Determinants of grassroots innovation : an empirical study in the Indian context

Grassroots innovation (GRI) holds significant potential to support the growth and development of national economies, particularly in emerging economies where majority of the people live under difficult economic conditions. The innovation potential of grassroots innovators can bring many advantages to an individual and community in the resource constrained environment. However, scarcity in the literature which examines the nature of grassroots innovation intensifies the need for knowledge creation in this yet unexplored domain. Specifically, lack of empirical work exploring the conceptual boundaries of GRI, further motivates this research to seek and understand the perception of grassroots innovators towards grassroots innovation. This study reviewed existing literature and collected data from grassroots innovators to delineate the domain of grassroots innovation. Three determinants of grassroots innovation, namely (i) new grassroots learning practices, (ii) local solutions and (iii) networking capabilities are identified and validated empirically in the Indian context. This study enriches the innovation literature by highlighting that grassroots innovation has the potential to translate innovation into entrepreneurial activity and steer the economic and non-economic benefits aspects of entrepreneurship development as distinct from the existing literature that emphasises mainly on economic benefits. The finding of this study has implications for entrepreneurship development and policy formulation.