Idea Hubs as Nexus of Collective Creativity in Digital Innovation

Digital innovation radically transforms the nature of corporate innovation practices, implying a growing need for deeper understanding its origins and outcomes. In this paper, we conceptualize the focal points of social networking in digital innovation as idea hubs. We focus our analysis on instances of idea hubs in two multinational European software companies, where we conducted a case study over a two-year period, and collected data in form of interviews, digital documents, and participant observations. In doing so, we identify a set of social networking practices in which idea hubs serve as nexus of collective creativity and subject these to a critical dialectical examination. We discuss three influencing factors of idea hub choice, namely material infrastructure, innovation process phase, and personal characteristics. These explain why in a corporate environment, despite a variety of digital artifacts individuals can choose from, offline interaction still plays a major role in facilitating digital innovation.

[1]  Alan R. Dennis,et al.  Rethinking media richness: towards a theory of media synchronicity , 1999, Proceedings of the 32nd Annual Hawaii International Conference on Systems Sciences. 1999. HICSS-32. Abstracts and CD-ROM of Full Papers.

[2]  Satish Nambisan,et al.  Information Systems as a Reference Discipline for New Product Development , 2003, MIS Q..

[3]  C. Weston,et al.  Analyzing Interview Data: The Development and Evolution of a Coding System , 2001 .

[4]  David B. Pushkin.  Where Do Ideas for Students Come From , 1997 .

[5]  Kalle Lyytinen,et al.  Research Commentary - The New Organizing Logic of Digital Innovation: An Agenda for Information Systems Research , 2010, Inf. Syst. Res..

[6]  R. Stebbins.  Exploratory research in the social sciences , 2001 .

[7]  Jon-Arild Johannessen,et al.  Information Technology and Innovation: Identifying Critical Innovation Factors , 1994, Inf. Manag. Comput. Secur..

[8]  Vasant Dhar,et al.  Issues and Opinions - Information Technologies in Business: A Blueprint for Education and Research , 2007, Inf. Syst. Res..

[9]  John Short,et al.  The social psychology of telecommunications , 1976 .

[10]  Jochen Runde,et al.  Technological Objects, Social Positions, and the Transformational Model of Social Activity , 2013, MIS Q..

[11]  Allison W. McCulloch,et al.  Developing and Using a Codebook for the Analysis of Interview Data: An Example from a Professional Development Research Project , 2011 .

[12]  D. Yanow,et al.  Interpretation and Method : Empirical Research Methods and the Interpretive Turn , 2006 .

[13]  Beth A. Bechky,et al.  When Collections of Creatives Become Creative Collectives: A Field Study of Problem Solving at Work , 2006, Organ. Sci..

[14]  A. Bullinger,et al.  Integrating Inside and Outside Innovators: A Sociotechnical Systems Perspective , 2009 .

[15]  David Krackhardt,et al.  Being a Catalyst of Innovation: The Role of Knowledge Diversity and Network Closure , 2015, Organ. Sci..

[16]  R. G. Fichman,et al.  Digital Innovation as a Fundamental and Powerful Concept in the Information Systems Curriculum , 2014, MIS Q..

[17]  Ilkka Tuomi,et al.  Networks of Innovation , 2002 .

[18]  Ole Johan Andersen,et al.  A Bottom-Up Perspective on Innovations , 2008 .

[19]  M LeonardiPaul,et al.  When flexible routines meet flexible technologies , 2011 .

[20]  A. Edmondson.  Psychological Safety and Learning Behavior in Work Teams , 1999 .

[21]  John Bessant,et al.  Managing Innovation: Integrating Technological, Market, and Organizational Change, 2nd Edition , 2001 .

[22]  Geoff Walsham,et al.  Doing interpretive research , 2006, Eur. J. Inf. Syst..

[23]  R. Weber.  Basic Content Analysis , 1986 .

[24]  Eberhard Witte,et al.  Organisation für Innovationsentscheidungen : das Promotoren-Modell , 1973 .

[25]  Ann Majchrzak,et al.  Transcending Knowledge Differences in Cross-Functional Teams , 2012, Organ. Sci..

[26]  Alan R. Dennis,et al.  Media, Tasks, and Communication Processes: A Theory of Media Synchronicity , 2008, MIS Q..

[27]  L. A. Hill,et al.  Collective genius , 2015, IEEE Engineering Management Review.

[28]  Paul M. Leonardi,et al.  When Flexible Routines Meet Flexible Technologies: Affordance, Constraint, and the Imbrication of Human and Material Agencies , 2011, MIS Q..

[29]  Matthew B. Miles,et al.  Qualitative Data Analysis: An Expanded Sourcebook , 1994 .

[30]  Alan G. Robinson,et al.  The Idea-Driven Organization: Unlocking the Power in Bottom-Up Ideas , 2014 .

[31]  Paul M. Leonardi,et al.  Theoretical foundations for the study of sociomateriality , 2013, Inf. Organ..

[32]  Lisen Selander,et al.  The Role of Dominant Design in a Product Developing Firm's Digital Innovation , 2012 .

[33]  Alexander Gerybadze,et al.  Gruppendynamik und Verstehen in Innovation Communities , 2007 .

[34]  D MyersMichael,et al.  A set of principles for conducting and evaluating interpretive field studies in information systems , 1999 .

[35]  Geoff Walsham,et al.  Interpretive case studies in IS research: nature and method , 1995 .

[36]  Kalle Lyytinen,et al.  Organizing for Innovation in the Digitized World , 2012, Organ. Sci..

[37]  M. Lynne Markus,et al.  A Foundation for the Study of IT Effects: A New Look at DeSanctis and Poole's Concepts of Structural Features and Spirit , 2008, J. Assoc. Inf. Syst..

[38]  Andrew Hargadon,et al.  When Innovations Meet Institutions: Edison and the Design of the Electric Light , 2001 .

[39]  John M. Jordan.  Information, Technology, and Innovation , 2012 .

[40]  Teresa M. Amabile,et al.  IDEO's Culture of Helping , 2014 .

[41]  K. K. Cetina,et al.  The Practice Turn in Contemporary Theory , 2001 .

[42]  Wanda J. Orlikowski,et al.  Technology and Institutions: What Can Research on Information Technology and Research on Organizations Learn from Each Other? , 2001, MIS Q..

[43]  Susan V. Scott,et al.  10 Sociomateriality: Challenging the Separation of Technology, Work and Organization , 2008 .

[44]  Sue Newell,et al.  The Sociomaterialty of Information Systems: Current Status, Future Directions , 2014, MIS Q..

[45]  Jürgen Hauschildt,et al.  Teamwork for innovation: The "troika" of promotors , 1998 .

[46]  Kevin C. Desouza.  Intrapreneurship: Managing Ideas Within Your Organization , 2011 .

[47]  K. Fichter.  Innovation Communities: The Role of Networks of Promotors in Open Innovation , 2009 .

[48]  J. Schumpeter.  The Theory of Economic Development: An Inquiry into Profits, Capital, Credit, Interest, and the Business Cycle , 1934 .

[49]  Richard A. Krueger,et al.  Focus groups : a practical guide for applied research / by Richard A. Krueger , 1989 .

[50]  Henry Chesbrough,et al.  Open Innovation: The New Imperative for Creating and Profiting from Technology , 2003 .

[51]  Mohanbir Sawhney,et al.  The Global Brain: Your Roadmap for Innovating Faster and Smarter in a Networked World, , 2007 .

[52]  Robert E. Kraut,et al.  Editorial Overview - The Interplay Between Digital and Social Networks , 2008, Inf. Syst. Res..

[53]  Youngjin Yoo,et al.  Computing in Everyday Life: A Call for Research on Experiential Computing , 2010, MIS Q..

[54]  Michael D. Myers,et al.  A Set of Principles for Conducting and Evaluating Interpretive Field Studies in Information Systems , 1999, MIS Q..

[55]  F. Wickson,et al.  Transdisciplinary research: characteristics, quandaries and quality , 2006 .