See What I Mean? Analogical Objects for Knowledge Mediation in Early Phases of Cross-Industry Innovation

Hilda Bø Lyng and Eric Christian Brun ()
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Hilda Bø Lyng: SHARE — Centre for Resilience in Healthcare, Department of Quality and Health Technology, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Stavanger, N-4036 Stavanger, Norway
Eric Christian Brun: Department of Safety, Economy and Planning, Faculty of Science and Technology, University of Stavanger, N-4036 Stavanger, Norway

International Journal of Innovation and Technology Management (IJITM), 2022, vol. 19, issue 02, 1-25

Abstract: The objective of this research is to explore the nature and role of analogies as objects for knowledge transfer in cross-industry collaborations. A case study of an organization seeking cross-industry innovation (CII) across two industry sectors was conducted, and the empirical data were analyzed qualitatively. We found that analogies used as knowledge mediation objects could be classified as explanatory or inventive, each expressed as linguistic or visual representations. Explanatory analogical objects help build prior knowledge of a foreign industry domain, thus easing later use of inventive analogical objects to identify how knowledge from one industry can be applied in another industry for innovation purposes. In these roles, the analogies serve as boundary objects. Both explanatory and inventive analogies can also serve as epistemic objects, motivating for further collaborative engagement. Visual representations of analogies help bridge the abstract with the concrete, thereby easing the process of creating analogies. They also enable nonverbal communication, thus helping bypass language barriers between knowledge domains. The reported research expands current research literature on knowledge mediation objects to the context of CII and provides added detailed understanding of the use of analogies in CII.

Keywords: Analogies; knowledge transfer; cross-industry innovation; boundary objects; epistemic objects (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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DOI: 10.1142/S0219877021500462

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