Turning creative ideas into successful innovations: differential effects of network structure for radical and incremental innovation

Jia Zhang (), Jian Wang (), Jos Winnink () and Simcha Jong ()
Additional contact information
Jia Zhang: Leiden University
Jian Wang: Lancaster University Leipzig
Jos Winnink: Leiden University
Simcha Jong: Leiden University

The Journal of Technology Transfer, 2025, vol. 50, issue 5, No 5, 2018-2038

Abstract: Abstract This paper examines how the collaboration network structure of an innovation site influences the adoption and future use of its innovations. We explore the effects of tie strength and network cohesion, with a particular focus on the moderating role of innovation radicalness. While prior research emphasizes the benefits of strong ties and network cohesion for idea transfer—due to increased trust, information exchange, and reciprocity—we argue that these effects are contingent on the innovation’s radicalness. Specifically, we suggest that these effects hold for incremental innovations but may become negative for radical innovations, as the impact of radical innovations may not align with reciprocity norms and could be sanctioned by the network. Additionally, the lack of information diversity may hinder the identification of new applications for radical innovations. Our empirical analysis is based on a dataset of 93 of the most innovative U.S. pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, with 16,011 unique sites observed from 2001 to 2013. This results in a panel dataset with 19,343 site-time observations, using 3-year rolling windows. Our findings support our hypotheses, contributing to the literature on social networks, creativity, and innovation. We show that different types of innovations require different network conditions for diffusion, and that reciprocity norms can be burdensome, particularly for radical innovations. We also demonstrate that non-redundant information is crucial not only for generating novel ideas but also for identifying new applications for radical innovations. The findings have implications for innovation management, particularly at geographically dispersed sites.

Keywords: Collaboration networks; Tie strength; Network cohesion; Radical innovation; Creativity (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10961-024-10173-8 Abstract (text/html)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:kap:jtecht:v:50:y:2025:i:5:d:10.1007_s10961-024-10173-8

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.springer. ... nt/journal/10961/PS2

DOI: 10.1007/s10961-024-10173-8

Access Statistics for this article

The Journal of Technology Transfer is currently edited by Albert N. Link, Donald S. Siegel, Barry Bozeman and Simon Mosey

More articles in The Journal of Technology Transfer from Springer
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().