The purpose of this paper is to show the mechanism of aesthetic experiences of work in a research and innovation context – an R&D laboratory of a multinational communications and information technology company. Analysing memorable projects of this laboratory through the lenses of aesthetics is a useful way to understand organizational and innovation culture and the quality of life of researchers and innovators.
An exploratory study focusing on memorable projects of 31 researchers who worked on 70 projects during four years was conducted. The data analysis is based on the grounded theory.
The study reveals six key dimensions that describe the dimensions of R&D researchers’ aesthetic experiences: perceptive, emotional, intellectual, communicative, collective and organizational. These dimensions are closely related and support an innovation culture in an R&D environment.
The aesthetic dimensions have to be correlated to innovation performance indicators to better understand which aspects are the most relevant for innovation.
The paper proposes first examples of implications for the industry to foster an innovation culture through aesthetic experiences.
No study has been done on aesthetic experiences in an R&D environment.
