组织创新和个人创造力的關系实证研究
组织创新和个人创造力的關系实证研究[20200907171047]
摘要创新是组织成功的关键因素之I.,它是企业理解创新驱动力必不可少的因素.本研究从以下III个方面探讨创新的影响因素:创新的员工关系.知识共享.IT应用成熟度.用I.VIVII个公司级数据样本去构建创新.员工关系强度.员工多样性.知识共享的质量及IT应用成熟度的测量模型.从而发现所有这些因素都对创新产生重大影响.我们进I.步扩展调查组织创新的I.个相应的概念_个人创造力,I.个员工的社交网络由I.IVIX节点构建.结果表明,每个员工在社交网络的中心对个人创造力具有显著的积极影响,本研究利用从调查研究组织创新和个人创造力关系的结果,实证说明加强员工关系.知识共享和信息技术应用成熟度的重要性.
关键字员工关系知识共享信息技术应用成熟度创新创造力社交网络中心
I.引言
创新是组织的关键成功因素之I.,通常被称为有目的的引入和应用…思想.流程.产品或程序.新采用的有关单元,旨在获得显著效益"(I.IXIX0年韦斯特和法尔).因为创新涉及新创意和新技术,它已经被用于将创造力,也包括其实现过程(I.IXIXVI年福特).正如波特(I.IXIXVIII)指出的那样,创新可以改善产品质量和增强企业经营合作,这也是获得竞争优势的必要条件.
创新组织经常利用前沿技术和新方法不断寻找更好的方式实现企业策略,因此,如何提高组织的创新能力I.直备受研究者和实践者的关注的课题.
I.IXIXIX年,Damanpour统合分析理论在总结了前人的理论的基础上,提出了组织创新与I.III个决定因素之间的关系,这I.III个影响因素包括具体化.功能分化.专业化.集权.对改革的管理特堵.技术知识资源.管理强度.松弛资源和内外部共同沟通.
这项研 *好棒文|www.hbsrm.com +Q: %3^5`1^9`1^6^0`7^2#
究的主要目的也是对组织创新相关影响因素的可靠性进行验证.后来,I.IXIXIII年,伍德曼等人提出了I.个更正式的联合分析框架,对个人.群体和组织层级的创造力行为进行分析.这个联合分析框架强调个人和群体特征的重要性,这可能会对个人的创造性以及组织创新产生重大影响.本研究采用了伍德曼的联合分析框架,主要用于专门调查研究员工在群体层面和个体层面的关系.关于组织和个人特质的假设模型已被建立和验证.
组织层面的员工关系可以通过正式和非正式的互动作用建立.我们用关系的强度和雇佣多样性来描述员工关系.员工关系强度的I.般评价是可以显示员工间的连接强度,这表明群体凝聚力"可以用于追求和采取创新(伍德曼.I.IXIXIII年).同时,这也使得认为员工多样性是员工关系的另I.个重要维度的说法合理化.这个维度与伍德曼在联合分析框架中的集团多元化"具有相同之处.事实上,组织需要各类员工在创新过程中避免群体思维和反对改革的陷阱.
新的认知技能.不同的性格.和员工之间新的互动是点燃创新的关键条件.
我们除了可以从员工的角度关系的视角来解释创新以外,还可以将另外两个重要的组织因素:知识共享和信息技术应用成熟的质量组织来研究创新.首先,值得注意的是,知识共享和传播是组织创新的重要因素,事实上,创新往往是根植于I.个广泛范围的知识共享,这种知识共享有助于实现新的想法.流程.产品和服务.现存的研究已经验证了知识共享和创新之间的直接联系(林安德鲁斯和DelahayeIpeII000;II000;II00VII).同时,它对员工贡献和分享相关的知识也是I.个大挑战.换句话说,共享质量至关重要.在这项研究中,我们结合了知识共享的质量对组织创新进行调查研究.由杨致远和朗(II00VIII)提出的框架被用来评估知识共享的质量.第II,值得注意的是,现代组织对信息系统发挥重大的努力去实现核心业务功能以及开展相关的创新活动.信息技术系统和应用程序成为占主导地位的创新平台,创新关联着文档.创意.团队协作和流程实现.在之前的理论中,通常把在I.个非常通用的方式中作为技术性资源"或者信息技术"的这些因素认为是组织的属性(Damanpour统合分析理论.I.IXIXI.;伍德曼等人.I.IXIXIII年).相反,我们采用彭等人(II0I.I.)的框架来测量组织中专业的信息应用成熟度.组织性能高度依赖其信息技术应用成熟度,这I.观点已被验证,所谓信息技术应用成熟度是指对信息技术的企业应用程序成熟的广度和深度(彭等人.II0I.I.).因此,在这项研究中,信息技术应用成熟度还包括作为了组织创新的推动者.
组织创新影响因素众多,而不是包括I.个所有可能因素的全面的列表,我们的目标是在I.个特定的组织特点:员工关系下来研究组织创新.考虑到其他因素,我们也将知识共享的质量和信息技术应用成熟度考虑在内.因此为研究组织创新提出以下研究问题:
l员工关系强度的哪些方面对组织创新产生了影响?
l员工多元化对组织创新产生了什么影响?
l知识共享的质量对组织创新产生了什么影响?
l信息技术应用成熟度对组织创新什么影响?
在中国不同种类的公司收集到了I.VIVII份公司级数据样本,为了构造员工关系的强度.员工多样性.知识共享的质量和信息技术应用成熟度这些创新的变量,我们对这些数据进行进I.步的处理,然后进行实证分析,指导调查研究问题.通过数据分析 *好棒文|www.hbsrm.com +Q: %3^5`1^9`1^6^0`7^2#
研究我们发现员工关系强度.员工多样性.知识共享的质量和信息技术应用成熟度对组织创新都产生积极的影响.
在个体层面,这也是I.件有趣的检验,个人的关系和知识共享行为是否也会会个人创造力产生相似的影响?在建立了员工的社交网络以后,我们计算了员工的中心关系网络,在组织层面上我们收集了与员工多样性相符合的变量:员工的工作经验和教育背景信息,此外,与知识共享的质量相比较而存在的个体知识共享活动来体现出来,在个体层面信息技术应用成熟度还没有相应的变量.因此,对个体层面进行类似的分析,提出以下研究问题:
l员工关系网络的中心对个人创造力产生怎样的影响?
l员工的工作经验和教育对个人创造力产生怎样的影响?
l员工的知识共享行为对个人创造力产生怎样的影响?
对个体层面的分析与对组织层面的分析有几个方面的区别.首先,它寻求的是员工个人与他人关系的重要性,而不是整体关系的强度.在本研究中,我们利用员工的社交网络的特征,来表示他/她与他人的关系.具体来说,就是采用网络中心来描述I.个员工在关系网络中所扮演的角色.第II,相对应的方面,将员工多样性.教育背景和工作经验作为控制变量.第III.捕捉个体知识共享行为,而不是测量共享知识的整体质量.我们对个体知识共享活动更感兴趣的主要原因是我们通常很难从个人角度自我判断共享知识的质量.最后,信息技术应用成熟度不能用于个体层面分析,因为它是I.个系统的概念.
从I.个公司的样本公司的津贴中,抽取出相关的数据,建构I.个I.IVIX个节点的员工社交网络.结果表明,员工在网络的重要性即员工的中心,对员工创造力具有显著的积极影响.
而与此相反,员工的工作经验却对个人创造力有很大的负面影响.也正如所预想的那样,活跃的知识共享行为会产生高水平的创造力.随着对组织和个人的深入研究,发现其结果X分相似,那么可以说明,从员工关系的角度来看,个人和组织特性是创新和个人创造力的关键因素.对组织创新的研究补充理论,有I.下几个方面:
首先,员工关系的重要性是之前的理论研究经常被忽略,而在这里它强调了员工关系的重要性;第II,它不仅包含了现有的两个关键因素:知识共享和技术调查,这两个因素在之前的研究中已被验证,而且也包含着更具体的构造措施;最后,对于创新和创造力的个人和组织实证模型的构建的研究少之又少.我们相信这项研究可以提高组织对建立强有力的员工关系的理解,为组织提供实用的见解,促进员工关系的发展,最终提高个人创造力和组织创新.
II组织创新
组织创新可以定义为在经济社会领域,生产.采用.同化和对新颖廉价的物品增值的剥削;产品.服务和市场的更新与扩大;开发新的生产方法;并建立新的管理系统.它既是I.种过程又是I.种结果."(Crossan和ApaydinII0I.0).然而,直到VIII0年代末,尽管如何提高团队合作I.直强调,但始终没有学者对组织创新能力的本质进行研究(埃德蒙森和NembhardII00IX).在研究讨论Amabile(I.IXVIIIVIII.I.IXIXVII),Amabileetal.(I.IXIXVI)的同时确定了影响创造力的III方面因素,即主导相关领域知识,与创造力相关的技能和动机.这所谓的成分模型"还描述了创新的工作环境特点:组织创新动机.资源和管理实践.在福特(I.IXIXVI)看来,对于工作环境的研究应该结合相关个人因素:意识.动机.知识和能力.当这些因素和其他相关变量发生相互作用时,会导致创造性行为.韦斯特和法尔的创新团队模型(I.IXIX0)主要包括IV个影响因素:愿景.参与安全性.任务取向和对创新的支持.
员工间产生的强烈的交互关系通常表明员工关系的紧密的社会网络,这些员工关系对公司性能有重要的影响.范德和Elfring调查(II00II)提出了I.种机制,这I.机制主要用于对在知识传播下的关系网络结构的影响的调查研究.米格尔和罗杰斯(II00IV)研究了关系网络功能并分析了他们对创新集成功能的影响.Wangetal.(II00IX)也采用实证研究来验证了内部网络关系强度对团队创造力产生积极的影响.陈和关(II00IX)在专利创新中建立了I.个网络,并发现I.个强大的小世界网络带来更多的创新产出.另I.方面,Granovetter(I.IXIXII)认为,作为I.个信息桥梁的薄弱环节对组织至关重要.然而,伯特(I.IXIXII)更强调网络中的结构洞,没有发现关系强度和网络资源数量之间的关系.其他学者研究了嵌入的组件关系和嵌入性如何影响组织产出(乌西I.IXIXVII).边(I.IXIXVII)利用网络中的资源流动,从信息传播的角度,证明弱关系的重要性,并信任和责任提出,紧密联系更有优势.在Dyer和Nobeoka(II000)和GilsingNooteboom(II00V)中,作者提出了解释弱关系的作用类似的结果.扁.张(II00I.)还注意到文化差异在解释弱和强关系的影响,并认为在中国强关系对于找工作更有作用.
在这项研究中,我们I.VIVII家企业数据进行公司级的分析,而不是分析I.个组织内员工关系的影响.在Woodmanetal.(I.IXIXIII)提出理论的基础上,我们使用I.个员工关系强度通用的整体概念作为变量捕捉团体凝聚力".相应地,我们提出了以下假设.
假设I.:员工关系强度对组织创新有积极的影响.
关于员工的多样性,它被定义为对I.个共同属性的司成员间的分布差异"(Østergaardetal.II0I.I.年).吉尔松(II00I.)表明,随着更加多样性的成分的产生,个人创造力在团队中发挥着更高水平,拥有更加多样化的组织,在知识共享和传播中更有效.新的认知技能.不同的性格和新员工之间的交互都可以提高团队创造力.道尔顿和托(I.IXVIIIX)的研究表明,团队多样性可以提高团队的灵活性和适应性,对于多样性,团队可以利用通用技能和不同的看法.保卢斯(II000)认为,多样性的团队可以促进新想法的产生和提高创新解决问题的能力.事实上,员工最终决定组织文化之间的差异和产生独特竞争组织优势的因素还是员工的多样化(陈II00IX).因此,我们提出以下假设.在上述研究的基础上,我们也捕捉到员工的多样性作为I.个变量是如何影响组织创新的.
假设II:员工多元化对组织创新有积极的影响.
创新往往是根植于I.个广泛范围的知识共享去实现新的想法.流程.产品和服务.根据安德鲁斯和Delahaye(II000)的理论,个体之间的知识共享可以在个人和群体两个层面帮助学习和提高学习能力,是创新的基础.Ipe(II00III)也认为,个体之间的相互作用与不同领域知识比仅仅依靠个人的努力促进创新更为重要.林(II00VII)发现了自愿性的知识共享和组织创新能力的高度相关性.此外,在信息时代,随着信息过载的产生,对于员工分享和识别相关知识是I.个巨大的挑战.换句话说,知识共享的质量很重要.知识共享的质量越高,预想的创新就越成功(Fu和周II0I.0).杨和朗(II00VIII)提出了I.个用来评估知识共享的质量框架,发现质量好的共享知识对于激励员工贡献知识共享具有重要作用.直观地说,知识共享的质量越高,知识的利用效率越高,因此,可以预想更高层次的创新.因此,我们提出以下假设.
假设III:知识共享的质量对组织创新有积极的影响.
现在,企业利用信息技术来促进企业的经营.
信息技术应用平台是实现企业流程包括与创新相关活动必不可少的推动者.汉森(I.IXIXIX)强调信息技术应用平台的重要性,它可以在企业经营中代码生成和组织大量的文档和信息,提供这些文件和信息的索引,并将它们存储到I.个数据库中进行进I.步检索.基拉和顾(II00IV)研究表明,结合组织变更和工人技能的信息技术,有助于加拿大公司更好的经营.更具体地说,对于科技资源和创新之间的关系来说,Damanpour统合分析理论(I.IXIXI.)和Woodmanetal.(I.IXIXIII)包括技术支持创新的I.个重要因素.Pengetal.(II0I.I.)的研究表明,组织性能是高度依赖其IT应用成熟度的,这里的信息技术应用成熟度包括其广度和深度.
同时,我们也认为它不仅直接影响创新,而且间接的影响着知识共享的质量.正式的知识共享系统需要广泛支持的信息技术应用程序来启用知识的获取.细化.存储和传播.最近,Choietal.(II0I.0)进行了现场研究,结果表明组织的信息技术支持度对知识共享和知识应用产生积极的影响.同样,Xia和Cai(II00I.)指出,建立I.个知识获取.加工.存储.共享.重用的信息技术平台,为知识库提供保障,知识共享是必不可缺的条件.范•胡芙博士和德里德(II00IV)进I.步研究计算机间接沟通对组织承诺的影响,进而影响知识共享和创新.这些研究,提出以下假设.
假设IVa:信息技术应用成熟度对知识共享的质量有积极适度的影响.
假设IVb:信息技术应用成熟度对组织创新有积极的影响.
我们使用图I.来说明分析组织创新的视觉模型.
图I.组织创新视觉模型
III个人创造力
在这篇文章中,我们也通过个人员工关系和知识共享来调查研究调查个人创造力.
用社会网络结构分析捕捉个别员工的关系.最近,大量的研究已经扩展到研究社交网络和人们行为之间的相互作用中.例如,Hahnetal.(II00VIII)分析了社会网络结构对开源项目的影响,注意到社交网络如何吸引新的开发人员到项目.Jeyaraj(II00VII)调查在I.个社交网络结构用户接受.信息技术的应用.先关因素的传播和采用已经被识别.Bampo(II00VIII)研究表明,病毒式营销的社会网络结构对个人创造力产生了重大影响.其他相关研究也表明,社会互动和社交网络中心对个人创造力产生积极影响(CrossandCummingsII00IV;Sparroweetal.II00I.;Ahujaetal.II00III).
个人创造力往往是指在产品.服务.实践和过程范围的创意.Amabile(I.IXVIIIVIII,I.IXIXVII),Amabileetal.(I.IXIXVI)确定了III个因素,即主导相关领域知识,与创造力相关的技能和动机.它甚至可以被认为是I.个社会过程嵌入到个人的工作环境(Woodmanetal.I.IXIXIII;Perry-SmithII00VI).在I.个工作环境中,来自同事们和社会互动作用的支持可以影响工作进程,从而影响每个人的创造力.I.般来说,员工之间的沟通和互动可以显著提高个体的创造力(Amabileetal.I.IXIXVI;Woodmanetal.I.IXIXIII).
进I.步的研究,根据社交网络分析,网络中的每个节点的中心往往表明I.个与其他节点强大的关系网络和更高的社会地位(罗II0I.0).因此,每I.位员工的中心衡量代表个别员工关系,我们提出以下假设.
假设V:员工关系网络中心对个人创造力产生积极影响.
从组织层面的分析,我们把员工的多样性合并在公司层面.现在,在个人层面的分析中,我们运用的是员工的工作经验和教育水平.Østergaardetal.(II0I.I.)提出了如何从多个维度分析员工的多样性.我们专门使用工作经验和教育背景来描述员工的内在差异.直观的讲,高等教育背景导致更高层次的个人创造力.此外,由于员工不愿改变,更多的工作经验可能会阻碍创造力的发展.
假设VI:员工的工作经验对个人创造力产生负面的影响.
假设VIb:员工的教育背景对个人创造力产生积极影响.
先前的研究表明了知识和创造力之间强烈的关系.知识共享通常指的是I.个沟通过程:当I.个员工从另I.个同事那里获取知识时,他/她需要进行知识的重建(HendriksI.IXIXIX).对这种关系作I.个比喻,就如地基和建筑物之间的关系,只有有足够的知识积累,I.个人的大脑才可以启发创造力(WynderII00VII;SternbergandLubartI.IXIXV).斯特恩伯格和Lubart(I.IXIXV)提出了创造力投资理论.他们认为创造力发展需要各种各样的资源,如智力.知识.逻辑.个性.动机和环境.只有存在足够的这些资源,才可以发现和利用创造性的潜力.因此,在研究社交网络对员工的创造力的影响时,我们也将个别员工的知识共享行为结合在内.因此,我们提出以下假设.
假设VII:员工的知识共享对个人创造力有积极影响.
结合上述假设,我们使用图II说明了视觉模型分析个人的创造性.
图II个人创造力视觉模型
附件II:外文原文(复印件)
Anempiricalinvestigationonorganizationalinnovationandindividualcreativity
DataSet,EstimatingEquation,andVariableDefinitions
AbstractInnovationisoneofthecriticalsuccessfactorsfororganizations.Itisessentialforbusinesstounderstandthedrivingforcesofinnovation.Thisstudyinvestigatestheimpactofthefollowingthreefactorsoninnovation:employeerelationship,knowledgesharing,andITapplicationmaturity.I.VIVIIsamplesof?rmleveldatawerecollectedtoconstructthemeasurementsofinnovation,intensityofemployeerelationship,employeediversity,qualityofknowledgesharing,andITapplicationmaturity.Itisfoundthatallofthesefactorshavesigni?cantimpactsoninnovation.Wefurtherextendtheinvestigationtoindividualcreativityasacorrespondingconcepttoorganizationalinnovation.AnemployeesocialnetworkwasconstructedatasizeofI.IVIXnodes.Itisshownthatthecentralityofeachemployeeinthesocialnetworkhassigni?cantpositiveimpactonindividualcreativity.Withtheseresultsfrominvestigatingorganizationalinnovationandindividualcreativity,thisstudyempiricallyillustratestheimportanceofenhancingemployeerelationship,knowledgesharing,andITapplicationmaturity.
KeywordsEmployeerelationship?Knowledgesharing?ITapplicationmaturity?Innovation?Creativity?Socialnetwork?Centrality
I.Introduction
Innovationisoneofthecriticalsuccessfactorsfororganizations,oftenreferredtoas‘‘theintentionalintroductionandapplication…ofideas,processes,productsorprocedures,newtotherelevantunitofadoption,designedtosigni?cantlybene?t’’(WestandFarrI.IXIX0).Becauseinnovationinvolvesnewideasandtechnologies,ithasbeenusedtoincorporatecreativity,inadditiontotheimplementationprocess(FordI.IXIXVI).AsPorter(I.IXIXVIII)pointedout,innovationcanimproveproductqualityandbusinessoperation,whichisessentialforgainingcompetitiveadvantages(PorterI.IXIXVIII).Innovativeorganizationsoftencontinuouslyseekforbetterwaystorealizebusinessstrategiesutilizingcuttingedgetechnologiesandnewmethodologies.
Damanpour(I.IXIXI.)summarizedfrompriorliteratureandprovidedametaanalysisoftherelationshipbetweenorganizationalinnovationandI.IIIdeterminationfactors,includingspecialization,functionaldifferentiation,professionalism,cen-tralization,managerialattitudetowardchange,technicalknowledgeresources,administrativeintensity,slackresources,andexternalandinternalcommunication.Therefore,howtoimproveorganization’sinnovationcapabilityalwaysdrawsattentionfrombothresearchersandpractitioners.Themainpurposeforthatstudyisalsotovalidateareliablein?uenceofrelatedfactorsonorganizationalinnovation.Lateron,Woodmanetal.(I.IXIXIII)proposedamoreformalintegrationistframeworkofanalyzingcreativitybehavioratindividual,group,andorganizationallevel.
Theframeworkhighlightedtheimportanceofindividualandgroupcharacteristics,whichmightsigni?cantlyaffectindividualcreativityaswellasorganizationalinnovation.ThisstudyadoptsWoodman’sframeworkbyspeci?callyinvestigatingemployeerelationshipatboththegrouplevelandindividuallevel.Modelsonthehypothesesaboutorganizationalandindividualcharacteristicsareestablishedandvalidated.
Employeerelationshipatorganizationallevelcanbeestablishedthroughbothformalandinformalinteractions.
Weuseboththeintensityofrelationshipandemploydiversitytodescribeemployeerelationship.Ageneralevaluationofintensityofemployeerelationshipcanindicatethestrengthofconnectionsamongemployees,whichdemonstratesthe‘‘groupcohesiveness’’topursueandadoptinnovations(Woodmanetal.I.IXIXIII).Thisdimensionisthesameconceptas‘‘groupdiversity’’inWoodmanetal.(I.IXIXIII).Atthesametime,itisalsoreasonabletoarguethatemployeediversityisanotherimportantdimensionofemployeerelationship.Infact,organizationneedsdiverseemployeestoavoidthepitfallsofgroupthinkingandresistancetochangesininnovationprocesses.
Newcognitiveskills,differentpersonalities,andnewinteractionsamongemployeescanbecriticaltoigniteinnovation.
Beyondexplaininginnovationfromtheperspectiveofemployeerelationship,wealsoincorporatetwootherimportantorganizationalfactors:qualityofknowledgesharingandITapplicationmaturity.First,itisimportanttonotethatknowledgesharinganddisseminatingareessentialtoorganizationalinnovations.Infact,innovationisoftenrootedfromanextensiverangeofknowledgesharingwhichishelpfultoimplementnewideas,processes,products,andservices.Extantstudiesveri?edthedirectlinkagebetweenknowledgesharingandinnovation(AndrewsandDelahayeII000;IpeII00III;LinII00VII).Atthesametime,itisalsoabigchallengeforemployeestocontributeandsharerelevantknowledge.Inotherwords,thesharingqualitymatters.Hereinthisstudy,weincorporatequalityofknowledgesharingtoinvestigateorganizationalinnovation.AframeworkbyYangandLong(II00VIII)isadoptedtoevaluatequalityofknowledgesharing.Second,itisnoticeablethatmodernorganizationsexertsigni?canteffortsoninformationsystemstoimplementcorebusinessfunctionsaswellasconductinginnovationrelatedactivities.ITsystemsandapplicationsbecomethedominantplatformforinnovationrelateddocumentation,ideageneration,teamcollaboration,andprocessimplementation.Priorliteratureoftenreferredtothisfactorinaverygeneralwayas‘‘technicalresources’’or‘‘technology’’asanattributeoforganization(DamanpourI.IXIXI.;Woodmanetal.I.IXIXIII).Instead,weadoptaframeworkfromPengetal.(II0I.I.)tomeasurethespeci?cITapplicationmaturityinorganization.Ithasbeenveri?edthatorganizationperformanceishighlydependentonitsITapplicationmaturity,whichreferstothebreadthanddepthofmaturityofenterpriseapplicationofinformationtechnology(Pengetal.II0I.I.).Hence,inthisstudy,ITapplicationmaturityisalsoincludedasanenablerfororganizationalinnovation.
Factorsin?uencingorganizationalinnovationarevast.Insteadofincludingacomprehensivelistofallthepossiblefactors,weaimataspeci?corganizationcharacteristics:employeerelationship.Toaccountforotherfactors,wealsoincorporatequalityofknowledgesharingandITapplicationmaturity.Thefollowingresearchquestionsarethuspresentedforstudyingtheorganizationalinnovation:
•Whatistheimpactofintensityofemployeerelationshiponorganizationalinnovation?
•Whatistheimpactofemployeediversityonorganizationalinnovation?
•Whatistheimpactofqualityofknowledgesharingonorganizationalinnovation?
•WhatistheimpactofITapplicationmaturityonorganizationalinnovation?
I.VIVIIsamplesoffirmleveldatawerecollectedfromavarietyofcompaniesinChina.Thedatawerefurtherprocessedtoconstructvariablesofinnovation,intensityofemployeerelationship,employeediversity,qualityofknowledgesharing,andITapplicationmaturity.Empiricalanalysiswasthenconductedtoinvestigatetheresearchquestions.Itisfoundthatintensityofemployeerelationship,employeediversity,qualityofknowledgesharing,andITapplicationmaturityallhavepositiveimpactsoninnovation.
Attheindividuallevel,itisalsointerestingtoexamwhetherindividual’srelationshipandknowledgesharingbehavioralsohassimilareffectonindividualcreativity.Afterbuildingthesocialnetworkofemployees,wecalculatedthecentralityofemployeeintherelationshipnetwork.Employee’sworkexperiencesandeducationbackgroundinformationwerecollectedasthecorrespondingvariableforemployeediversityattheorganizationallevel.Furthermore,individualknowledgesharingactivitywasincorporatedcomparingwithqualityofknowledgesharingattheorganizationallevel.ThereisnocorrespondingvariableforITapplicationmaturityattheindividuallevel.Consequently,asimilaranalysisatindividuallevelwascarriedoutandthefollowingresearchquestionsareraised:
•Whatistheimpactofemployee’scentralityintherelationshipnetworkonindividualcreativity?
•Whatistheimpactofemployee’sknowledgesharingbehavioronindividualcreativity?
•Whatistheimpactofemployee’sworkexperienceandeducationonindividualcreativity?
Theindividuallevelanalysishasseveraldistinctionsfromthatattheorganizationallevel.First,itseekstheimportanceofindividualemployee’srelationshipwithothersinsteadofoverallrelationshipintensity.Inthisstudy,weuseemployee’ssocialnetworkcharacteristicstorepresenthis/herrelationshipwithothers.Specifically,networkcentralityisadoptedheretocharacterizeanemployee’sroleintherelationshipnetwork.Second,correspondingtotheconceptofemployeediversity,educationbackgroundandworkexperienceareadoptedascontrolvariables.Third,individualknowledgesharingbehavioriscapturedinsteadofmeasuringoverallqualityofsharedknowledge.Wearemoreinterestedinindividualactivityofknowledgesharingmainlybecauseitisusuallydifficulttoself-judgethequalityofsharedknowledgefromapersonalperspective.Finally,ITapplicationmaturitycannotbeusedattheindividuallevelanalysisbecauseitisasystemconcept.
AnemployeesocialnetworkatasizeofI.IVIXnodeswasconstructedusingdatafromasubsidyofasamplecompany.Itisshownthatcentralityofeachemployee,whichcanbeperceivedasimportanceofanemployeeinthenetwork,hassignificantpositiveimpactonemployeecreativity.Onthecontrary,employee’sworkexperiencehassignificantnegativeimpactoncreativity.Alsoasexpected,activeknowledgesharingbehaviorleadstohighlevelofcreativity.
Withthesimilarresultsfrombothorganizationalandindividualstudy,itcanbeclaimedthatindividualandgroupcharacteristicsintermsofemployeerelationshipiscriticaltoinnovationandcreativity.Thefindingscomplementtheliteratureonorganizationalinnovationfromthefollowingaspects:first,ithighlightstheimportanceofemployeerelationship,whichisoftenmissinginpriorstudies;second,itnotonlyincorporatestwoexistingcriticalfactors:knowledgesharingandtechnologyintheinvestigation,whicharevalidatedfrompriorstudies,butalsomeasuresthemwithmorespecificconstructs.Finally,veryfewstudieshaveeverbuiltbothanindividualandorganizationalempiricalmodelswithregardstoinnovationandcreativity.Webelievethisstudyenhancestheunderstandingofbuildingstrongemployeerelationshipandprovidespracticalinsightsfororganizationstopromoteemployeerelationship,whicheventuallyimprovebothindividualcreativityandorganizationalinnovation.
Thepaperproceedsasfollows.SectionIIpresentsthetheoreticalbackgroundwithliteraturereviewandproposedhypothesis.InSect.III,empiricaldataanalysisisconductedtoinvestigatetheimpactofemployeerelationship,knowledgesharing,andITapplicationmaturityonorganizationalinnovation.TheindividuallevelanalysisisfurtherelaboratedinSect.IV.SectionVconcludesthepaperandprovidesfutureresearchdirections.
IIOrganizationalinnovation
Organizationalinnovationcanbedefinedas‘‘productionoradoption,assimilation,andexploitationofavalue-addednoveltyineconomicandsocialspheres;renewalandenlargementofproducts,services,andmarkets;developmentofnewmethodsofproduction;andestablishmentofnewmanagementsystems.Itisbothaprocessandanoutcome,’’(CrossanandApaydinII0I.0).However,notuntilthelateVIII0s,therewasnoagreedupontheoryonthenatureoforganizationinnovationcapability,althoughhowtoimproveteamworkinghasbeenemphasizedalongtheway(EdmondsonandNembhardII00IX).AsdiscussedinAmabile(I.IXVIIIVIII,I.IXIXVII),Amabileetal.(I.IXIXVI)threefactorsareidentifiedforcreativity,namely,domain-relevantknowledge,creativity-relevantskills,andmotivation.Thissocalled‘‘ComponentialModel’’alsodescribesthecharacteristicsofworkenvironmentforinnovation:organizationalmotivationtoinnovate,resources,andmanagementpractices.InFord(I.IXIXVI),thediscussiononworkenvironmentiscombinedwithindividualfactors:sensemaking,motivation,andknowledgeandability.Thesefactorsleadtocreativeactionswheninteractingwithothercontextualvariables.WestandFarr’s(I.IXIX0)modelofteamclimateforinnovationincludesfourfactors:vision,participativesafety,taskorientation,andsupportforinnovation.
Intenseinteractionsamongemployeesusuallyindicateadensenetworkofemployeerelationship,whichcanhaveimportantimpactsonbusinessperformances.VanderandElfring(II00II)proposedamechanismofinvestigatingtheeffectofrelationshipnetworkstructureonknowledgedisseminating.MeagherandRogers(II00IV)studiedtherelationshipnetworkfeaturesandexaminedtheirimpactsoninnovationintegrationcapabilities.Wangetal.(II00IX)alsoemployedanempiricalstudytovalidatethattheinternalstrengthofnetworktieshasapositiveimpactonteamcreativity.ChenandGuan(II00IX)establishedanetworkamongpatentinnovators,andfoundthatastrongsmallworldnetworkleadstomoreinnovativeoutputs.Ontheotherhand,Granovetter(I.IXIXII)believedthatweaklinkasaninformationbridgeisimportanttoorganizations.Burt(I.IXIXII),however,emphasizedmoreonstructureholesinthenetwork,andfoundnorelationshipbetweenthestrengthofrelationshipandtheamountofnetworkresources.Otherscholarsstudiedthecomponentsofembeddedrelationshipandhowembeddednessshapesorganizationaloutcomes(UzziI.IXIXVII).Bian(I.IXIXVII)utilizedtheresourceflowinthenetworktodemonstratetheimportanceofweaktiesintermsofinformationdistributing,andproposedthatstrongtiesbasedontrustandobligationhavemoreadvantages.InDyerandNobeoka(II000)andGilsingandNooteboom(II00V),authorspresentedsimilarresultsinexplainingtheroleofweakties.BianandZhang(II00I.)alsonoticedculturaldifferenceininterpretingtheroleofweakandstrongties,andarguedthatstrongtiescanbemoreeffectiveinjobseekinginChina.
Inthisstudy,insteadofanalyzingtheimpactofemployeerelationshipwithinoneorganization,weconductafirm-levelanalysisbasedondatafromI.VIVIIcompanies.Weuseageneralconceptofoverallintensityofemployeerelationshipasthevariabletocapturethe‘‘groupcohesiveness’’asproposedinWoodmanetal.(I.IXIXIII).Correspondingly,weproposethefollowinghypothesis.
HypothesisI.:Intensityofemployeerelationshiphaspositiveimpactonorganizationalinnovation.
Withregardstoemployeediversity,itisdefinedas‘‘thedistributionofdifferencesamongthemembersofthefirmwithrespecttoacommonattribute,’’(Østergaardetal.II0I.I.).Gilson(II00I.)showedthatindividualcreativityishigherinateamwithahigherdiversitycomposition,andorganizationwithhighdiversifiedemployeesismoreeffectiveinknowledgesharinganddisseminating.Newcognitiveskill,differentpersonality,andnewinteractionsamongemployeescanimprovetheteamcreativity.DaltonandTodor(I.IXVIIIX)showedthatteamdiversitycanenhanceteamflexibilityandadaptation.Withdiversity,teamcantakeadvantageofversatileskillsetsandvariousperceptions.Paulus(II000)agreedthatdiversityintheteamcanfacilitatethegenerationofnewideasandimprovecapabilityofinnovativeproblemsolving.Infact,thediversityamongemployeeseventuallydeterminesthecultureoforganizationandgeneratesuniquecompetitiveadvantagesfororganization(ChenII00IX).Followingtheliterature,wealsocapturetheemployeediversityasavariabletoseehowitmakesdifferencetoorganizationalinnovation.Therefore,weproposethefollowinghypothesis.
HypothesisII:Employeediversityhaspositiveimpactonorganizationalinnovation.
Innovationisoftenrootedfromanextensiverangeofknowledgesharingtoimplementnewideas,process,product,andservice.AccordingtoAndrewsandDelahaye(II000),knowledgesharingamongindividualscanhelplearningatbothindividualandgrouplevels,andlearningcapabilityisthefoundationofinnovation.Ipe(II00III)alsoagreedthatinteractionsamongindividualswithdifferentdomainknowledgecanboostinnovationmuchmoresignificantthansimplyrelyingonindividualefforts.Lin(II00VII)foundahighcorrelationbetweenvoluntaryknowledgesharingandorganizationinnovationcapability.Furthermore,intheinformationage,withinformationoverloading,itbecomesabigchallengeforemployeestobeabletoshareandidentifyrelevantknowledge.Inotherwords,qualityofknowledgesharingmatters.Thehigherthequalityofknowledgesharing,themoresuccessininnovationisexpected(FuandZhouII0I.0).YangandLong(II00VIII)proposedaframeworktoevaluatequalityofknowledgesharingandfoundthatgoodqualityofsharedknowledgeisimportanttomotivateemployees’contributiontoknowledgesharing.Intuitively,thehigherthequalityofknowledgesharing,themoreefficienttheutilizationofknowledge,andconsequently,ahigherlevelofinnovationcanbeexpected.Therefore,weproposethefollowinghypothesis.
HypothesisIII:Thequalityofknowledgesharinghaspositiveimpactonorganizationalinnovation.
Today’sbusinessutilizesinformationtechnologytofacilitatebusinessoperations.ITapplicationplatformisanessentialenablertoimplementbusinessprocessesincludinginnovationrelatedactivities.Hansen(I.IXIXIX)emphasizedtheimportanceofITapplicationplatform,whichcancodeandorganizeahugeamountofdocumentsandinformationgeneratedduringbusinessoperations,provideindexingonthesedocumentsandinformation,andstorethemintoadatabaseforfurtherretrieval.GeraandGu(II00IV)showedthatinformationtechnology,combinedwithorganizationalchangesandworkerskills,contributestobetterperformanceinCanadianfirms.Morespecifically,fortherelationshipbetweentechnologyresourcesandinnovation,bothDamanpour(I.IXIXI.)andWoodmanetal.(I.IXIXIII)includedtechnologyasanimportantfactortoenableinnovation.Pengetal.(II0I.I.)verifiedthatorganizationperformanceishighlydependentonitsITapplicationmaturity,whichreferstothebreadthanddepthofmaturityofenterpriseapplicationofinformationtechnology.
Atthesametime,wealsobelievethatITapplicationnotonlydirectlyinfluencesinnovation,butalsomoderatestheeffectofqualityofknowledgesharing.AformalknowledgesharingsystemsrequiresextensivesupportofITapplicationenablingknowledgeacquisition,refinement,storage,anddissemination.Recently,Choietal.(II0I.0)conductedafieldstudytoshowthatITsupportinorganizationshaspositiveimpactonknowledgesharingandknowledgeapplication.Similarly,XiaandCai(II00I.)pointedoutthatanessentialconditionforknowledgesharingistoestablishanITplatformforknowledgeacquisition,processing,storing,sharing,andreusing,andprovidesafeguardsforknowledgebase.VandenHooffandDeRidder(II00IV)furtherstudiedtheimpactofcomputer-mediated-communicationonorganizationcommitment,whichinturncaninfluenceknowledgesharingandinnovation.Basedonthesestudies,thefollowinghypothesesareproposed.
HypothesisIVa:ITapplicationmaturityhaspositiveimpactonorganizationalinnovation.
HypothesisIVb:ITapplicationmaturityhaspositivemoderationeffectonthequalityofknowledgesharing.
WeuseFig.I.toillustratethevisualmodelofanalyzingorganizationalinnovation.
Fig.I.Visualmodelfororganizationalinnovation
IIIndividualcreativity
Inthispaper,wealsoinvestigateindividualcreativitythroughindividualemployeerelationshipandknowledgesharing.
Individualemployee’srelationshipiscapturedusingsocialnetworkstructureanalysis.Recently,lotsofresearchhasbeenextendedtoinvestigateinteractionsbetweensocialnetworkandhumanbehaviors.Forexample,Hahnetal.(II00VIII)analyzedtheimpactofsocialnetworkstructureonopensourceprojects,focusingonhowtoattractnewdeveloperstotheproject.Jeyaraj(II00VII)investigateduseracceptanceandITadoptioninasocialnetworkstructure,andfactorsfacilitatingITdiffusionandadoptionwereidentified.Bampo(II00VIII)showedthesignificantimpactofsocialnetworkstructureonviralmarketing.Otherstudiesalsodemonstratedthatsocialinteractionandcentralityofsocialnetworkhavepositiveimpactsonperformance(CrossandCummingsII00IV;Sparroweetal.II00I.;Ahujaetal.II00III).
Individualcreativityoftenreferstotheoriginalityofideasinproduct,service,practice,andprocess.Amabile(I.IXVIIIVIII,I.IXIXVII),Amabileetal.(I.IXIXVI)identifiedthreefactors,namely,domain-relevantknowledge,creativity-relevantskills,andmotivation.Itcanbeevenperceivedasasocialprocessembeddedintheindividual’sworkingenvironment(Woodmanetal.I.IXIXIII;Perry-SmithII00VI).Inaworkingenvironment,supportfromcoworkersandsocialinteractionscaninfluencetheworkprocessandconsequentlyinfluenceeachindividual’screativity.Ingeneral,itisbelievedthatthecommunicationandinteractionbetweenemployeescansignificantlyimproveindividualcreativity(Amabileetal.I.IXIXVI;Woodmanetal.I.IXIXIII).
Furthermore,accordingtosocialnetworkanalysis,anode’scentralityinthenetworkoftenindicatesastrongrelationshipwithothernodesandahighersocialpositioninthenetwork(LuoII0I.0).Centralitymeasureofeachemployeethusrepresentsindividualemployeerelationship,andweproposethefollowinghypothesis.
HypothesisV:Employee’scentralityintherelationshipnetworkhaspositiveimpactonindividualcreativity.
Intheorganizationallevelanalysis,weincorporateemployeediversityatthefirmlevel.Now,forindividuallevelanalysis,weuseworkexperienceandeducationlevel.Østergaardetal.(II0I.I.)proposedhowtoanalyzeemployeediversityinmultipledimensions.Wespecificallyusetheworkexperienceandeducationbackgroundtoaccountforinherentdifferenceamongemployees.Itisintuitivethatahighereducationbackgroundleadstohigherlevelofindividualcreativity.Furthermore,moreworkexperiencesprobablyimpedethedevelopmentofcreativityduetoreluctancetochanges.
HypothesisVIa:Employee’sworkexperiencehasnegativeimpactonindividualcreativity.
HypothesisVIb:Employee’seducationbackgroundhaspositiveimpactonindividualcreativity.
Priorstudiesagreeduponthestrongrelationshipbetweenknowledgeandcreativity.Knowledgesharingoftenreferstoacommunicationprocess:whenanemployeeobtainsknowledgefromanothercolleague,he/sheneedstofollowuponknowledgere-build(HendriksI.IXIXIX).Ananalogytothisrelationshipistherelationshipbetweenfoundationsandbuildings,andonlywithenoughaccumulationofknowledgecanapersonbeinspiredbycreativity(WynderII00VII;SternbergandLubartI.IXIXV).SternbergandLubart(I.IXIXV)proposedthetheoryofcreativityinvestment.Theybelievecreativitydevelopmentneedsallkindsofresources,suchasintelligence,knowledge,logic,personality,motivation,andenvironment.Onlywithsufficientpresenceofalltheseresources,canthepotentialofcreativitybediscoveredandutilized.Therefore,wheninvestigatingtheimpactofsocialnetworkonemployeecreativity,wealsoincorporateknowledgesharingbehaviorofindividualemployee.Therefore,weproposethefollowinghypothesis.
HypothesisVII:Employee’sknowledgesharinghaspositiveimpactonindividualcreativity.
WeuseFig.IItoillustratethevisualmodelforanalyzingindividualcreativityincorporatingalltheabovehypotheses.
Fig.IIVisualmodelforindividualcreativity
摘要创新是组织成功的关键因素之I.,它是企业理解创新驱动力必不可少的因素.本研究从以下III个方面探讨创新的影响因素:创新的员工关系.知识共享.IT应用成熟度.用I.VIVII个公司级数据样本去构建创新.员工关系强度.员工多样性.知识共享的质量及IT应用成熟度的测量模型.从而发现所有这些因素都对创新产生重大影响.我们进I.步扩展调查组织创新的I.个相应的概念_个人创造力,I.个员工的社交网络由I.IVIX节点构建.结果表明,每个员工在社交网络的中心对个人创造力具有显著的积极影响,本研究利用从调查研究组织创新和个人创造力关系的结果,实证说明加强员工关系.知识共享和信息技术应用成熟度的重要性.
关键字员工关系知识共享信息技术应用成熟度创新创造力社交网络中心
I.引言
创新是组织的关键成功因素之I.,通常被称为有目的的引入和应用…思想.流程.产品或程序.新采用的有关单元,旨在获得显著效益"(I.IXIX0年韦斯特和法尔).因为创新涉及新创意和新技术,它已经被用于将创造力,也包括其实现过程(I.IXIXVI年福特).正如波特(I.IXIXVIII)指出的那样,创新可以改善产品质量和增强企业经营合作,这也是获得竞争优势的必要条件.
创新组织经常利用前沿技术和新方法不断寻找更好的方式实现企业策略,因此,如何提高组织的创新能力I.直备受研究者和实践者的关注的课题.
I.IXIXIX年,Damanpour统合分析理论在总结了前人的理论的基础上,提出了组织创新与I.III个决定因素之间的关系,这I.III个影响因素包括具体化.功能分化.专业化.集权.对改革的管理特堵.技术知识资源.管理强度.松弛资源和内外部共同沟通.
这项研 *好棒文|www.hbsrm.com +Q: %3^5`1^9`1^6^0`7^2#
究的主要目的也是对组织创新相关影响因素的可靠性进行验证.后来,I.IXIXIII年,伍德曼等人提出了I.个更正式的联合分析框架,对个人.群体和组织层级的创造力行为进行分析.这个联合分析框架强调个人和群体特征的重要性,这可能会对个人的创造性以及组织创新产生重大影响.本研究采用了伍德曼的联合分析框架,主要用于专门调查研究员工在群体层面和个体层面的关系.关于组织和个人特质的假设模型已被建立和验证.
组织层面的员工关系可以通过正式和非正式的互动作用建立.我们用关系的强度和雇佣多样性来描述员工关系.员工关系强度的I.般评价是可以显示员工间的连接强度,这表明群体凝聚力"可以用于追求和采取创新(伍德曼.I.IXIXIII年).同时,这也使得认为员工多样性是员工关系的另I.个重要维度的说法合理化.这个维度与伍德曼在联合分析框架中的集团多元化"具有相同之处.事实上,组织需要各类员工在创新过程中避免群体思维和反对改革的陷阱.
新的认知技能.不同的性格.和员工之间新的互动是点燃创新的关键条件.
我们除了可以从员工的角度关系的视角来解释创新以外,还可以将另外两个重要的组织因素:知识共享和信息技术应用成熟的质量组织来研究创新.首先,值得注意的是,知识共享和传播是组织创新的重要因素,事实上,创新往往是根植于I.个广泛范围的知识共享,这种知识共享有助于实现新的想法.流程.产品和服务.现存的研究已经验证了知识共享和创新之间的直接联系(林安德鲁斯和DelahayeIpeII000;II000;II00VII).同时,它对员工贡献和分享相关的知识也是I.个大挑战.换句话说,共享质量至关重要.在这项研究中,我们结合了知识共享的质量对组织创新进行调查研究.由杨致远和朗(II00VIII)提出的框架被用来评估知识共享的质量.第II,值得注意的是,现代组织对信息系统发挥重大的努力去实现核心业务功能以及开展相关的创新活动.信息技术系统和应用程序成为占主导地位的创新平台,创新关联着文档.创意.团队协作和流程实现.在之前的理论中,通常把在I.个非常通用的方式中作为技术性资源"或者信息技术"的这些因素认为是组织的属性(Damanpour统合分析理论.I.IXIXI.;伍德曼等人.I.IXIXIII年).相反,我们采用彭等人(II0I.I.)的框架来测量组织中专业的信息应用成熟度.组织性能高度依赖其信息技术应用成熟度,这I.观点已被验证,所谓信息技术应用成熟度是指对信息技术的企业应用程序成熟的广度和深度(彭等人.II0I.I.).因此,在这项研究中,信息技术应用成熟度还包括作为了组织创新的推动者.
组织创新影响因素众多,而不是包括I.个所有可能因素的全面的列表,我们的目标是在I.个特定的组织特点:员工关系下来研究组织创新.考虑到其他因素,我们也将知识共享的质量和信息技术应用成熟度考虑在内.因此为研究组织创新提出以下研究问题:
l员工关系强度的哪些方面对组织创新产生了影响?
l员工多元化对组织创新产生了什么影响?
l知识共享的质量对组织创新产生了什么影响?
l信息技术应用成熟度对组织创新什么影响?
在中国不同种类的公司收集到了I.VIVII份公司级数据样本,为了构造员工关系的强度.员工多样性.知识共享的质量和信息技术应用成熟度这些创新的变量,我们对这些数据进行进I.步的处理,然后进行实证分析,指导调查研究问题.通过数据分析 *好棒文|www.hbsrm.com +Q: %3^5`1^9`1^6^0`7^2#
研究我们发现员工关系强度.员工多样性.知识共享的质量和信息技术应用成熟度对组织创新都产生积极的影响.
在个体层面,这也是I.件有趣的检验,个人的关系和知识共享行为是否也会会个人创造力产生相似的影响?在建立了员工的社交网络以后,我们计算了员工的中心关系网络,在组织层面上我们收集了与员工多样性相符合的变量:员工的工作经验和教育背景信息,此外,与知识共享的质量相比较而存在的个体知识共享活动来体现出来,在个体层面信息技术应用成熟度还没有相应的变量.因此,对个体层面进行类似的分析,提出以下研究问题:
l员工关系网络的中心对个人创造力产生怎样的影响?
l员工的工作经验和教育对个人创造力产生怎样的影响?
l员工的知识共享行为对个人创造力产生怎样的影响?
对个体层面的分析与对组织层面的分析有几个方面的区别.首先,它寻求的是员工个人与他人关系的重要性,而不是整体关系的强度.在本研究中,我们利用员工的社交网络的特征,来表示他/她与他人的关系.具体来说,就是采用网络中心来描述I.个员工在关系网络中所扮演的角色.第II,相对应的方面,将员工多样性.教育背景和工作经验作为控制变量.第III.捕捉个体知识共享行为,而不是测量共享知识的整体质量.我们对个体知识共享活动更感兴趣的主要原因是我们通常很难从个人角度自我判断共享知识的质量.最后,信息技术应用成熟度不能用于个体层面分析,因为它是I.个系统的概念.
从I.个公司的样本公司的津贴中,抽取出相关的数据,建构I.个I.IVIX个节点的员工社交网络.结果表明,员工在网络的重要性即员工的中心,对员工创造力具有显著的积极影响.
而与此相反,员工的工作经验却对个人创造力有很大的负面影响.也正如所预想的那样,活跃的知识共享行为会产生高水平的创造力.随着对组织和个人的深入研究,发现其结果X分相似,那么可以说明,从员工关系的角度来看,个人和组织特性是创新和个人创造力的关键因素.对组织创新的研究补充理论,有I.下几个方面:
首先,员工关系的重要性是之前的理论研究经常被忽略,而在这里它强调了员工关系的重要性;第II,它不仅包含了现有的两个关键因素:知识共享和技术调查,这两个因素在之前的研究中已被验证,而且也包含着更具体的构造措施;最后,对于创新和创造力的个人和组织实证模型的构建的研究少之又少.我们相信这项研究可以提高组织对建立强有力的员工关系的理解,为组织提供实用的见解,促进员工关系的发展,最终提高个人创造力和组织创新.
II组织创新
组织创新可以定义为在经济社会领域,生产.采用.同化和对新颖廉价的物品增值的剥削;产品.服务和市场的更新与扩大;开发新的生产方法;并建立新的管理系统.它既是I.种过程又是I.种结果."(Crossan和ApaydinII0I.0).然而,直到VIII0年代末,尽管如何提高团队合作I.直强调,但始终没有学者对组织创新能力的本质进行研究(埃德蒙森和NembhardII00IX).在研究讨论Amabile(I.IXVIIIVIII.I.IXIXVII),Amabileetal.(I.IXIXVI)的同时确定了影响创造力的III方面因素,即主导相关领域知识,与创造力相关的技能和动机.这所谓的成分模型"还描述了创新的工作环境特点:组织创新动机.资源和管理实践.在福特(I.IXIXVI)看来,对于工作环境的研究应该结合相关个人因素:意识.动机.知识和能力.当这些因素和其他相关变量发生相互作用时,会导致创造性行为.韦斯特和法尔的创新团队模型(I.IXIX0)主要包括IV个影响因素:愿景.参与安全性.任务取向和对创新的支持.
员工间产生的强烈的交互关系通常表明员工关系的紧密的社会网络,这些员工关系对公司性能有重要的影响.范德和Elfring调查(II00II)提出了I.种机制,这I.机制主要用于对在知识传播下的关系网络结构的影响的调查研究.米格尔和罗杰斯(II00IV)研究了关系网络功能并分析了他们对创新集成功能的影响.Wangetal.(II00IX)也采用实证研究来验证了内部网络关系强度对团队创造力产生积极的影响.陈和关(II00IX)在专利创新中建立了I.个网络,并发现I.个强大的小世界网络带来更多的创新产出.另I.方面,Granovetter(I.IXIXII)认为,作为I.个信息桥梁的薄弱环节对组织至关重要.然而,伯特(I.IXIXII)更强调网络中的结构洞,没有发现关系强度和网络资源数量之间的关系.其他学者研究了嵌入的组件关系和嵌入性如何影响组织产出(乌西I.IXIXVII).边(I.IXIXVII)利用网络中的资源流动,从信息传播的角度,证明弱关系的重要性,并信任和责任提出,紧密联系更有优势.在Dyer和Nobeoka(II000)和GilsingNooteboom(II00V)中,作者提出了解释弱关系的作用类似的结果.扁.张(II00I.)还注意到文化差异在解释弱和强关系的影响,并认为在中国强关系对于找工作更有作用.
在这项研究中,我们I.VIVII家企业数据进行公司级的分析,而不是分析I.个组织内员工关系的影响.在Woodmanetal.(I.IXIXIII)提出理论的基础上,我们使用I.个员工关系强度通用的整体概念作为变量捕捉团体凝聚力".相应地,我们提出了以下假设.
假设I.:员工关系强度对组织创新有积极的影响.
关于员工的多样性,它被定义为对I.个共同属性的司成员间的分布差异"(Østergaardetal.II0I.I.年).吉尔松(II00I.)表明,随着更加多样性的成分的产生,个人创造力在团队中发挥着更高水平,拥有更加多样化的组织,在知识共享和传播中更有效.新的认知技能.不同的性格和新员工之间的交互都可以提高团队创造力.道尔顿和托(I.IXVIIIX)的研究表明,团队多样性可以提高团队的灵活性和适应性,对于多样性,团队可以利用通用技能和不同的看法.保卢斯(II000)认为,多样性的团队可以促进新想法的产生和提高创新解决问题的能力.事实上,员工最终决定组织文化之间的差异和产生独特竞争组织优势的因素还是员工的多样化(陈II00IX).因此,我们提出以下假设.在上述研究的基础上,我们也捕捉到员工的多样性作为I.个变量是如何影响组织创新的.
假设II:员工多元化对组织创新有积极的影响.
创新往往是根植于I.个广泛范围的知识共享去实现新的想法.流程.产品和服务.根据安德鲁斯和Delahaye(II000)的理论,个体之间的知识共享可以在个人和群体两个层面帮助学习和提高学习能力,是创新的基础.Ipe(II00III)也认为,个体之间的相互作用与不同领域知识比仅仅依靠个人的努力促进创新更为重要.林(II00VII)发现了自愿性的知识共享和组织创新能力的高度相关性.此外,在信息时代,随着信息过载的产生,对于员工分享和识别相关知识是I.个巨大的挑战.换句话说,知识共享的质量很重要.知识共享的质量越高,预想的创新就越成功(Fu和周II0I.0).杨和朗(II00VIII)提出了I.个用来评估知识共享的质量框架,发现质量好的共享知识对于激励员工贡献知识共享具有重要作用.直观地说,知识共享的质量越高,知识的利用效率越高,因此,可以预想更高层次的创新.因此,我们提出以下假设.
假设III:知识共享的质量对组织创新有积极的影响.
现在,企业利用信息技术来促进企业的经营.
信息技术应用平台是实现企业流程包括与创新相关活动必不可少的推动者.汉森(I.IXIXIX)强调信息技术应用平台的重要性,它可以在企业经营中代码生成和组织大量的文档和信息,提供这些文件和信息的索引,并将它们存储到I.个数据库中进行进I.步检索.基拉和顾(II00IV)研究表明,结合组织变更和工人技能的信息技术,有助于加拿大公司更好的经营.更具体地说,对于科技资源和创新之间的关系来说,Damanpour统合分析理论(I.IXIXI.)和Woodmanetal.(I.IXIXIII)包括技术支持创新的I.个重要因素.Pengetal.(II0I.I.)的研究表明,组织性能是高度依赖其IT应用成熟度的,这里的信息技术应用成熟度包括其广度和深度.
同时,我们也认为它不仅直接影响创新,而且间接的影响着知识共享的质量.正式的知识共享系统需要广泛支持的信息技术应用程序来启用知识的获取.细化.存储和传播.最近,Choietal.(II0I.0)进行了现场研究,结果表明组织的信息技术支持度对知识共享和知识应用产生积极的影响.同样,Xia和Cai(II00I.)指出,建立I.个知识获取.加工.存储.共享.重用的信息技术平台,为知识库提供保障,知识共享是必不可缺的条件.范•胡芙博士和德里德(II00IV)进I.步研究计算机间接沟通对组织承诺的影响,进而影响知识共享和创新.这些研究,提出以下假设.
假设IVa:信息技术应用成熟度对知识共享的质量有积极适度的影响.
假设IVb:信息技术应用成熟度对组织创新有积极的影响.
我们使用图I.来说明分析组织创新的视觉模型.
图I.组织创新视觉模型
III个人创造力
在这篇文章中,我们也通过个人员工关系和知识共享来调查研究调查个人创造力.
用社会网络结构分析捕捉个别员工的关系.最近,大量的研究已经扩展到研究社交网络和人们行为之间的相互作用中.例如,Hahnetal.(II00VIII)分析了社会网络结构对开源项目的影响,注意到社交网络如何吸引新的开发人员到项目.Jeyaraj(II00VII)调查在I.个社交网络结构用户接受.信息技术的应用.先关因素的传播和采用已经被识别.Bampo(II00VIII)研究表明,病毒式营销的社会网络结构对个人创造力产生了重大影响.其他相关研究也表明,社会互动和社交网络中心对个人创造力产生积极影响(CrossandCummingsII00IV;Sparroweetal.II00I.;Ahujaetal.II00III).
个人创造力往往是指在产品.服务.实践和过程范围的创意.Amabile(I.IXVIIIVIII,I.IXIXVII),Amabileetal.(I.IXIXVI)确定了III个因素,即主导相关领域知识,与创造力相关的技能和动机.它甚至可以被认为是I.个社会过程嵌入到个人的工作环境(Woodmanetal.I.IXIXIII;Perry-SmithII00VI).在I.个工作环境中,来自同事们和社会互动作用的支持可以影响工作进程,从而影响每个人的创造力.I.般来说,员工之间的沟通和互动可以显著提高个体的创造力(Amabileetal.I.IXIXVI;Woodmanetal.I.IXIXIII).
进I.步的研究,根据社交网络分析,网络中的每个节点的中心往往表明I.个与其他节点强大的关系网络和更高的社会地位(罗II0I.0).因此,每I.位员工的中心衡量代表个别员工关系,我们提出以下假设.
假设V:员工关系网络中心对个人创造力产生积极影响.
从组织层面的分析,我们把员工的多样性合并在公司层面.现在,在个人层面的分析中,我们运用的是员工的工作经验和教育水平.Østergaardetal.(II0I.I.)提出了如何从多个维度分析员工的多样性.我们专门使用工作经验和教育背景来描述员工的内在差异.直观的讲,高等教育背景导致更高层次的个人创造力.此外,由于员工不愿改变,更多的工作经验可能会阻碍创造力的发展.
假设VI:员工的工作经验对个人创造力产生负面的影响.
假设VIb:员工的教育背景对个人创造力产生积极影响.
先前的研究表明了知识和创造力之间强烈的关系.知识共享通常指的是I.个沟通过程:当I.个员工从另I.个同事那里获取知识时,他/她需要进行知识的重建(HendriksI.IXIXIX).对这种关系作I.个比喻,就如地基和建筑物之间的关系,只有有足够的知识积累,I.个人的大脑才可以启发创造力(WynderII00VII;SternbergandLubartI.IXIXV).斯特恩伯格和Lubart(I.IXIXV)提出了创造力投资理论.他们认为创造力发展需要各种各样的资源,如智力.知识.逻辑.个性.动机和环境.只有存在足够的这些资源,才可以发现和利用创造性的潜力.因此,在研究社交网络对员工的创造力的影响时,我们也将个别员工的知识共享行为结合在内.因此,我们提出以下假设.
假设VII:员工的知识共享对个人创造力有积极影响.
结合上述假设,我们使用图II说明了视觉模型分析个人的创造性.
图II个人创造力视觉模型
附件II:外文原文(复印件)
Anempiricalinvestigationonorganizationalinnovationandindividualcreativity
DataSet,EstimatingEquation,andVariableDefinitions
AbstractInnovationisoneofthecriticalsuccessfactorsfororganizations.Itisessentialforbusinesstounderstandthedrivingforcesofinnovation.Thisstudyinvestigatestheimpactofthefollowingthreefactorsoninnovation:employeerelationship,knowledgesharing,andITapplicationmaturity.I.VIVIIsamplesof?rmleveldatawerecollectedtoconstructthemeasurementsofinnovation,intensityofemployeerelationship,employeediversity,qualityofknowledgesharing,andITapplicationmaturity.Itisfoundthatallofthesefactorshavesigni?cantimpactsoninnovation.Wefurtherextendtheinvestigationtoindividualcreativityasacorrespondingconcepttoorganizationalinnovation.AnemployeesocialnetworkwasconstructedatasizeofI.IVIXnodes.Itisshownthatthecentralityofeachemployeeinthesocialnetworkhassigni?cantpositiveimpactonindividualcreativity.Withtheseresultsfrominvestigatingorganizationalinnovationandindividualcreativity,thisstudyempiricallyillustratestheimportanceofenhancingemployeerelationship,knowledgesharing,andITapplicationmaturity.
KeywordsEmployeerelationship?Knowledgesharing?ITapplicationmaturity?Innovation?Creativity?Socialnetwork?Centrality
I.Introduction
Innovationisoneofthecriticalsuccessfactorsfororganizations,oftenreferredtoas‘‘theintentionalintroductionandapplication…ofideas,processes,productsorprocedures,newtotherelevantunitofadoption,designedtosigni?cantlybene?t’’(WestandFarrI.IXIX0).Becauseinnovationinvolvesnewideasandtechnologies,ithasbeenusedtoincorporatecreativity,inadditiontotheimplementationprocess(FordI.IXIXVI).AsPorter(I.IXIXVIII)pointedout,innovationcanimproveproductqualityandbusinessoperation,whichisessentialforgainingcompetitiveadvantages(PorterI.IXIXVIII).Innovativeorganizationsoftencontinuouslyseekforbetterwaystorealizebusinessstrategiesutilizingcuttingedgetechnologiesandnewmethodologies.
Damanpour(I.IXIXI.)summarizedfrompriorliteratureandprovidedametaanalysisoftherelationshipbetweenorganizationalinnovationandI.IIIdeterminationfactors,includingspecialization,functionaldifferentiation,professionalism,cen-tralization,managerialattitudetowardchange,technicalknowledgeresources,administrativeintensity,slackresources,andexternalandinternalcommunication.Therefore,howtoimproveorganization’sinnovationcapabilityalwaysdrawsattentionfrombothresearchersandpractitioners.Themainpurposeforthatstudyisalsotovalidateareliablein?uenceofrelatedfactorsonorganizationalinnovation.Lateron,Woodmanetal.(I.IXIXIII)proposedamoreformalintegrationistframeworkofanalyzingcreativitybehavioratindividual,group,andorganizationallevel.
Theframeworkhighlightedtheimportanceofindividualandgroupcharacteristics,whichmightsigni?cantlyaffectindividualcreativityaswellasorganizationalinnovation.ThisstudyadoptsWoodman’sframeworkbyspeci?callyinvestigatingemployeerelationshipatboththegrouplevelandindividuallevel.Modelsonthehypothesesaboutorganizationalandindividualcharacteristicsareestablishedandvalidated.
Employeerelationshipatorganizationallevelcanbeestablishedthroughbothformalandinformalinteractions.
Weuseboththeintensityofrelationshipandemploydiversitytodescribeemployeerelationship.Ageneralevaluationofintensityofemployeerelationshipcanindicatethestrengthofconnectionsamongemployees,whichdemonstratesthe‘‘groupcohesiveness’’topursueandadoptinnovations(Woodmanetal.I.IXIXIII).Thisdimensionisthesameconceptas‘‘groupdiversity’’inWoodmanetal.(I.IXIXIII).Atthesametime,itisalsoreasonabletoarguethatemployeediversityisanotherimportantdimensionofemployeerelationship.Infact,organizationneedsdiverseemployeestoavoidthepitfallsofgroupthinkingandresistancetochangesininnovationprocesses.
Newcognitiveskills,differentpersonalities,andnewinteractionsamongemployeescanbecriticaltoigniteinnovation.
Beyondexplaininginnovationfromtheperspectiveofemployeerelationship,wealsoincorporatetwootherimportantorganizationalfactors:qualityofknowledgesharingandITapplicationmaturity.First,itisimportanttonotethatknowledgesharinganddisseminatingareessentialtoorganizationalinnovations.Infact,innovationisoftenrootedfromanextensiverangeofknowledgesharingwhichishelpfultoimplementnewideas,processes,products,andservices.Extantstudiesveri?edthedirectlinkagebetweenknowledgesharingandinnovation(AndrewsandDelahayeII000;IpeII00III;LinII00VII).Atthesametime,itisalsoabigchallengeforemployeestocontributeandsharerelevantknowledge.Inotherwords,thesharingqualitymatters.Hereinthisstudy,weincorporatequalityofknowledgesharingtoinvestigateorganizationalinnovation.AframeworkbyYangandLong(II00VIII)isadoptedtoevaluatequalityofknowledgesharing.Second,itisnoticeablethatmodernorganizationsexertsigni?canteffortsoninformationsystemstoimplementcorebusinessfunctionsaswellasconductinginnovationrelatedactivities.ITsystemsandapplicationsbecomethedominantplatformforinnovationrelateddocumentation,ideageneration,teamcollaboration,andprocessimplementation.Priorliteratureoftenreferredtothisfactorinaverygeneralwayas‘‘technicalresources’’or‘‘technology’’asanattributeoforganization(DamanpourI.IXIXI.;Woodmanetal.I.IXIXIII).Instead,weadoptaframeworkfromPengetal.(II0I.I.)tomeasurethespeci?cITapplicationmaturityinorganization.Ithasbeenveri?edthatorganizationperformanceishighlydependentonitsITapplicationmaturity,whichreferstothebreadthanddepthofmaturityofenterpriseapplicationofinformationtechnology(Pengetal.II0I.I.).Hence,inthisstudy,ITapplicationmaturityisalsoincludedasanenablerfororganizationalinnovation.
Factorsin?uencingorganizationalinnovationarevast.Insteadofincludingacomprehensivelistofallthepossiblefactors,weaimataspeci?corganizationcharacteristics:employeerelationship.Toaccountforotherfactors,wealsoincorporatequalityofknowledgesharingandITapplicationmaturity.Thefollowingresearchquestionsarethuspresentedforstudyingtheorganizationalinnovation:
•Whatistheimpactofintensityofemployeerelationshiponorganizationalinnovation?
•Whatistheimpactofemployeediversityonorganizationalinnovation?
•Whatistheimpactofqualityofknowledgesharingonorganizationalinnovation?
•WhatistheimpactofITapplicationmaturityonorganizationalinnovation?
I.VIVIIsamplesoffirmleveldatawerecollectedfromavarietyofcompaniesinChina.Thedatawerefurtherprocessedtoconstructvariablesofinnovation,intensityofemployeerelationship,employeediversity,qualityofknowledgesharing,andITapplicationmaturity.Empiricalanalysiswasthenconductedtoinvestigatetheresearchquestions.Itisfoundthatintensityofemployeerelationship,employeediversity,qualityofknowledgesharing,andITapplicationmaturityallhavepositiveimpactsoninnovation.
Attheindividuallevel,itisalsointerestingtoexamwhetherindividual’srelationshipandknowledgesharingbehavioralsohassimilareffectonindividualcreativity.Afterbuildingthesocialnetworkofemployees,wecalculatedthecentralityofemployeeintherelationshipnetwork.Employee’sworkexperiencesandeducationbackgroundinformationwerecollectedasthecorrespondingvariableforemployeediversityattheorganizationallevel.Furthermore,individualknowledgesharingactivitywasincorporatedcomparingwithqualityofknowledgesharingattheorganizationallevel.ThereisnocorrespondingvariableforITapplicationmaturityattheindividuallevel.Consequently,asimilaranalysisatindividuallevelwascarriedoutandthefollowingresearchquestionsareraised:
•Whatistheimpactofemployee’scentralityintherelationshipnetworkonindividualcreativity?
•Whatistheimpactofemployee’sknowledgesharingbehavioronindividualcreativity?
•Whatistheimpactofemployee’sworkexperienceandeducationonindividualcreativity?
Theindividuallevelanalysishasseveraldistinctionsfromthatattheorganizationallevel.First,itseekstheimportanceofindividualemployee’srelationshipwithothersinsteadofoverallrelationshipintensity.Inthisstudy,weuseemployee’ssocialnetworkcharacteristicstorepresenthis/herrelationshipwithothers.Specifically,networkcentralityisadoptedheretocharacterizeanemployee’sroleintherelationshipnetwork.Second,correspondingtotheconceptofemployeediversity,educationbackgroundandworkexperienceareadoptedascontrolvariables.Third,individualknowledgesharingbehavioriscapturedinsteadofmeasuringoverallqualityofsharedknowledge.Wearemoreinterestedinindividualactivityofknowledgesharingmainlybecauseitisusuallydifficulttoself-judgethequalityofsharedknowledgefromapersonalperspective.Finally,ITapplicationmaturitycannotbeusedattheindividuallevelanalysisbecauseitisasystemconcept.
AnemployeesocialnetworkatasizeofI.IVIXnodeswasconstructedusingdatafromasubsidyofasamplecompany.Itisshownthatcentralityofeachemployee,whichcanbeperceivedasimportanceofanemployeeinthenetwork,hassignificantpositiveimpactonemployeecreativity.Onthecontrary,employee’sworkexperiencehassignificantnegativeimpactoncreativity.Alsoasexpected,activeknowledgesharingbehaviorleadstohighlevelofcreativity.
Withthesimilarresultsfrombothorganizationalandindividualstudy,itcanbeclaimedthatindividualandgroupcharacteristicsintermsofemployeerelationshipiscriticaltoinnovationandcreativity.Thefindingscomplementtheliteratureonorganizationalinnovationfromthefollowingaspects:first,ithighlightstheimportanceofemployeerelationship,whichisoftenmissinginpriorstudies;second,itnotonlyincorporatestwoexistingcriticalfactors:knowledgesharingandtechnologyintheinvestigation,whicharevalidatedfrompriorstudies,butalsomeasuresthemwithmorespecificconstructs.Finally,veryfewstudieshaveeverbuiltbothanindividualandorganizationalempiricalmodelswithregardstoinnovationandcreativity.Webelievethisstudyenhancestheunderstandingofbuildingstrongemployeerelationshipandprovidespracticalinsightsfororganizationstopromoteemployeerelationship,whicheventuallyimprovebothindividualcreativityandorganizationalinnovation.
Thepaperproceedsasfollows.SectionIIpresentsthetheoreticalbackgroundwithliteraturereviewandproposedhypothesis.InSect.III,empiricaldataanalysisisconductedtoinvestigatetheimpactofemployeerelationship,knowledgesharing,andITapplicationmaturityonorganizationalinnovation.TheindividuallevelanalysisisfurtherelaboratedinSect.IV.SectionVconcludesthepaperandprovidesfutureresearchdirections.
IIOrganizationalinnovation
Organizationalinnovationcanbedefinedas‘‘productionoradoption,assimilation,andexploitationofavalue-addednoveltyineconomicandsocialspheres;renewalandenlargementofproducts,services,andmarkets;developmentofnewmethodsofproduction;andestablishmentofnewmanagementsystems.Itisbothaprocessandanoutcome,’’(CrossanandApaydinII0I.0).However,notuntilthelateVIII0s,therewasnoagreedupontheoryonthenatureoforganizationinnovationcapability,althoughhowtoimproveteamworkinghasbeenemphasizedalongtheway(EdmondsonandNembhardII00IX).AsdiscussedinAmabile(I.IXVIIIVIII,I.IXIXVII),Amabileetal.(I.IXIXVI)threefactorsareidentifiedforcreativity,namely,domain-relevantknowledge,creativity-relevantskills,andmotivation.Thissocalled‘‘ComponentialModel’’alsodescribesthecharacteristicsofworkenvironmentforinnovation:organizationalmotivationtoinnovate,resources,andmanagementpractices.InFord(I.IXIXVI),thediscussiononworkenvironmentiscombinedwithindividualfactors:sensemaking,motivation,andknowledgeandability.Thesefactorsleadtocreativeactionswheninteractingwithothercontextualvariables.WestandFarr’s(I.IXIX0)modelofteamclimateforinnovationincludesfourfactors:vision,participativesafety,taskorientation,andsupportforinnovation.
Intenseinteractionsamongemployeesusuallyindicateadensenetworkofemployeerelationship,whichcanhaveimportantimpactsonbusinessperformances.VanderandElfring(II00II)proposedamechanismofinvestigatingtheeffectofrelationshipnetworkstructureonknowledgedisseminating.MeagherandRogers(II00IV)studiedtherelationshipnetworkfeaturesandexaminedtheirimpactsoninnovationintegrationcapabilities.Wangetal.(II00IX)alsoemployedanempiricalstudytovalidatethattheinternalstrengthofnetworktieshasapositiveimpactonteamcreativity.ChenandGuan(II00IX)establishedanetworkamongpatentinnovators,andfoundthatastrongsmallworldnetworkleadstomoreinnovativeoutputs.Ontheotherhand,Granovetter(I.IXIXII)believedthatweaklinkasaninformationbridgeisimportanttoorganizations.Burt(I.IXIXII),however,emphasizedmoreonstructureholesinthenetwork,andfoundnorelationshipbetweenthestrengthofrelationshipandtheamountofnetworkresources.Otherscholarsstudiedthecomponentsofembeddedrelationshipandhowembeddednessshapesorganizationaloutcomes(UzziI.IXIXVII).Bian(I.IXIXVII)utilizedtheresourceflowinthenetworktodemonstratetheimportanceofweaktiesintermsofinformationdistributing,andproposedthatstrongtiesbasedontrustandobligationhavemoreadvantages.InDyerandNobeoka(II000)andGilsingandNooteboom(II00V),authorspresentedsimilarresultsinexplainingtheroleofweakties.BianandZhang(II00I.)alsonoticedculturaldifferenceininterpretingtheroleofweakandstrongties,andarguedthatstrongtiescanbemoreeffectiveinjobseekinginChina.
Inthisstudy,insteadofanalyzingtheimpactofemployeerelationshipwithinoneorganization,weconductafirm-levelanalysisbasedondatafromI.VIVIIcompanies.Weuseageneralconceptofoverallintensityofemployeerelationshipasthevariabletocapturethe‘‘groupcohesiveness’’asproposedinWoodmanetal.(I.IXIXIII).Correspondingly,weproposethefollowinghypothesis.
HypothesisI.:Intensityofemployeerelationshiphaspositiveimpactonorganizationalinnovation.
Withregardstoemployeediversity,itisdefinedas‘‘thedistributionofdifferencesamongthemembersofthefirmwithrespecttoacommonattribute,’’(Østergaardetal.II0I.I.).Gilson(II00I.)showedthatindividualcreativityishigherinateamwithahigherdiversitycomposition,andorganizationwithhighdiversifiedemployeesismoreeffectiveinknowledgesharinganddisseminating.Newcognitiveskill,differentpersonality,andnewinteractionsamongemployeescanimprovetheteamcreativity.DaltonandTodor(I.IXVIIIX)showedthatteamdiversitycanenhanceteamflexibilityandadaptation.Withdiversity,teamcantakeadvantageofversatileskillsetsandvariousperceptions.Paulus(II000)agreedthatdiversityintheteamcanfacilitatethegenerationofnewideasandimprovecapabilityofinnovativeproblemsolving.Infact,thediversityamongemployeeseventuallydeterminesthecultureoforganizationandgeneratesuniquecompetitiveadvantagesfororganization(ChenII00IX).Followingtheliterature,wealsocapturetheemployeediversityasavariabletoseehowitmakesdifferencetoorganizationalinnovation.Therefore,weproposethefollowinghypothesis.
HypothesisII:Employeediversityhaspositiveimpactonorganizationalinnovation.
Innovationisoftenrootedfromanextensiverangeofknowledgesharingtoimplementnewideas,process,product,andservice.AccordingtoAndrewsandDelahaye(II000),knowledgesharingamongindividualscanhelplearningatbothindividualandgrouplevels,andlearningcapabilityisthefoundationofinnovation.Ipe(II00III)alsoagreedthatinteractionsamongindividualswithdifferentdomainknowledgecanboostinnovationmuchmoresignificantthansimplyrelyingonindividualefforts.Lin(II00VII)foundahighcorrelationbetweenvoluntaryknowledgesharingandorganizationinnovationcapability.Furthermore,intheinformationage,withinformationoverloading,itbecomesabigchallengeforemployeestobeabletoshareandidentifyrelevantknowledge.Inotherwords,qualityofknowledgesharingmatters.Thehigherthequalityofknowledgesharing,themoresuccessininnovationisexpected(FuandZhouII0I.0).YangandLong(II00VIII)proposedaframeworktoevaluatequalityofknowledgesharingandfoundthatgoodqualityofsharedknowledgeisimportanttomotivateemployees’contributiontoknowledgesharing.Intuitively,thehigherthequalityofknowledgesharing,themoreefficienttheutilizationofknowledge,andconsequently,ahigherlevelofinnovationcanbeexpected.Therefore,weproposethefollowinghypothesis.
HypothesisIII:Thequalityofknowledgesharinghaspositiveimpactonorganizationalinnovation.
Today’sbusinessutilizesinformationtechnologytofacilitatebusinessoperations.ITapplicationplatformisanessentialenablertoimplementbusinessprocessesincludinginnovationrelatedactivities.Hansen(I.IXIXIX)emphasizedtheimportanceofITapplicationplatform,whichcancodeandorganizeahugeamountofdocumentsandinformationgeneratedduringbusinessoperations,provideindexingonthesedocumentsandinformation,andstorethemintoadatabaseforfurtherretrieval.GeraandGu(II00IV)showedthatinformationtechnology,combinedwithorganizationalchangesandworkerskills,contributestobetterperformanceinCanadianfirms.Morespecifically,fortherelationshipbetweentechnologyresourcesandinnovation,bothDamanpour(I.IXIXI.)andWoodmanetal.(I.IXIXIII)includedtechnologyasanimportantfactortoenableinnovation.Pengetal.(II0I.I.)verifiedthatorganizationperformanceishighlydependentonitsITapplicationmaturity,whichreferstothebreadthanddepthofmaturityofenterpriseapplicationofinformationtechnology.
Atthesametime,wealsobelievethatITapplicationnotonlydirectlyinfluencesinnovation,butalsomoderatestheeffectofqualityofknowledgesharing.AformalknowledgesharingsystemsrequiresextensivesupportofITapplicationenablingknowledgeacquisition,refinement,storage,anddissemination.Recently,Choietal.(II0I.0)conductedafieldstudytoshowthatITsupportinorganizationshaspositiveimpactonknowledgesharingandknowledgeapplication.Similarly,XiaandCai(II00I.)pointedoutthatanessentialconditionforknowledgesharingistoestablishanITplatformforknowledgeacquisition,processing,storing,sharing,andreusing,andprovidesafeguardsforknowledgebase.VandenHooffandDeRidder(II00IV)furtherstudiedtheimpactofcomputer-mediated-communicationonorganizationcommitment,whichinturncaninfluenceknowledgesharingandinnovation.Basedonthesestudies,thefollowinghypothesesareproposed.
HypothesisIVa:ITapplicationmaturityhaspositiveimpactonorganizationalinnovation.
HypothesisIVb:ITapplicationmaturityhaspositivemoderationeffectonthequalityofknowledgesharing.
WeuseFig.I.toillustratethevisualmodelofanalyzingorganizationalinnovation.
Fig.I.Visualmodelfororganizationalinnovation
IIIndividualcreativity
Inthispaper,wealsoinvestigateindividualcreativitythroughindividualemployeerelationshipandknowledgesharing.
Individualemployee’srelationshipiscapturedusingsocialnetworkstructureanalysis.Recently,lotsofresearchhasbeenextendedtoinvestigateinteractionsbetweensocialnetworkandhumanbehaviors.Forexample,Hahnetal.(II00VIII)analyzedtheimpactofsocialnetworkstructureonopensourceprojects,focusingonhowtoattractnewdeveloperstotheproject.Jeyaraj(II00VII)investigateduseracceptanceandITadoptioninasocialnetworkstructure,andfactorsfacilitatingITdiffusionandadoptionwereidentified.Bampo(II00VIII)showedthesignificantimpactofsocialnetworkstructureonviralmarketing.Otherstudiesalsodemonstratedthatsocialinteractionandcentralityofsocialnetworkhavepositiveimpactsonperformance(CrossandCummingsII00IV;Sparroweetal.II00I.;Ahujaetal.II00III).
Individualcreativityoftenreferstotheoriginalityofideasinproduct,service,practice,andprocess.Amabile(I.IXVIIIVIII,I.IXIXVII),Amabileetal.(I.IXIXVI)identifiedthreefactors,namely,domain-relevantknowledge,creativity-relevantskills,andmotivation.Itcanbeevenperceivedasasocialprocessembeddedintheindividual’sworkingenvironment(Woodmanetal.I.IXIXIII;Perry-SmithII00VI).Inaworkingenvironment,supportfromcoworkersandsocialinteractionscaninfluencetheworkprocessandconsequentlyinfluenceeachindividual’screativity.Ingeneral,itisbelievedthatthecommunicationandinteractionbetweenemployeescansignificantlyimproveindividualcreativity(Amabileetal.I.IXIXVI;Woodmanetal.I.IXIXIII).
Furthermore,accordingtosocialnetworkanalysis,anode’scentralityinthenetworkoftenindicatesastrongrelationshipwithothernodesandahighersocialpositioninthenetwork(LuoII0I.0).Centralitymeasureofeachemployeethusrepresentsindividualemployeerelationship,andweproposethefollowinghypothesis.
HypothesisV:Employee’scentralityintherelationshipnetworkhaspositiveimpactonindividualcreativity.
Intheorganizationallevelanalysis,weincorporateemployeediversityatthefirmlevel.Now,forindividuallevelanalysis,weuseworkexperienceandeducationlevel.Østergaardetal.(II0I.I.)proposedhowtoanalyzeemployeediversityinmultipledimensions.Wespecificallyusetheworkexperienceandeducationbackgroundtoaccountforinherentdifferenceamongemployees.Itisintuitivethatahighereducationbackgroundleadstohigherlevelofindividualcreativity.Furthermore,moreworkexperiencesprobablyimpedethedevelopmentofcreativityduetoreluctancetochanges.
HypothesisVIa:Employee’sworkexperiencehasnegativeimpactonindividualcreativity.
HypothesisVIb:Employee’seducationbackgroundhaspositiveimpactonindividualcreativity.
Priorstudiesagreeduponthestrongrelationshipbetweenknowledgeandcreativity.Knowledgesharingoftenreferstoacommunicationprocess:whenanemployeeobtainsknowledgefromanothercolleague,he/sheneedstofollowuponknowledgere-build(HendriksI.IXIXIX).Ananalogytothisrelationshipistherelationshipbetweenfoundationsandbuildings,andonlywithenoughaccumulationofknowledgecanapersonbeinspiredbycreativity(WynderII00VII;SternbergandLubartI.IXIXV).SternbergandLubart(I.IXIXV)proposedthetheoryofcreativityinvestment.Theybelievecreativitydevelopmentneedsallkindsofresources,suchasintelligence,knowledge,logic,personality,motivation,andenvironment.Onlywithsufficientpresenceofalltheseresources,canthepotentialofcreativitybediscoveredandutilized.Therefore,wheninvestigatingtheimpactofsocialnetworkonemployeecreativity,wealsoincorporateknowledgesharingbehaviorofindividualemployee.Therefore,weproposethefollowinghypothesis.
HypothesisVII:Employee’sknowledgesharinghaspositiveimpactonindividualcreativity.
WeuseFig.IItoillustratethevisualmodelforanalyzingindividualcreativityincorporatingalltheabovehypotheses.
Fig.IIVisualmodelforindividualcreativity
版权保护: 本文由 hbsrm.com编辑，转载请保留链接: www.hbsrm.com/lwqt/wxzs/15.html
