Reviewing workplace innovation as a plea for a practical approach

Abstract

Workplace innovation (WPI) approaches share the ‘advancement’ of work as a commonality, that is, the notion of good jobs and its relation with good business performance. How WPI approaches contribute to the advancement of work is discussed in this ‘narrative review’ of the WPI literature, which intends to provide direction to future study and implementation of advanced work. A human‐centric theoretical position is chosen with regard to WPI, good work and well‐performing organisations. The heart of the review is investigating the roots of WPI and its historical development along the lines of four different research streams: sociology and organisation research, safety science and organisation research, economic strategy and human resources research, and psychology and behavioural research. These streams are evaluated from their contribution to advanced work, ‘good jobs’. In this review of WPI as a plea for a practical approach, we conclude how the streams connect to the conceptualisation of WPI and human‐centricity, discuss the implications for practice and some limitations, and make recommendations for future research.