Dual networking: how collaborators network in their quest for innovation
File(s)0001839219893691.pdf (2.12 MB)
Published version
Author(s)
ter Wal, Anne
Criscuolo, Paola
McEvily, Bill
Salter, Ammon
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
Organizations typically employ a division of labor between specialist creator roles and generalist business roles in a bid to orchestrate innovation. This paperseeksto determine the extent to which individuals dividing the work across roles canalso benefit from dividing their network.We argue that collaborating individuals benefit from connecting to the same groups but different individuals—an approach we label dual networking—rather than from a pure divide-and-conquer approach. To test this argument, weexploit a unique feature of a dual career-ladder setting in a large multinational where R&D managers and technologists partner up in their quest forinnovation. We propose—and find—thatcollaborators who engage in dual networkingattain an innovationperformance advantage over those who connect to distinctgroups. This advantage stems from the opportunity to engage in dual interpretation and dual influencing, leading to more effective elaboration and championing of innovative ideas. In demonstrating these effects, the paper advances understanding of how collaborators organize their networking activities to best achieve innovative outcomes.
Date Issued
2020-12-01
Date Acceptance
2019-10-21
Citation
Administrative Science Quarterly, 2020, 65 (4), pp.887-930
ISSN
0001-8392
Publisher
SAGE Publications (UK and US)
Start Page
887
End Page
930
Journal / Book Title
Administrative Science Quarterly
Volume
65
Issue
4
Copyright Statement
This paper is embargoed until publication.
© 2020 The Author(s). his article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) which permits non-commercial use, reproduction and distribution of the work without further permission provided the original work is attributed as specified on the SAGE and Open Access pages (https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/open-access-at-sage).
Sponsor
Economic & Social Research Council (ESRC)
European Research Council
Commission of the European Communities
Grant Number
ES/K001159/1
715280 N4I_CLUSTERS ERC-2016-STG
715280
Subjects
Social Sciences
Business
Management
Business & Economics
organizational innovation
social capital
social networks
research and development
division of labor
regular equivalence
collaboration
networking
KNOWLEDGE
CREATIVITY
PERFORMANCE
BROKERAGE
INFORMATION
SENSEMAKING
WORK
ORGANIZATIONS
EXTERNALITIES
CONSEQUENCES
Business & Management
1503 Business and Management
1505 Marketing
Publication Status
Published
Date Publish Online
2020-01-13