Dinâmica das interações na inovação em serviços centrada no usuário à luz da estratégia como prática

Abstract

Considering the understanding that innovation is a social practice and that users are important sources of innovation, this study aimed at analyzing the dynamics of interactions in the Userbased Innovation in Services in the light of Strategy as Practice. From the methodological point of view, the research was qualitative with an interpretative approach. Empirically, a single Case Study was developed in a Non-Governmental Organization that provides technical assistance to family agriculture and maintains, in its dynamic, systematic interactions involving multiple actors, including users. As data collection techniques, there were used interviews, participant observation and documentary analysis, whose data were analyzed through content analysis performed with the help of Nvivo software. The interviews were directed mainly to service users and providers and, in a complementary way, to institutional partners engaged in the dynamics of the service. As a result, the research showed that the user actively participates in all stages of the development of innovations, not only as an information provider, but also as a co-author, who experiences, reflects, develops and appropriates the innovations, in an articulated way, to other participants. This is made possible thanks to an experimentation methodology centered on the experiences and knowledge of the users, who act as protagonists of the innovation process. In addition, it was possible to identify the episodes of praxis that provide opportunities for interaction among the different members of a community that support the innovations, so that the empirical evidence revealed a set of practices and praxis directly influenced by the skills and experiences of the practitioners of strategy. These findings revealed how users innovate and that they can, in fact, be considered strategic practitioners because of their active engagement in mediating practices and praxis regarding innovation. Nevertheless, it was possible to understand that systematic interactions between multiple actors are platforms of value co-creation influenced by factors such as interaction content, frequency and diversity, orientation of the dialogue, restrictions on user participation and benefits. Such interactions represent propositions of value made by providers in which the user voluntarily engages. And finally, the research trajectory based on the articulation between User-based Innovation in Services, Strategy as Practice and Value Co-Creation made possible the elaboration of a reference structure that explains the dynamics of innovation that the user has as a central actor. This articulation allowed the expansion of the research agenda of the approaches, also providing the understanding of how users and other actors engage to integrate resources and competences regarding innovation. One of the main contributions is that important insights have been generated about how an organization can engage the user to facilitate value co-creation by promoting interaction experiences among multiple actors.