Structural social capital and innovation. Is knowledge transfer the missing link?

Purpose – This paper aims to address the gap that, to date, no systematic review has been carried out on the role that structural social capital (SC) plays for knowledge transfer and innovation at the interpersonal, inter-unit and inter-firm levels. Individuals and organisations are becoming increasingly involved in collaboration networks to share knowledge and generate innovation. SC theory has been adopted in several areas of study to explain how individuals, groups and organisations manage relationships to generate innovation. Design/methodology/approach – This review covers studies of SC in organisational behaviour, strategy and management over a period of 20 years. Findings – The literature review shows that knowledge types and knowledge transfer processes are the missing links in the relationship between structural SC and innovation. Moreover, the paper demonstrates that seemingly opposite configurations of SC are complementary to each other (structural holes vs dense networks; strong vs weak ties) ...

[1]  G. Ahuja.  Collaboration Networks, Structural Holes, and Innovation: A Longitudinal Study , 1998 .

[2]  Joel A. C. Baum,et al.  Better with Age? Tie Longevity and the Performance Implications of Bridging and Closure , 2012, Organ. Sci..

[3]  J. Coleman,et al.  Social Capital in the Creation of Human Capital , 1988, American Journal of Sociology.

[4]  D. Krackhardt,et al.  Activating Cross-Boundary Knowledge: The Role of Simmelian Ties in the Generation of Innovations , 2010 .

[5]  Julian Birkinshaw,et al.  Knowledge Flows Within Multinational Corporations: Explaining Subsidiary Isolation and Its Performance Implications , 2008, Organ. Sci..

[6]  B. Uzzi,et al.  Social Structure and Competition in Interfirm Networks: The Paradox of Embeddedness , 1997 .

[7]  Mario Benassi,et al.  The Dark Side of Social Capital , 1999 .

[8]  Albert A. Cannella,et al.  Social Capital and Knowledge Creation: Diminishing Returns of the Number and Strength of Exchange Relationships , 2004 .

[9]  Daniel Z. Levin,et al.  The Strength of Weak Ties You Can Trust: The Mediating Role of Trust in Effective Knowledge Transfer , 2004, Manag. Sci..

[10]  Wenpin Tsai.  Knowledge Transfer in Intraorganizational Networks: Effects of Network Position and Absorptive Capacity on Business Unit Innovation and Performance , 2001 .

[11]  I. Nonaka,et al.  The Knowledge Creating Company , 2008 .

[12]  Morten T. Hansen,et al.  How do multinational companies leverage technological competencies? Moving from single to interdependent explanations , 2004 .

[13]  Gabriel Szulanski.  Exploring internal stickiness: Impediments to the transfer of best practice within the firm , 1996 .

[14]  Morten T. Hansen,et al.  The Search-Transfer Problem: The Role of Weak Ties in Sharing Knowledge across Organization Subunits , 1999 .

[15]  S. Newell,et al.  The Benefits and Pitfalls of Social Capital: Empirical Evidence from Two Organizations in the United Kingdom† , 2004 .

[16]  Andrew C. Inkpen,et al.  Social Capital, Networks, and Knowledge Transfer , 2005 .

[17]  Peter J. Lane,et al.  Relative absorptive capacity and interorganizational learning , 1998 .

[18]  Peter Moran.  Structural vs. relational embeddedness: social capital and managerial performance , 2005 .

[19]  Srikanth Paruchuri,et al.  Intraorganizational Networks, Interorganizational Networks, and the Impact of Central Inventors: A Longitudinal Study of Pharmaceutical Firms , 2010, Organ. Sci..

[20]  Corey C. Phelps,et al.  Interfirm Collaboration Networks: The Impact of Large-Scale Network Structure on Firm Innovation , 2007, Manag. Sci..

[21]  J. Bae,et al.  Information loss, knowledge transfer cost and the value of social relations , 2008 .

[22]  Geoffrey G. Bell,et al.  Benefiting from network position: firm capabilities, structural holes, and performance , 2005 .

[23]  N. Sakkab,et al.  Connect and Develop : Inside Procter & Gamble's New Model for Innovation , 2006 .

[24]  Thomas H. Davenport,et al.  Book review:Working knowledge: How organizations manage what they know. Thomas H. Davenport and Laurence Prusak. Harvard Business School Press, 1998. $29.95US. ISBN 0‐87584‐655‐6 , 1998 .

[25]  K. Atuahene–Gima,et al.  Exploratory and Exploitative Learning in New Product Development: A Social Capital Perspective on New Technology Ventures in China , 2007 .

[26]  M. Tushman,et al.  The ambidextrous organization. , 2004, Harvard business review.

[27]  Rachelle C. Sampson.  R&D Alliances and Firm Performance: The Impact of Technological Diversity and Alliance Organization on Innovation , 2007 .

[28]  W. Powell,et al.  Networks, Propinquity, and Innovation in Knowledge-intensive Industries , 2009 .

[29]  Johann Füller,et al.  Virtual product experience and customer participation—A chance for customer-centred, really new products , 2007 .

[30]  Charles Williams.  Transfer in context: replication and adaptation in knowledge transfer relationships , 2007 .

[31]  Joel A. C. Baum,et al.  Don't go it alone: alliance network composition and startups' performance in Canadian biotechnology , 2000 .

[32]  Morten T. Hansen,et al.  KNOWLEDGE SHARING IN ORGANIZATIONS: MULTIPLE NETWORKS, MULTIPLE PHASES , 2005 .

[33]  Morten T. Hansen,et al.  Knowledge Networks: Explaining Effective Knowledge Sharing in Multiunit Companies , 2002 .

[34]  Bruce Robertson,et al.  The Social Network Ties of Group Leaders: Implications for Group Performance and Leader Reputation , 2006, Organ. Sci..

[35]  R. Grant,et al.  A Knowledge Accessing Theory of Strategic Alliances , 2004 .

[36]  A. Nerkar,et al.  Beyond local search: boundary‐spanning, exploration, and impact in the optical disk industry , 2001 .

[37]  J. March.  Exploration and exploitation in organizational learning , 1991, STUDI ORGANIZZATIVI.

[38]  Jasjit Singh,et al.  Collaborative Networks as Determinants of Knowledge Diffusion Patterns , 2005, Manag. Sci..

[39]  Jimmy C. Huang,et al.  Social Capital and Knowledge Integration in an ERP Project Team: The Importance of Bridging and Bonding , 2004 .

[40]  F. Xavier Molina-Morales,et al.  Too much love in the neighborhood can hurt: how an excess of intensity and trust in relationships may produce negative effects on firms , 2009 .

[41]  I. Nonaka,et al.  How Japanese Companies Create the Dynamics of Innovation , 1995 .

[42]  Michael H. Zack,et al.  Developing a Knowledge Strategy , 1999 .

[43]  B. Nooteboom,et al.  Density and strength of ties in innovation networks: an analysis of multimedia and biotechnology , 2005 .

[44]  J. Coleman.  Foundations of Social Theory , 1990 .

[45]  D. Krackhardt.  The strength of strong ties: The importance of Philos in organizations , 2003 .

[46]  K. Möller,et al.  Crossing East-West boundaries: Knowledge sharing in intercultural business networks , 2004 .

[47]  R. Katila,et al.  Where do resources come from? The role of idiosyncratic situations , 2004 .

[48]  I. Nonaka.  A Dynamic Theory of Organizational Knowledge Creation , 1994 .

[49]  W. Powell,et al.  Interorganizational Collaboration and the Locus of Innovation: Networks of Learning in Biotechnology. , 1996 .

[50]  Morten T. Hansen,et al.  What's your strategy for managing knowledge? , 1999, Harvard business review.

[51]  David Obstfeld.  Social Networks, the Tertius Iungens Orientation, and Involvement in Innovation , 2005 .

[52]  Martin Gargiulo,et al.  Trapped in Your Own Net? Network Cohesion, Structural Holes, and the Adaptation of Social Capital , 2000 .

[53]  K. Zhou,et al.  Relational mechanisms, formal contracts, and local knowledge acquisition by international subsidiaries , 2009 .

[54]  Morten T. Hansen,et al.  Different knowledge, different benefits: toward a productivity perspective on knowledge sharing in organizations , 2007 .

[55]  Jonathon N. Cummings.  Work Groups, Structural Diversity, and Knowledge Sharing in a Global Organization , 2004, Manag. Sci..

[56]  Raffaele Filieri,et al.  Investigating the role of social capital in innovation: sparse versus dense network , 2010, J. Knowl. Manag..

[57]  J. Spender.  Organizational knowledge, collective practice and Penrose rents , 1994 .

[58]  L. Argote,et al.  KNOWLEDGE TRANSFER: A BASIS FOR COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE IN FIRMS , 2000 .

[59]  Pablo Ruiz-Palomino,et al.  Knowledge acquisition's mediation of social capital-firm innovation , 2012, J. Knowl. Manag..

[60]  Wei-ping Wu.  Dimensions of Social Capital and Firm Competitiveness Improvement: The Mediating Role of Information Sharing , 2007 .

[61]  Ray Reagans,et al.  Network Structure and Knowledge Transfer: The Effects of Cohesion and Range , 2003 .

[62]  David Lazer,et al.  The Network Structure of Exploration and Exploitation , 2007 .

[63]  Gloria Cuevas Rodríguez,et al.  How social capital and knowledge affect innovation , 2011 .

[64]  Walter W. Powell,et al.  Knowledge Networks as Channels and Conduits: The Effects of Spillovers in the Boston Biotechnology Community , 2004, Organ. Sci..

[65]  Indre Maurer,et al.  The Value of Intra-organizational Social Capital: How it Fosters Knowledge Transfer, Innovation Performance, and Growth , 2011 .

[66]  R. Katz,et al.  Investigating the Not Invented Here (NIH) syndrome: A look at the performance, tenure, and communication patterns of 50 R & D Project Groups , 1982 .

[67]  M. Polanyi.  Chapter 7 – The Tacit Dimension , 1997 .

[68]  Andrew C. Inkpen,et al.  KNOWLEDGE, BARGAINING POWER, AND THE INSTABILITY OF INTERNATIONAL JOINT VENTURES , 1997 .

[69]  Simon Rodan,et al.  More than Network Structure: How Knowledge Heterogeneity Influences Managerial Performance and Innovativeness , 2004 .

[70]  G. Duysters,et al.  Competence and governance in strategic collaboration: The differential effect of network structure on the creation of core and non-core technology , 2012 .

[71]  A. Zaheer,et al.  Bridging ties: a source of firm heterogeneity in competitive capabilities , 1999 .

[72]  Niels G. Noorderhaven,et al.  Some Reservations About Social Capital , 1999 .

[73]  Regina C. McNally,et al.  Structural social capital evolution and knowledge transfer: Evidence from an Irish pharmaceutical network , 2014 .

[74]  J. Perry-Smith.  Social Yet Creative: The Role Of Social Relationships In Facilitating Individual Creativity , 2006 .

[75]  R. Burt.  Toward a structural theory of action , 1982 .

[76]  Marjorie A. Lyles,et al.  Absorptive capacity, learning, and performance in international joint ventures , 2001 .

[77]  R. Burt.  Structural Holes and Good Ideas1 , 2004, American Journal of Sociology.

[78]  Dean M. Behrens,et al.  Redundant governance structures: an analysis of structural and relational embeddedness in the steel and semiconductor industries , 2000 .

[79]  Alfred A. Marcus,et al.  EMBEDDED TIES AND THE ACQUISITION OF COMPETITIVE CAPABILITIES , 2005 .

[80]  R. Grant.  Toward a Knowledge-Based Theory of the Firm,” Strategic Management Journal (17), pp. , 1996 .

[81]  R. Garud,et al.  TRANSFORMATIVE CAPACITY: CONTINUAL STRUCTURING BY INTERTEMPORAL TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER , 1994 .

[82]  Indre Maurer,et al.  Dynamics of Social Capital and Their Performance Implications: Lessons from Biotechnology Start-ups , 2006 .

[83]  S. Ghoshal,et al.  Social Capital and Value Creation: The Role of Intrafirm Networks , 1998 .

[84]  P. Bourdieu.  Forms of Capital , 2002 .

[85]  G. Duysters,et al.  Networking as a Means to Strategy Change: The Case of Open Innovation in Mobile Telephony , 2007 .

[86]  Mark S. Granovetter.  The Strength of Weak Ties , 1973, American Journal of Sociology.

[87]  A. Tiwana.  Do bridging ties complement strong ties? An empirical examination of alliance ambidexterity , 2008 .

[88]  Christina Fang,et al.  Balancing Exploration and Exploitation through Structural Design: The Isolation of Subgroups and Organization Learning , 2008 .

[89]  Ray Reagans,et al.  Bridging the Knowledge Gap: The Influence of Strong Ties, Network Cohesion, and Network Range on the Transfer of Knowledge Between Organizational Units , 2012 .

[90]  B. Kogut,et al.  Knowledge of the Firm, Combinative Capabilities, and the Replication of Technology , 1992 .

[91]  Akbar Zaheer,et al.  Network Memory: The Influence of Past and Current Networks on Performance , 2004 .

[92]  A. Nerkar,et al.  The Impact of Global and Local Cohesion on Innovation in the Pharmaceutical Industry , 2012 .

[93]  H. Ibarra.  NETWORK CENTRALITY, POWER, AND INNOVATION INVOLVEMENT: DETERMINANTS OF TECHNICAL AND ADMINISTRATIVE ROLES , 1993 .

[94]  Daniel Z. Levin,et al.  Dormant Ties: The Value of Reconnecting , 2011, Organ. Sci..

[95]  J. Barney,et al.  Organizational Culture: Can It Be a Source of Sustained Competitive Advantage? , 1986 .

[96]  J. H. Dyer,et al.  Creating and managing a high‐performance knowledge‐sharing network: the Toyota case , 2000 .

[97]  Daniel A. Levinthal,et al.  ABSORPTIVE CAPACITY: A NEW PERSPECTIVE ON LEARNING AND INNOVATION , 1990 .

[98]  Ulf R. Andersson,et al.  The strategic impact of external networks: Subsidiary performance and competence development in the multinational corporation , 2002 .

[99]  Kim B. Clark,et al.  Architectural Innovation: The Reconfiguration of Existing Product Technologies and the Failure of , 1990 .

[100]  Brian Uzzi,et al.  Relational Embeddedness and Learning: The Case of Bank Loan Managers and Their Clients , 2003, Manag. Sci..

[101]  S. Ghoshal,et al.  Social Capital, Intellectual Capital, and the Organizational Advantage , 1998 .

[102]  Sigvald Harryson,et al.  Transformation Networks in Innovation Alliances the Development of Volvo C70 , 2008 .

[103]  Raffaele Filieri.  Consumer co‐creation and new product development: a case study in the food industry , 2013 .

[104]  B. Kogut,et al.  Interfirm cooperation and startup innovation in the biotechnology industry , 1994 .

[105]  Robert G. Cooper,et al.  Winning at new products : accelerating the process from idea to launch , 2001 .

[106]  Daniel J. Brass,et al.  Taking Stock of Networks and Organizations: A Multilevel Perspective , 2004 .

[107]  Atul Nerkar,et al.  Evolution of R&D Capabilities: The Role of Knowledge Networks Within a Firm , 2005, Manag. Sci..

[108]  John Seely Brown,et al.  Book Reviews : The Social Life of Information By John Seely Brown and Paul Duguid. Boston: Harvard Business School Press, 2000. 320 pages , 2000 .

[109]  C. Phelps.  A Longitudinal Study of the Influence of Alliance Network Structure and Composition on Firm Exploratory Innovation , 2009 .

[110]  Gang Peng,et al.  Interfirm networks, social capital, and knowledge flow , 2008, J. Knowl. Manag..

[111]  L. Fleming,et al.  Collaborative Brokerage, Generative Creativity, and Creative Success , 2007 .

[112]  Matthew Semadeni,et al.  Value of Strong Ties to Disconnected Others: Examining Knowledge Creation in Biomedicine , 2009, Organ. Sci..

[113]  Ken G. Smith,et al.  Existing Knowledge, Knowledge Creation Capability, and the Rate of New Product Introduction in High-Technology Firms , 2005 .

[114]  Wei Zheng,et al.  Social capital and knowledge transfer: A multi-level analysis , 2011 .

[115]  Andrew B. Hargadon,et al.  Technology brokering and innovation in a product development firm. , 1997 .

[116]  Antonio Capaldo.  Network Structure and Innovation: The Leveraging of a Dual Network as a Distinctive Relational Capability , 2006 .

[117]  B. Uzzi,et al.  Collaboration and Creativity: The Small World Problem1 , 2005, American Journal of Sociology.

[118]  Xu Jiang,et al.  Managerial Ties and Firm Innovation: Is Knowledge Creation a Missing Link?† , 2012 .

[119]  Florian A. A. Becker-Ritterspach,et al.  Enriching Absorptive Capacity Through Social Interaction , 2011 .

[120]  E. Autio,et al.  SOCIAL CAPITAL, KNOWLEDGE ACQUISITION, AND KNOWLEDGE EXPLOITATION IN YOUNG TECHNOLOGY-BASED FIRMS , 2001 .

[121]  P. Adler,et al.  Social Capital: Prospects for a New Concept , 2002 .

[122]  R. Burt.  The Network Structure Of Social Capital , 2000 .

[123]  José Emilio Navas-López,et al.  Radical innovation from relations-based knowledge: empirical evidence in Spanish technology-intensive firms , 2011, J. Knowl. Manag..