Managing design innovation challenges in a digital environment

The post-pandemic transition pushes in-person design innovation to the digital environment, requiring a new approach that fosters team engagement and facilitates collaborative work. This paper discusses managing design innovation challenges in the ever-changing digital environment. Building on design innovation literature and a rich-data case study, it proposes a conceptual framework to help organizations effectively manage digital innovation challenges. The framework comprises three theory-based aggregated dimensions: digital empathy, resources and capabilities, and workflow. The paper provides practical insights and recommendations for managing the innovation challenge and how organizations can commit to and engage their teams, involving higher levels of collaboration, guidance, and empathy. Empirical study findings also shed light on what needs to be improved in online interaction. Despite all the advantages of digital technology, organizations should provide mechanisms to encourage more creative and spontaneous collaboration and cultivate proper digital empathy with all stakeholders. Digital empathy will be particularly relevant whenever there is a lack of human agency, such as developing new solutions with the support of artificial intelligence.