The impact of network centrality on employee innovation on a digital experimentation platform

Huiyang Dai, Lun Li () and Jizhen Li
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Huiyang Dai: Zhejiang University of Technology
Lun Li: Beijing Normal University
Jizhen Li: Tsinghua University

Journal of Organization Design, 2025, vol. 14, issue 2, 107-125

Abstract: Abstract The internal digital experimentation platform offers a fresh avenue for employees to collaborate and communicate within the firm, facilitating rapid information and knowledge exchange among employees. Using a cooperation network on an internal digital platform for experiments, this study investigates the effects of three network centralities on employees’ innovation on the platform, based on the perspective of knowledge acquisition and absorption. We find that degree centrality increases the ways that employees gain knowledge, boosting the frequency of innovation but reducing its effectiveness due to insufficient knowledge integration. Betweenness centrality enhances the exchange of varied knowledge, which aids in knowledge absorption, therefore increasing both the frequency and the effectiveness of innovation. Closeness centrality improves access to immediately applicable knowledge, enhancing innovation effectiveness; simultaneously limits exposure to indirect knowledge sources, thereby reducing the frequency of innovation. Interdepartmental collaboration atmosphere and interdepartmental collaboration concentration are found to moderate such relationships. These findings provide implications for researches on network centrality, employee innovation, and knowledge management on digital experimentation platforms.

Keywords: Network centrality; Knowledge acquisition; Knowledge absorption; Employee innovation; Digital experimentation platform; M1 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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DOI: 10.1007/s41469-024-00181-1

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