Purpose: We attempt to deepen the understanding of innovation management from the
attention and everyday life.
Design/methodology: Following a micro-sociological approach along with social
constructivism, qualitative and inductive methods are used. The methodological design
responds to the Grounded theory. Focusing on organizational units of innovation management,
the empirical sample consists of a central case study coupled with six satellite case studies. For
all cases, an in-depth review of corporate documentation is carried out. During 2016, an indepth
ethnography had been carried out in the case of a central study, including interviews with
each participant; at the end of the year, qualitative interviews were carried out in satellite study
cases.
Findings: The research results on an emerging theory establish a transverse movement
crisscrossing an organization, which in turn diffuses organizational attention as regards the
inputs of innovation, largely contributing to the fact that innovation management units’
experience multifocality, and that the agenda of their agents become volatile. In addition, the
micro-sociological positioning offers a new vision in managing innovation, regardless of linear
or schematic representations. Research limitations/implications: The empirical sample includes Spain-based organizations
from different sectors. The data structuration and the derived conclusions could vary according
to the chosen nation.
Practical implications: Far from abstractions, the paper offers results that enable
understanding on innovation management from a realistic perspective. The knowledge of
praxis allows a better understanding of innovation management carried out by these
organizational units, which are the main nodes of promotion, stimulation and execution of
innovation in modern organizations.
Social implications: From the micro-sociology perspective, our focus remains on the
importance of agents and the everyday life in the process of building an organization as a
collective representation.
Originality/value: The originality of the present study is in two sense: the conceptual
framework explores innovation management for the first time through attention; under the
methodological framework, we leave aside the hegemonic quantitative-structural approach, to
focus the study in the everyday life of Innovation Project Managers (the organizational agents),
who actually go on to implement innovation management. Thus, we elude the discursive
rhetoric of innovation to cling to the real praxis, that by which organizations will get results and
survive.
