Opening the black box: The adoption of innovations in the voluntary sector—The case of Indonesian civil society organisations

Despite the considerable attention paid to research into the adoption of technological innovations in the public and private sectors, little attention has been paid to such research in organisations within the voluntary or third sector. As a result, many things remain unknown: the patterns of uptake and adoption in the voluntary sector; the process of the transformation, both within the organisations and in the implementation of the innovation; and the implications of such uptake. This paper attempts to address these problems by focusing on civil society organisations (CSOs) as a subset of groups within the voluntary sector. At a theoretical level, this research is concerned with the diffusion of innovation and its effects on the practice of social movements in general, and of CSOs in particular. Using the experiences of CSOs in Indonesia, as a latecomer economy, these concerns are explored through the analysis of two related empirical issues: (i) the links between innovation and organisational performance and (ii) the construction of innovation diffusion and impacts in organisations that define those links.

► We examine the stages of Internet adoption in civil society organisations (CSOs) in Indonesia.
► Innovation adoption in CSOs is multifaceted and is all about institutionalisation.
► We find a different adoption trajectory to the one that theory suggests and that which is commonly understood.
► Innovation adoption in CSOs alters the coordination and management of most organisational works.
► Innovation adoption is central for CSOs in forming strategies to gain more pivotal positions in the social, economic and political landscape.