| dc.description.abstract | The gambling industry is one of the oldest professions in our history, and from the start until now, the industry has changed. The industry has gone from being a land – based activity to an online based activity in recent years. Due to tremendous technological innovations, the number of problem gamblers has increased– resulting in the gambling industry being considered a stigmatized industry. This thesis aims to shed more light on how stigmatized businesses innovate their services and tries to fill some of the gaps in the existing literature. Furthermore, this thesis compares the gambling industry to the Video – on – Demand (VoD) industry, as they are both online service providers, offering fast entertainment, anywhere – anytime.
The thesis is a comparative case study and gathered qualitative data through interviews with five case companies, where one is licensed and four are unlicensed in Norway. Further, the theoretical framework chosen for this thesis is the new service development process cycle, since this model can be applied easily to both industries – to compare their innovation processes and how stigmatization is possibly affecting them. The VoD industry was chosen because innovation of services in that industry is very similar to that of the gambling industry, as they have both been highly impacted by technological advances.
The interviews were recorded and transcribed, and the results were subsequently evaluated to discover both similarities and differences which were further compared to the VoD industry. The data gathered shows characteristics of the innovation processes and to what extent the gambling industry is affected by stigmatization. The industry is highly concerned with responsible gambling, and preventing further gambling harm with high-risk services and products it is offering. Moreover, the findings show that in each development stage of a new service or feature, the industry is implementing responsible gambling.
The results in the thesis also show that differences exist in the innovation processes due to stigmatization. This includes the different stages and activities in the development process that further also impact the “enablers”, which are important in the development processes. Furthermore, the concept of core - stigma is impacting recruitment in the industry, and also organizational context i.e. the implementation of laws and regulation in different countries concerning how and where the gambling companies can operate. The VoD industry does not have any of these restrictions, and are neither concerned with having to be responsible in it’s way of innovating | |
