Innovation users’ view to implementing digital innovations in industrial operations

The implementation of digital innovations in industrial operations requires new capabilities from firms and their partners. Previous research has concentrated on firm and network-level investigations, whereas less attention has been directed at users adopting the innovation and using it at work. This study investigates the user-related enablers (and disablers) of implementing digital innovations in industrial operations, specifically in terms of behavior and competence-based agency of innovation users. The two-case study covers experiences of implementing a digital innovation in manufacturing and maintenance operations. The cases reveal four archetypal agency categories, bounded, knowledgeable, situated, and transformative agency, depending on whether users’ competences and behaviors restricted or amplified their agency. Innovation users are characterized as active agents that proactively influence the development pace and trajectory of the digital innovation. Distributed multi-actor agency in implementing the innovation calls for continued management, to make use of the positive outcomes of innovation users’ agency.