Outside in, inside out: The impact of knowledge heterogeneity, intra- and extra- organizational ties on innovative status

The purpose of this paper is to explore how what people know and whom they know outside their organization shapes their innovative status among their colleagues. We posit that individuals that have diverse, heterogeneous knowledge relative to their colleagues and who can draw upon diverse contacts from across and outside their organization will have high status among their colleagues for developing new, creative solutions. The analysis is based on a comprehensive study of the knowledge and networks in an office of consulting engineers. Implications and lines of extensions are outlined for future research and theories on networks and innovation.