Interpretivist analyses of social networks of service innovation

This chapter discusses the potential of interpretivist approaches for social network analysis (SNA) to analyse service innovation processes. The benefits of interpretivist SNA approaches are discussed and it is argued that in service innovation studies they contribute an important complementary approach to more typical positivist, mathematical and computational approaches. The chapter illustrates how interpretivist-oriented SNA can identify, emphasize and explain the dynamic development of innovation networks and how this development is related to service innovation. It can identify and highlight the complex combinations of factors, including a variety of contextual factors that are important for the character and development of social networks as well as related service innovation processes.