Stefania Testa | University of Genova (original) (raw)

Papers by Stefania Testa

Social Science Research Network, Dec 10, 2013

This article investigates a social media-enabled customer co-creation project at the front-end of... more This article investigates a social media-enabled customer co-creation project at the front-end of innovation (FEI) in a well-known, large-scale food manufacturer. It sheds light on the role of social media technology in transforming the characteristics of FEI in terms of boundaries and knowledge distance. What type of exploratory or exploitative innovation ideas does a project of this sort enable? How did the project evolve? What lessons can be learned from this project? A longitudinal case study of Barilla was carried out through two rounds of interviews with Marketing, Business Dev. & Innovation, and Digital Communication managers. The evidence gathered highlights the emergent evolution of this customer co-creation project from an initial stage of idea exploitation to a more complex and fruitful stage in which both exploitation and exploration were simultaneously accomplished.

The paper presents some selected findings from an ongoing national research project which aims to... more The paper presents some selected findings from an ongoing national research project which aims to investigate knowledge assets as performance driver and essential engine of value creation in Healthcare (HC) organisations. Especially, the article illustrates the current research activities and the related preliminary results. They focus on the role that knowledge and knowledge-assets can play to improve innovation in HC

European Journal of Innovation Management

PurposeThis paper aims at explaining variances in the contribution of Islamic crowdfunding platfo... more PurposeThis paper aims at explaining variances in the contribution of Islamic crowdfunding platforms (ICFPs) to sustainable development (SD), by adopting an institutional logic perspective (ILP). ICFPs represent a dual institutional overlap between two logics (the Western-mainstream and the Islamic logic) which have an impact on corporate social responsibility (CSR) interpretations, practices, and decisions and whose conflicts are mitigated by choosing different resolution strategies. The authors aim at showing that this choice affects SD differently.Design/methodology/approachThe authors develop a conceptual typology through the following steps: (1) choice of variables and identification of corresponding variable domains, through literature review. Variables chosen are the elemental CSR dimensions related to various social and environmental corporate responsibilities to whom diverse meaning and emphasis are given under the Western-mainstream and Islamic logics. (2) Identification o...

Technological Forecasting and Social Change

R&D Management Conference, 2018

Information & Management, 2019

This is a PDF file of an article that has undergone enhancements after acceptance, such as the ad... more This is a PDF file of an article that has undergone enhancements after acceptance, such as the addition of a cover page and metadata, and formatting for readability, but it is not yet the definitive version of record. This version will undergo additional copyediting, typesetting and review before it is published in its final form, but we are providing this version to give early visibility of the article. Please note that, during the production process, errors may be discovered which could affect the content, and all legal disclaimers that apply to the journal pertain.

International Journal of Production Research, 2016

The concept of collaborative networks has attracted considerable attention, especially in two kno... more The concept of collaborative networks has attracted considerable attention, especially in two knowledge domains: innovation and operation management. Although collaborative networks have evolved into many forms, their central role in triggering debates has not gone unnoticed. In this paper, we aim to contribute to these debates through a bibliometric review of a decade of research on collaborative networks (2002-2015). By using a combination of document co-citation and bibliographic coupling analyses, we unveil the origins and evolution of collaborative networks over time by analysing the references from the most important academic contributions. Our goal is threefold: first, to systematise the state of the art in the Input-Process-Output (IPO) framework; second, to elucidate the antecedents of the research field on collaborative networks (research streams originating from the field, main authors and journals) by organising them in six thematic clusters; and third, to show how the antecedents shaped the IPO framework. While 'collaborative networks' used to belong to two distinct domains, the research agendas seem to converge because of the interactions between their most active authors. As such, cross-fertilisation occurs with the International Journal of Production Research, which plays a central role in this process.

IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management

Business Strategy and the Environment, 2019

A common goal of current research seems to uncover whether crowdfunding (CF) could be considered ... more A common goal of current research seems to uncover whether crowdfunding (CF) could be considered an effective way to support sustainability-oriented initiatives in securing funding, due to diverging results emerging from literature. We claim that the objective of proving whether CF may benefit sustainability-oriented initiatives could be misplaced; rather, we deem more fruitful to understand how critical are some attributes of products/services pursued within CF campaigns to benefiting sustainability-oriented initiatives and increasing their odds of success in CF. We focus on food-related projects as in this sector, sustainability issues apply more than to any other human activities and construct a unique sample of food CF campaigns launched and ended in the European Economic Area countries on the world's most popular reward-based CF platform, that is, Kickstarter. We identify campaigns with a sustainability orientation and perform an in-depth qualitative analysis, which allows us to classify them into meaningful clusters and subclusters. Our research suggests that the emphasis on egoistic/self-centered product attributes, rather than on altruistic/society-centered attributes, is generally more crucial to facilitate CF support to sustainability-oriented projects. However, the emphasis on altruistic/society-centered attributes emerges to be more beneficial for initiatives specifically supporting local products. Our results also suggest that rewardbased CF is not suitable for sustainability-oriented projects targeting disadvantaged individuals/groups. These results offer both theoretical and empirical contributions to the literature as well as practical implications.

Industry and Innovation, 2018

The aim of this paper is to suggest a framework for studying firm innovation processes in a socia... more The aim of this paper is to suggest a framework for studying firm innovation processes in a social process perspective that integrates the micro, meso and macro levels of analysis, that is, the knowledge creation of individuals/communities, the knowledge coordination of organisations, and the spatial-institutional contextualisation of knowledge. For this purpose, we suggest using as a starting point the so-called Combinatorial Knowledge Bases approach, which allows merging concepts about micro practices and macro contexts in an effective way. The suggested framework pays attention to different phases in the entire innovation process, characterised by different (micro) learning modes, situated in varying (macro) contexts and delineated by organisational (meso-level) choices, therefore enabling an integrated approach to the studying of firm innovation. To illustrate the potentials of applying the framework we present a process-oriented in-depth empirical case study of an innovation, following it from idea generation to market introduction by means of an innovation biography method.

Trends in Food Science & Technology, 2018

Background: The capability of agro-food firms to innovate positively influences their profits and... more Background: The capability of agro-food firms to innovate positively influences their profits and growth. Accordingly, the literature has tried to comprehend innovation phenomena occurring within the agri-food industry which generates high levels of economic output and employment in the European Union. Nonetheless, innovation in the food industry is deeply affected by cultural heritage, habits, and institutional contexts. Europe's considerable cultural variation causes different innovations in different regions. The most evident disparities in food cultures and gastronomic approaches have been observed between Nordic and Southern European countries. Despite ample interest in comparing these two European areas, few studies in the food innovation literature have adopted a comparative approach. Scope and Approach: The authors aim to identify the main research streams that study food innovations in Nordic and Southern European countries, as well as the results provided by researchers. To achieve these objectives, we conducted a systematic literature review of 67 articles in the food innovation field.

Economic Geography, 2016

abstract The aims of this article are (1) to critically review the theoretical arguments and cont... more abstract The aims of this article are (1) to critically review the theoretical arguments and contribution of the knowledge base approach to economic geography and innovation studies, and the value added and limitations of applying it in empirical studies as reported about in the extant literatures; (2) to propose a new interpretation of the knowledge base approach by integrating it into a larger analytical framework for innovation studies that integrates individual, organizational, and contextual aspects, and to discuss the possible advances that come from using it in economic geography studies. The article dismisses the widespread taxonomical application of knowledge base conceptualizations for classification of firms, industries, and economies into fixed categories based on their dominant knowledge base characteristics. Rather it argues that the knowledge base characteristics vary not only between firms and industries but also over time and through innovation trajectories in firms and industries. The new interpretation implies that the knowledge base characteristics are defined not only by individual-level modes and rationales for knowledge creation and application and by their related spatial implications but also by managerial–organizational aspects with regard to coordination and exploitation of such knowledge dynamics. The integration of literatures from different disciplinary strands, now unified under the umbrella of a reinterpreted knowledge base approach, advances the explanatory value of the knowledge base approach in economic geography and innovation studies as well as related disciplines.