Antecedents of Intra Organization Network Characteristic that Enable Firm Innovation

Abstract

Nurturing innovation within an organization is a critical issue for management as it ensures profitability, growth and survival of firms. Scholars have been researching to understand and explain the causes of innovation. The biggest challenge in managing organizational innovation is to nurture organizational networks that enable exchange of information. This study is an attempt to integrate dynamic capabilities, network theory (strong-ties and weak ties) and theory of reasoned actions. This study investigates the role of employee motivation (autonomous, impersonal & controlled), organizational climate (trust, saftey, norms) and organzation learning as antecedents of an organizational network (density, multiplixity, type) that impacts organziational innovation (type of innovation, rate of innovation, form of innovation). The proposed theoritical model was empirically tested using data from 225 innovative organizations. Findings suggest that organizational network is one of the drivers for organizational innovation. The study further establishes that Employee motivation and organizational climate of firms is mediated by organizational network and organizational learning for organizational innovation. We found that organizational learning and organizational network independently influence organizational innovation. This study could not establish a statistically significant relation between motivation and organizational network due to interaction effect between extrinsic and intrinsic motivation on organization network. Theoretical, managerial and organizational policy implications of these findings are discussed and areas for future research are proposed.