Although organizational innovation is one of the most widespread types of innovation and sources of improved business performance, much less attention has been focused in this area in comparison with technological innovations on product or process. One of the consequences of this (or perhaps it is one of the reasons for it) is the ambiguity surrounding the concept of organizational innovation and the lack of consensus in the literature as to its definition. The ambiguity and polysemy surrounding the term “organizational innovation” has two main consequences. First, it is difficult to compare results, namely on the determinants of organizational innovation... Second, it is difficult to determine whether results of empirical studies are transferable from one kind of innovation to another. The purpose of this article, then, is to clarify the concept of organizational innovation, to reposition it in among the various innovation typologies, and to highlight its distinguishing features. We do so by reviewing the main findings on organizational innovation and situating them within an overarching framework. This allows us to propose definitions of organizational innovation both as unit of analysis (or output) and as process, two angles from which the phenomenon of organizational innovation in companies can be analyzed. The proposed clarification of the term has implications for the design and management of organization innovation as well as for future research.
