Cultivating institutional imagination through service design: speculating on alternative logics in the Estonian mental health service ecosystem

Purpose This article aims to investigate how service design can aid actors in cultivating institutional imagination – their ability to speculate on alternative constellations of widely shared and entrenched logics in service ecosystems. Design/methodology/approach This study applies a research-through-design approach involving 25 generative interviews, 2 co-creation workshops with 23 system actors, and 2 reflection sessions with 25 system actors in the Estonian mental healthcare service ecosystem. Findings This research develops a process model for institutional imagination, which includes the core processes of: (1) unpacking current logic configurations; (2) fantasizing on desired logic reconfigurations and (3) identifying transformative logic movements. In addition, this research delineates fourteen transformative logic movements for shifting from current to desired logic constellations. Research limitations/implications This study contributes to efforts within service research to realize transformative aims in service ecosystems through three core contributions: (1) building actors’ capacity for doing institutional analysis; (2) delineating how actors can imagine institutional logics otherwise and (3) expanding the repertoire of logic movements. Practical implications Designers and other practitioners can use the process model, core processes and substeps outlined to guide actors through a structured, facilitated process of cultivating institutional imagination. The visualized repertoire of logic movements can act as a useful prompt for speculating around desired alternative institutional logics. Originality/value The processes of institutional imagination provide a critical missing bridge between building reflexivity and intentionally reforming institutional logics to transform service ecosystems.