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1 – 10 of over 34000Qian Chen, Mats Magnusson and Jennie Björk
New opportunities to nurture good ideas for innovation arise as firms use web-based ideation platforms for collective idea generation and development. What influences creative…
Abstract
Purpose
New opportunities to nurture good ideas for innovation arise as firms use web-based ideation platforms for collective idea generation and development. What influences creative performance in firm-internal collective idea development is however not as well researched as idea generation and thus an important area of research is the feedback and commenting on ideas. More specifically, the purpose of this paper is to explore the role of feedback timeliness and knowledge overlap between feedback providers and ideas in collective firm-internal online idea development.
Design/methodology/approach
An empirical study has been performed, drawing on data collected from a Swedish multi-national company using a web-based system for collective firm-internal ideation. The investigation explicitly captures the effects on ideation performance played by idea development contributions, in terms of feedback timeliness and knowledge overlap between feedback providers and ideas.
Findings
The empirical results show that idea development is significantly influenced by feedback timeliness as well as by the knowledge overlap between feedback providers and ideas. Specifically, it is found that longer time to feedback and an increased knowledge overlap result in an increased likelihood of idea acceptance. However, beyond a certain point, the positive effects of a longer time to feedback and increased knowledge overlap decrease, resulting in curvilinear relationships with idea acceptance.
Research limitations/implications
The results do not only shed new light on theory about collective idea development, but also provides management implications for collective firm-internal ideation. As the data used in the study has been collected in one single firm, care should be taken in generalizing the results to other domains.
Practical implications
The results inform managers that it is not always better to involve more individuals in these emergent and distributed ideation systems, but that it might be beneficial to take measures to exercise some control in terms of when distributed and diverse employees can freely join in and out, especially considering the diversity of ideas, comments and creators.
Originality/value
The results from the empirical study reveal the effects of feedback timeliness and knowledge overlap on idea development. This provides us with new insights on the complex dynamics at place in collective firm-internal idea development and offers implications for how we can fruitfully manage this process.
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Aleksey Martynov and Dina Abdelzaher
This paper aims to evaluate the effect of knowledge overlap, search width and problem complexity on the quality of problem-solving in teams that use the majority rule to aggregate…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to evaluate the effect of knowledge overlap, search width and problem complexity on the quality of problem-solving in teams that use the majority rule to aggregate heterogeneous knowledge of the team members.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper uses agent-based simulations to model iterative problem-solving by teams. The simulation results are analyzed using linear regressions to show the interactions among the variables in the model.
Findings
We find that knowledge overlap, search width and problem complexity interact to jointly impact the optimal solution in the iterative problem-solving process of teams using majority rule decisions. Interestingly, we find that more complex problems require less knowledge overlap. Search width and knowledge overlap act as substitutes, weakening each other’s performance effects.
Research limitations/implications
The results suggest that team performance in iterative problem-solving depends on interactions among knowledge overlap, search width and problem complexity which need to be jointly examined to reflect realistic team dynamics.
Practical implications
The findings suggest that team formation and the choice of a search strategy should be aligned with problem complexity.
Originality/value
This paper contributes to the literature on problem-solving in teams. It is the first attempt to use agent-based simulations to model complex problem-solving in teams. The results have both theoretical and practical significance.
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Abigail Richard, Fred Ahrens and Benjamin George
This study aims to introduce a new prescriptive model to aid both managers and researchers in partner selection for innovation-orientated collaboration. This framework…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to introduce a new prescriptive model to aid both managers and researchers in partner selection for innovation-orientated collaboration. This framework demonstrates how prospective partner firms’ complementing bodies of knowledge and goal alignment interact to affect the success of a collaboration.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors use geometric modeling to represent the interrelationships among knowledge similarity/dissimilarity, goal congruence, knowledge complementarity (KC) and innovation in alliance formation. Using this model as a framework, the authors derive relationships among predictors of innovation success and determine how they affect the nature of partnerships under varying conditions of KC.
Findings
This research shows how innovation success is strongly determined by partner selection. Specifically, the authors examine the influence of KC and partner goals on three aspects of a potential research and development (R&D) alliance – the potential level of innovation outcome for the alliance, the boundaries of knowledge sharing and limitations arising from knowledge and goal incongruence and the nature of cooperation.
Originality/value
Although there is broad empirical support that innovation success is influenced by the similarity of R&D partners’ knowledge, further research is still needed to model the relationship more precisely between partner KC and goal alignment. The authors address this gap by developing a model that is both prescriptive and predictive of how innovation success can be achieved in the context of disparate but complementing knowledge and goal sets. The authors conclude with practical implications for practice and future research directions.
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Changlong Ma, Yuhui Ge and Heng Zhao
Although strategic scholars have made great effects to exploring the moderating roles of team interaction in explaining the effect of top management team (TMT) diversity, they…
Abstract
Purpose
Although strategic scholars have made great effects to exploring the moderating roles of team interaction in explaining the effect of top management team (TMT) diversity, they have adopted seemingly conflicting theoretical perspectives to explain how it works. Drawing on ideas from the threat rigidity theory, the authors integrated these perspectives by proposing a contingency model in which the relationships between TMT diversity and adaptive firm performance depend on the matching between the internal context (i.e. overlapping team tenure) and external context (i.e. severity of threat).
Design/methodology/approach
This study sampled 579 Chinese A-share listed companies that have been severely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, and multilevel linear regression analysis was used to test the hypothesis.
Findings
Results provided support for this hypothesis. Specifically, the interaction between TMT age/tenure diversity and overlapping team tenure is significant only when the severity of threat is high, while the interaction between TMT functional diversity and overlapping team tenure is significant only when the severity of threat is low.
Originality/value
The results of this study provide a comprehensive perspective to predict the performance impact of team diversity and contribute to diversity research and practice.
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The literature on interfirm networks devotes scant attention to the ways collaborating firms combine and integrate the knowledge they share and to the subsequent learning…
Abstract
Purpose
The literature on interfirm networks devotes scant attention to the ways collaborating firms combine and integrate the knowledge they share and to the subsequent learning outcomes. This study aims to investigate how motorsport companies use network ties to share and recombine knowledge and the learning that occurs both at the organizational and dyadic network levels.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper adopts a qualitative and inductive approach with the aim of developing theory from an in‐depth examination of the dyadic ties between motorsport companies and the way they share and recombine knowledge.
Findings
The research shows that motorsport companies having substantial competences at managing knowledge flows do so by getting advantage of bridging ties. While bridging ties allow motorsport companies to reach distant and diverse sources of knowledge, their strengthening and the formation of relational capital facilitate the mediation and overlapping of that knowledge.
Research limitations/implications
The analysis rests on a qualitative account in a single industry and does not take into account different types of inter‐firm networks (e.g. alliances; constellations; consortia etc.) and governance structures. Cross‐industry analyses may provide a more fine‐grained picture of the practices used to recombine knowledge and the ideal composition of inter‐firm ties.
Practical implications
This study provides some interesting implications for scholars and managers concerned with the management of innovation activities at the interfirm level. From a managerial point of view, the recognition of the different roles played by network spanning connections is particularly salient and raises issues concerning the effective design and management of interfirm ties.
Originality/value
Although much of the literature emphasizes the role of bridging ties in connecting to diverse pools of knowledge, this paper goes one step further and investigates in more depth how firms gather and combine distant and heterogeneous sources of knowledge through the use of strengthened bridging ties and a micro‐context conducive to high quality relationships.
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C. Annique Un and Angeles Montoro‐Sanchez
The purpose of this paper is to integrate three streams of literature – organizational capabilities based in resource‐based view (RBV) and the team‐ and organization‐level…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to integrate three streams of literature – organizational capabilities based in resource‐based view (RBV) and the team‐ and organization‐level innovation – to provide a theoretical framework of how firms invest in developing innovative capabilities for entrepreneurship and change management.
Design/methodology/approach
This is a conceptual paper based on the RBV and the team‐ and organization‐level innovation literatures.
Findings
Linking the three bodies of literature, two main models for developing innovative capabilities are proposed: organization and project team models. The “organization model” requires firms to invest at the organization level to generate the supporting organization‐level processes, i.e. communication routines, independent of when they organize for innovation, and the “project team model” calls for just‐in‐time investment as needed in the process of innovation. The paper discusses other potential models and provides directions for future research on this important and timely topic.
Originality/value
The paper expands the RBV of the firm by providing a theoretical framework of how firms develop the capabilities to mobilize and create knowledge for innovation as an entrepreneurial activity and for managing the changes in organizations.
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Proximity – that is, the closeness of parties – has been increasingly emphasized in studies on innovation networks. The idea of closeness has been discussed in relation to…
Abstract
Purpose
Proximity – that is, the closeness of parties – has been increasingly emphasized in studies on innovation networks. The idea of closeness has been discussed in relation to geographic proximity, and has also been referred to as knowledge overlaps and shared understandings between parties. In most of the studies dealing with proximity in relation to innovation networks, a static analysis is pursued. Such an analysis marks how the closeness or distance, often with the conclusion that parties should not be too close or too distant, is measured against innovation outcome at a specific point in time. However, innovation processes would include how parties increasingly converge in their knowledge and understanding, and how they may co-locate their businesses. The purpose of this paper is to discuss proximity in relation to multiple-party innovation processes and their development over time.
Design/methodology/approach
The empirical part of this paper consists of a single case study on an innovation community and its development process. The development of the innovation community over time, whether and how geographic, knowledge and cognitive proximity is affected, and the outcome in terms of number of innovations, their newness (incremental or radical innovation), and variety are discussed in the paper.
Findings
Findings indicate how geographic proximity leads to more knowledge overlaps, while it is not a prerequisite for it. Rather, it is in the commitment processes partly connected to cognitive proximity that knowledge increasingly converges, indifferent to the co-location of parties. The speed of such processes, however, is higher if parties co-locate. The commitment processes lead to an increased number of innovations, while these innovations become more and more similar. To avoid increased overlaps of knowledge and thereby maintain the production of a variety of innovations, interaction needs to occur through the introduction of new parties and the termination of previous interaction patterns. This, however, occurs at the cost of commitment, and the knowledge thereby becomes less developed and used in its capacities.
Originality/value
The paper contributes to previous research through discussing proximity in innovation networks in a processual manner. The link between various proximities and their effect on innovation outcome sheds light on how proximity, as discussed in various literature streams, often relates to similar issues that converge around the issue of commitment.
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Xuening Duan, Yu Chang, Wei Huang and Md Moynul Hasan
A shared cognitive schema is the fundamental source of tacit understanding within a team. This study aims to address how such a shared cognitive schema emerges and evolves in an…
Abstract
Purpose
A shared cognitive schema is the fundamental source of tacit understanding within a team. This study aims to address how such a shared cognitive schema emerges and evolves in an interdisciplinary research team.
Design/methodology/approach
This study uses an exploratory single case study to analyze the emergence and evolution of a shared cognitive schema in an interdisciplinary research team systematically. The authors spent more than two years collecting data from the IAM team via semistructured interviews, archival data and observation. Subsequently, a framework for the resulting mechanism model was developed by analyzing the data using a three-step process.
Findings
This study shows that as the interdisciplinary research team develops, the shared cognitive schema passes through three stages: overlapping cognitive schema, complementary cognitive schema and synergetic cognitive schema. The mechanisms of overlap, complement and synergy play important roles. The convergent roles of partner-based recruiting, knowledge categorization and following the existing institution facilitate the overlapping of knowledge structures. Complementary cognitive schema sharing is facilitated by interdisciplinary member selection, knowledge stock expansion and the effects of accomplished mentors. The synergetic behaviors of group voice, interactive cognition and adaptive learning facilitate synergetic cognitive schema sharing.
Originality/value
This study is the first to discuss the emergence and evolution of a shared cognitive schema at the microlevel of knowledge structure and belief structure. It offers a new theoretical perspective on the development rules of scientific research teams and provides practical enlightenment regarding the establishment and operation of interdisciplinary research teams.
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Karynne Turner, Mona Makhija and Cynthia Miree
The purpose of this paper is to empirically explore the relationship between individuals’ shared core knowledge within a firm and a collective understanding of management’s…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to empirically explore the relationship between individuals’ shared core knowledge within a firm and a collective understanding of management’s strategic priorities.
Design/methodology/approach
The study develops three sets of competing hypotheses to predict how three different aspects of individuals’ shared core knowledge – extent, diversity and interpretation – are related to their understanding of the organization’s strategic priorities. The hypotheses are tested using a cognitive mapping approach within the context of a manufacturing plant in the USA.
Findings
Organizational members with a lower proportion of shared core knowledge exhibit a greater appreciation of the firm’s strategic priorities. More diversity in this shared knowledge is associated with a greater appreciation of strategic priorities and when members agree on the relative importance of different types of knowledge, whether they actually share this knowledge, they have a better understanding of the firm’s strategic priorities.
Research limitations/implications
The study uses data from a single firm in one industry.
Originality/value
This research helps to highlight and empirically isolate different aspects of shared knowledge that influence individuals’ understanding of organizational priorities. It also demonstrates the varying importance of different aspects of shared knowledge (e.g. extent, diversity and interpretation in explaining individuals’ understanding of the firm’s strategic priorities.
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Robin Cowan and Nicolas Jonard
Network formation is often said to be driven by social capital considerations. A typical pattern observed in the empirical data on strategic alliances is that of small-world…
Abstract
Network formation is often said to be driven by social capital considerations. A typical pattern observed in the empirical data on strategic alliances is that of small-world networks: dense subgroups of firms interconnected by (few) clique-spanning ties. The typical argument is that there is social capital value both to being embedded in a dense cluster, and to bridging disconnected clusters. In this chapter we develop and analyze a simple model of joint innovation where we are able to reproduce these features, based solely on the assumption that successful partnering demands some intermediate amount of technological similarity between the partners.