Exploring front-line employee contributions to service innovation

Purpose - This paper aims to study front-line employees' contribution to service innovation, when they contribute and how they are involved in service innovation. Design/methodology/approach - The paper draws on a multiple-case study on service innovation in four organizations with extensive front-line employee involvement. The main data collection methods are interviews and observations. Findings - The paper suggests that front-line employees contribute customer knowledge, product knowledge and practice knowledge during five phases of the service innovation process - project formation, idea generation, service design, testing and implementation - and that front-line employee involvement ranges from active to passive. Research limitations/implications - Statistical generalization of the results is needed. Practical implications - The paper reveals that early and active front-line employee involvement in the service innovation process creates conditions for a positive contribution to service innovation. Originality/value - The paper suggests that early and active knowledge contributions by front-line employees to the service innovation process are associated with the creation of attractive value propositions.