Nudging Innovation Through the Physical Working Environment

Sammanfattning: This bachelor's thesis seeks to investigate how the physical working environments of Born Global firms affect innovation, and more specifically analyze which physical attributes in the working environment nudge towards innovation. Born Globals are characterized as young firms with the ambition to gain global presence near founding. Since Born Global firms are at the beginning of their development and have limited resources and capabilities, innovation is of particular importance. Through a qualitative and explanatory research design, this study examines how managers and employees of three Born Global firms experience their physical working environment, and if it has an effect on their creativity and innovation capabilities. A conceptual framework is constructed based on previous literature and then refined by adding the key findings from the collected data, to represent Born Global firms more accurately. The contribution of this thesis is threefold. Firstly, the findings confirm that previous research regarding designing an innovative working environment for MNEs and start-ups is applicable to Born Globals. Thus, the results show that the physical working environment of Born Global firms can nudge towards increased innovation and creativity. However, attributes that previous literature has not discussed, are also concluded to be of importance. Secondly, since Nudge Theory is rarely applied to corporate contexts, this thesis can provide decision-makers with practical examples of how an office environment can be designed to nudge innovation, and which physical attributes are most important in doing so. Thirdly, the refined conceptual framework presented may serve as a basis for future research within the area of innovative working environments for Born Globals.