Abstract
While business and strategic design scholarship widely acknowledges the benefits of Human-Centered Design (HCD), limited research noted that implementing HCD may produce intricate challenges in real-world business contexts—especially in startups constrained by resource scarcity and limited time for trial and error. Drawing on institutional theory, we examine how HCD permeate into organizational culture, strategy making, and daily operations. Our case study develops a framework of “HCD Institutionalization Dilemma”. The framework encompasses four themes. First, overcommitment to HCD, where organizational members deeply adhere to HCD tenets. Second, operational predicament perception, where high investments fail to deliver tangible, actionable design outputs. Third, skillful predicament concealment, a counterintuitive practice where predicaments are deliberately veiled to preserve HCD’s positive reputation. Collectively, these practices reinforced organizational underperformance, characterized by perceived inefficient return on investment, biased decision-making, and resource misallocation. Our framework advances understanding of the intricate complexities of HCD integration in real-world business contexts.
Keywords
design management; human-centered design; strategic design; entrepreneurship; ethnographic case study
DOI
https://doi.org/10.21606/drs.2026.1761
Citation
Zhang, W., and Ma, J. (2026) Dilemmas of Institutionalizing Human-Centered Design in Startups, in Simeone, L., Gray, C. M., Verhoeven, A., de Götzen, A., Bakırlıoğlu, Y., Zohar, H., Stead, M., and Buwert, P. (eds.), DRS2026: Edinburgh, 8–12 June, Edinburgh, United Kingdom. https://doi.org/10.21606/drs.2026.1761
Creative Commons License
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Included in
Dilemmas of Institutionalizing Human-Centered Design in Startups
While business and strategic design scholarship widely acknowledges the benefits of Human-Centered Design (HCD), limited research noted that implementing HCD may produce intricate challenges in real-world business contexts—especially in startups constrained by resource scarcity and limited time for trial and error. Drawing on institutional theory, we examine how HCD permeate into organizational culture, strategy making, and daily operations. Our case study develops a framework of “HCD Institutionalization Dilemma”. The framework encompasses four themes. First, overcommitment to HCD, where organizational members deeply adhere to HCD tenets. Second, operational predicament perception, where high investments fail to deliver tangible, actionable design outputs. Third, skillful predicament concealment, a counterintuitive practice where predicaments are deliberately veiled to preserve HCD’s positive reputation. Collectively, these practices reinforced organizational underperformance, characterized by perceived inefficient return on investment, biased decision-making, and resource misallocation. Our framework advances understanding of the intricate complexities of HCD integration in real-world business contexts.