Abstract
The "variance hypothesis" predicts that external search breadth leads to innovation outcomes, but people have limited attention for search and cultivating breadth consumes attention. How does individuals' search breadth affect innovation outcomes? How does individuals' allocation of attention affect the efficacy of search breadth? We matched survey data with complete patent records, to examine the search behaviors of elite boundary spanners at IBM. Surprisingly, individuals who allocated attention to people inside the firm were more innovative. Individuals with high external search breadth were more innovative only when they allocated more attention to those sources. Our research identifies limits to the "variance hypothesis" and reveals two successful approaches to innovation search: "cosmopolitans" who cultivate and attend to external people and "locals" who draw upon internal people.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 280-302 |
| Number of pages | 23 |
| Journal | Strategic Management Journal |
| Volume | 37 |
| Issue number | 2 |
| Early online date | 24 Oct 2014 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 1 Feb 2016 |
Funding
We thank Alfonso Gambardella and two anonymous reviewers for excellent comments throughout the review process. We are grateful to Robert Berry, Rashik Parmar, and their colleagues at IBM for ideas and for help with data collection. We thank the U.K.?s Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) for funding the work in the Innovation and Productivity Grand Challenge program. Without IBM and the EPSRC, we could not have carried out the empirical research for this paper. Oliver Alexy, Pierre Azoulay, Kira Fabrizio, Martin Gargiulo, Stine Grodal, Karin Hoisl, Keld Laursen, Fiona Murray, Ammon Salter, Kate Kellogg, Victor Seidel, Tim Simcoe, Anne ter Wal, Ezra Zuckerman, and seminar participants at ESMT, London Business School, MIT Sloan School, Stockholm School of Economics, Technical University of Munich, University of Chicago, and Tilburg University provided constructive comments on an earlier draft. All errors are ours alone.
Keywords
- attention
- boundary-spanning
- individuals
- innovation
- scientists
- search
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Business and International Management
- Strategy and Management