An Investigation into Risk Perception in the ICT Industry as a Core Component of Responsible Research and Innovation

Abstract

This paper makes an original contribution to the responsible research and innovation (RRI) discourse, with an inquiry into the extent to which risk, risk assessment, or risk management, including ethical and social issues, is relevant to companies. As a core component of the higher or "meta-responsibility" of RRI, an investigation of practices and attitudes towards risks can provide us with a window into companies' attitudes towards responsible innovation that is rooted in real-world experiences. Drawing upon data from 30 in-depth interviews and a large Delphi study, we reveal different underlying attitudes towards risk governance for individuals working in the information and communication technology (ICT) industry. For some companies, there is already an obvious degree of alignment with RRI values. For others, framing of the RRI discourse in terms of ethical and societal risks may help to promote understanding and uptake. Results from the interviews suggest that lack of awareness of the full extent of ethical and societal risks associated with research and innovation in the ICT industry may act as a barrier to engagement with RRI, and educational activities may be needed to rectify this situation. Results from the Delphi survey suggest that when presented with simple information about potential ethical and societal risks, industry personnel can easily recognise the main risks and provide clear opinions about how they should be addressed. The relationship between risk governance and RRI warrants further investigation as it is an essential facet of RRI.

Responsible Research and Innovation in Industry—Challenges, Insights and Perspectives

“…This Special Issue offers a variety of contributions, including a literature review that expounds on the current state-of-play of the discourse on RRI in industry, empirical work that provides new insights into the motivations and practices of firms as well as the drivers and barriers for RRI in industry, and conceptual papers that offer potentially fruitful new avenues of research in this emerging field. Many of these contributions build on established concepts from adjacent discourses, particularly CSR and innovation management, such as risk [43], organizational motives [44], eco-innovation [45] and maturity models [25]. In doing so, they expand the field of application of these concepts and make them useful for understanding RRI in industry.…”

“…Risk perceptions within industry are framed as a core component of RRI in the article by Chatfield et al [43], who focus on examining how ethical and societal risks of innovation in the ICT industry may influence the understanding and uptake of RRI. They investigate the extent to which risk, risk assessment, or risk management, including ethical and social issues, are relevant to companies based on data from 30 in-depth interviews and a two-phase Delphi study including 35 industry representatives.…”

Responsible innovation by social entrepreneurs: an exploratory study of values integration in innovations

“…Learning from de facto practices appears to be commonplace in the emerging field of responsible innovation, others learned for example from risk assessment practices (e.g. Chatfield et al 2017), Corporate Social Responsibility (e.g. Pavie, Scholten, and Carthy 2014) or social-and sustainable innovation (e.g.…”

Implementation of Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI) Practices in Industry: Providing the Right Incentives

“…RRI values that are embedded in the governance of a company might improve integration of the aims of the company personnel with those of the corporate policy [123]. However, it is the role of CEOs, senior executives and project managers to organize RRI internally to pursue responsible practices and behaviours when developing devices, products and services [122].…”