Stakeholders’ Contribution towards Responsible Innovation in Information and Communication Technology Research Projects

Authors

  • Tilimbe Jiya Centre for Computing and Social Responsibility, De Montfort University, The Gateway, Leicester, United Kingdom

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.4067/S0718-27242019000300093

Keywords:

Responsibility, stakeholder engagement, stakeholder contribution, responsible innovation, ICT research projects

Abstract

Information and Communication Technology (ICT) research projects engage stakeholders who contribute towards different aspects of research and innovation. One of the aspects that stakeholders contribute towards in ICT research projects is responsibility. There is a need for those engaged in ICT research projects to take into consideration the impacts of their activities on society as part of responsible research and innovation (RRI) through finding solutions to emerging societal problems and developing sustainable processes of carrying out research and innovation. In this paper, the focus is two-fold. Firstly, I focus on understanding how stakeholders are identified to contribute towards responsibility in ICT research projects and secondly, I focus on how stakeholders contribute towards responsibility in such projects. I conducted an interpretive case study in which data were collected by semi-structured interviews with 11 stakeholders from two ICT research projects. Through thematic data analysis, their perceptions and understanding of their contribution towards responsibility were conceived. From the study findings, I established that there are problems in understanding the meaning of term ‘responsibility’ among stakeholders which later affects the identification of roles that deal with it. Despite the ambiguity of the meaning, I found that stakeholders contribute towards responsibility in many ways although there are barriers that affect their contribution.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

References

Auhagen, A. E., & Bierhoff, H. W. (2001). Responsibility: The Many Faces of a Social Phenomenon. Routledge.

Blok, V. (2014). Look who’s talking: responsible innovation, the paradox of dialogue and the voice of the other in communication and negotiation processes. Journal of Responsible Innovation, 1(2), 171–190. https://doi.org/10.1080/23299460.2014.924239

Blok, V., Hoffmans, L., & Wubben, E. F. M. (2015). Stakeholder engagement for responsible innovation in the private sector: critical issues and management practices. Journal on Chain and Network Science, 15(2), 147–164. https://doi.org/10.3920/JCNS2015.x003

Carney, S., Whitmarsh, L., Nicholson-Cole, S. A., & Shackley, S. (2009). A dynamic typology of stakeholder engagement within climate change research. Tyndall Center for Climate Change Research, Working Paper, 128. Retrieved from http://www.tyndall.ac.uk/sites/default/files/wp128.pdf

Durham, E., Baker, H., Smith, M., Moore, E., & Morgan, V. (2014). The BiodivERsA Stakeholder Engagement Handbook. Paris: BiodivERsA. Retrieved from http://www.biodiversa.org/698/download

Freeman, R. E. (2010). Strategic Management: A Stakeholder Approach. Cambridge University Press. Retrieved from https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=NpmA_qEiOpkC

Guston, D. H. (2011). Participating Despite Questions: Toward a More Confident Participatory Technology Assessment: Commentary on: “Questioning ‘Participation’: A Critical Appraisal of its Conceptualization in a Flemish Participatory Technology Assessment”. Science and Engineering Ethics, 17(4), 691–697. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11948-011-9314-y

Lenk, H., & Maring, M. (2001). Responsibility: The Many Faces of a Social Phenomenon. (A. E. Auhagen & H. W. Bierhoff, Eds.). Routledge.

Lozano, J. M. (2005). Towards the relational corporation: from managing stakeholder relationships to building stakeholder relationships (waiting for Copernicus). Corporate Governance: The International Journal of Business in Society, 5(2), 60–77. https://doi.org/10.1108/14720700510562668

Murphy, J., Parry, S., & Walls, J. (2016). The EPSRC’s Policy of Responsible Innovation from a Trading Zones Perspective. Minerva. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11024-016-9294-9

Nathan, G. (2015). Innovation process and ethics in technology: an approach to ethical (responsible) innovation governance. Journal on Chain and Network Science, 15(2), 119–134. https://doi.org/10.3920/JCNS2014.x018

Owen, R., Bessant, J. R., & Heintz, M. (Eds.). (2013a). Responsible innovation: managing the responsible emergence of science and innovation in society. Chichester, West Sussex: John Wiley & Sons Inc.

Owen, R., Bessant, J. R., & Heintz, M. (Eds.). (2013b). Responsible innovation: managing the responsible emergence of science and innovation in society. Chichester, West Sussex: John Wiley & Sons Inc.

Patton, M. Q. (2002). Qualitative research and evaluation methods (3rd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA.

Pellé, S., & Reber, B. (2015). Responsible innovation in the light of moral responsibility. Journal on Chain and Network Science, 15(2), 107–117. https://doi.org/10.3920/JCNS2014.x017

Reed, M. S., Graves, A., Dandy, N., Posthumus, H., Hubacek, K., Morris, J., … Stringer, L. C. (2009). Who’s in and why? A typology of stakeholder analysis methods for natural resource management. Journal of Environmental Management, 90(5), 1933–1949. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvman.2009.01.001

Röbken, H. (2013). Inside the “Knowledge Factory”: Organizational Change in Business Schools in Germany, Sweden and the USA. Deutscher Universitätsverlag. Retrieved from https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=cUMBCAAAQBAJ

Stahl, B. C. (2012). Responsible research and innovation in information systems. European Journal of Information Systems, 21(3), 207–211.

Stahl, B. C., Timmermans, J., & Flick, C. (2016). Ethics of Emerging Information and Communication Technologies: On the implementation of responsible research and innovation. Science and Public Policy, scw069. https://doi.org/10.1093/scipol/scw069

Sullins, J. (2012). Information Technology and Moral Values. Retrieved from http://stanford.library.usyd.edu.au/archives/fall2013/entries/it-moral-values/

Von Schomberg, R. (2013). A vision of Responsible Research and Innovation. In R. Owen, M. Heintz, & J. Bessant (Eds.), Responsible Innovation. London: John Wiley.

Downloads

Published

2019-10-30

How to Cite

Jiya, T. (2019). Stakeholders’ Contribution towards Responsible Innovation in Information and Communication Technology Research Projects. Journal of Technology Management & Innovation, 14(3), 93–102. https://doi.org/10.4067/S0718-27242019000300093

Issue

Section

Case Studies

Similar Articles

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 > >> 

You may also start an advanced similarity search for this article.