Experience and Agile Innovation: A Future of Servitisation”

Assistant Prof. Christian Johansson Askling and Associate Prof. Andreas Larsson, Blekinge Institute of Technology, Sweden, together with Prof. Åsa Ericson and Dr. Johan Lugnet, Luleå University of Technology, Sweden, are guest editors for a special issue of the International Journal of Product Development.

The purpose of this special issue is to explore the ways in which an increasingly service-oriented business challenges product development in respect to user experience and agile innovation. Established companies’ products will face more challenges from unexpected actors because of the abundant opportunities digital service platforms offers to small and medium-sized companies. Research predicts a future of increased complexity and accelerated change in product development, e.g. from things to services and now to user experiences. Main barriers preventing companies from adjusting to the changing situation are inflexibility of mind-set and business-as-usual attitudes; overcoming these issues is essential for the design and development of disruptive and radically new solutions.

Innovation is not magic; it can be practiced and trained for. Following a methodology does not by default result in new solutions; therefore the innovator’s or entrepreneur’s spirit also have to be exercised. Clayton Christensen et al. (The Innovator’s DNA, 2011) suggest that associating, questioning, observing, experimenting and networking are the five basic skills. These skills are vital for advanced service development, while also being the skills that many leaders resist. Change and innovation leadership are of interest, but are not a new topic of research. However, leadership can be further discussed in respect to business models built upon digital service platforms and the related opportunities.

For this special issue, we welcome original research papers that discuss different empirical perspectives and problematise, describe and/or prescribe new methods, which contribute to the discussion of user experience and agile innovation to transform companies’ strategies so that they are more service orientation-based. We are open to innovative ideas that fit within the scope of the special issue.

Subject Coverage

Suitable topics include, but are not limited, to the following:

  • Innovation strategy, planning and emerging concepts
  • Agile perspectives – leadership, innovation, project management
  • User experience and interaction design
  • Design thinking – methods and techniques
  • Needfinding and user involvement
  • Participative methods for concept development
  • Differences in processes and methods of new product development and innovation work
  • Hybrid forms of user involvement in design and development
  • Radical, incremental, disruptive innovation – similarities and differences
  • Creative concept development and team work

Important Dates

  • Manuscripts due by: 1 December, 2018
  • Notification to authors: 15 February, 2019
  • Final versions due by: 15 April, 2019

Call for papers

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