Scientific Blog
Ever wonder about the latest research in innovation management and entrepreneurship? Read on.
Do hybrid goals pay off for academic spin-offs?
Universities are a hotbed of knowledge, bringing forth new ventures known as academic spin-offs (ASOs). Such ASOs often pursue both economic and social goals, a concept known as goal hybridity. The authors of this Journal of Management Studies article analyze longitudinal data from 221 Norwegian ASOs, finding that goal hybridity and alignment with multiple stakeholders significantly enhances venture performance. Moreover, ASOs with multiple goals had greater survival chances than spin-offs that exclusively focus on either economic or social goals.
Read the full article: Abootorabi, H., Shankar, R. K., Rasmussen, E., & Wiklund, J. (2024). Do Hybrid Goals Pay off? Social and Economic Goals in Academic Spin‐Offs. Journal of Management Studies, 61(1), 110–140. https://doi.org/10.1111/joms.12967
Posted June 2024
We are stronger than our differences - we are family!
Social enterprises often navigate conflicting goals and practices due to their incorporation of multiple institutional logics. This case study of an ecological social enterprise in Malaysia (published in the Journal of Business Ethics) examines how an emergent family logic interacts with market and ecological logics, revealing both conflicts and synergies. The study highlights the role of family logic as a coping mechanism that helps the organization manage tensions between market and ecological demands. It finds that while family logic can introduce new, sometimes contradictory demands, it can also create synergies by generating new resources for shared goals.
Read the full article: Drencheva, A., & Au, W. C. (2023). Bringing the Family Logic in: From Duality to Plurality in Social Enterprises. Journal of Business Ethics, 182(1), 77–93. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-021-04968-0
Posted June 2024
Real innovation or just innovation theater? How to tell the difference
Foosball tables, bean bags, ideation hackathons – cool and fun aspects of many corporate innovation centers, accelerators, or incubators. But do they really help companies innovate better, or is it only fun “pretend play”? The authors of this recent Journal of Product Innovation Management article break down when innovation theater legitimizes vs delegitimizes innovation and when it supports vs detracts from implementation of innovation ideas.
Read the full article: Brattström, A., & Faems, D. (2024). Innovation theater in corporate venturing units: Cultural design as a (de) legitimizing mechanism. Journal of Product Innovation Management.https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jpim.12736
Posted May 2024
Businesses can lead the charge for global health
In a world where global health challenges loom large and ambitious targets are continuously set (and missed), the role of businesses in improving health is more crucial than ever. In a deep dive into the business-health literature, authors of a study published in Business & Society show that most research focuses on topics such as occupational health, healthcare organizations, and regulations, leaving a gap when it comes to understanding how businesses impact broader health issues. To fill this gap, the authors suggest future research that explores how businesses tackle health challenges, engage with communities, and ultimately, improve health outcomes for everyone, not just employees. Greater collaboration between business and public health researchers can maximize impact for both.
Read the full article: Park, J., Montiel, I., Husted, B. W., & Balarezo, R. (2022). The Grand Challenge of Human Health: A Review and an Urgent Call for Business–Health Research. Business & Society, 61(5), 1353–1415. https://doi.org/10.1177/00076503211073519
Posted May 2024
Want to join my team? Only if you are as passionate about being an entrepreneur as I am!
Fuzzy warm feelings or complementary skills? Those are frequent reasons for selecting new founder team members in early stage ventures. Examining 89 entrepreneurs navigating early-stage accelerator programs, the authors of a recent Journal of Business Venturing article found out that passion for founding a new venture is not only contagious in a cohort of entrepreneurs, but that entrepreneurs are more likely to select new team members that are similarly passionate.
Read the full article: Becker, K; Ebbers, J.J.; Engel, Y. (2023). Network to passion or passion to network? Disentangling entrepreneurial passion selection and contagion effects among peers and teams in a startup accelerator. Journal of Business Venturing, 38(4), 106299.https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusvent.2023.106299
Posted May 2024
New products co-developed with universities are more attractive to consumers (under certain circumstances)
Consumers appear to be more positively predisposed to new products that are in some form co-developed between industry (companies) and universities. In a set of studies with consumers in Germany, US, and UK, the authors of this Journal of Marketing article find that collaborating with a university confers a sense of “scientific legitimacy” onto the commercial firm launching the new product. In turn, consumers find the new product more attractive. This works particularly well if the new product is more high tech and consumers hold a stronger belief in science.
Read the full article: Maier, L., Schreier, M., Baccarella, C. V., & Voigt, K.-I. (2024). University Knowledge Inside: How and When University–Industry Collaborations Make New Products More Attractive to Consumers. Journal of Marketing, 88(2), 1-20. https://doi.org/10.1177/00222429231185313
Posted May 2024
Planning the next surprise to innovate?
How to deliberately create surprises that lead to unexpected opportunities and valuable discoveries is not always easy. This article explains serendipity and how, why and when organizations might leverage the value of making surprising and valuable discoveries (catalysts of innovations). The author suggests that making valuable discoveries requires three necessary conditions: agency (human-driven action), surprise (perception of something unexpected) and value (relative worth for someone). Does your organization support these conditions?
Read the full article: Busch, C. (2022). Towards a theory of serendipity: A systematic review and conceptualization. Journal of Management Studies, 61(3), 1110-1151https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/joms.12890
Posted May 2024
Not in the limelight: Pharmacist portrayals are surprisingly lacking in consumer-facing pharmacy magazines
Ever wondered how pharmacists are portrayed in one of Germany’s most-read magazines, the Apotheken Umschau? Turns out, pharmacists are not getting as much of the spotlight as doctors or researchers, even though they pay for the magazines to supply them to their customers free of charge. Also interesting: male healthcare professionals are quoted nearly twice as often as female ones, even though Germany’s healthcare system is predominantly female staffed. The authors (led by IIM doctoral candidate Alessandra Gessl) suggest that giving pharmacists more attention in this consumer magazine could help patients understand pharmacists’ expertise better and use their expanding services more effectively.
Read the full article: Gessl, A. S., Brodtka, N., Zhao, J., Gessl, N. (2024). Analyzing pharmacist representation in public-facing health media: Insights and implications. Research in Social and Administrative Pharmacy, 20(3), 353-362. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sapharm.2023.12.007
Posted May 2024
Do firms that talk about social value also create it?
Firms often talk about the strategic importance of creating social in additional to financial value. Yet, it is unclear what a strategic orientation towards social value creation entails and whether it differentiates firms in terms of their social-value related performance. Recent work by IIM researchers provides a conceptualization of Strategic Social Value Orientation consisting of three behavioral (leading the business with purpose, support of stakeholders, focus on consequences) and one shared belief (mutuality) components. Utilizing a novel linguistic, content-analytic measure of Strategic Social Value Orientation, the research analyzes annual letters to shareholders and sustainability ratings across 1580 firm-year observations, indicating that firms with a stronger Strategic Social Value Orientation show greater sustainability performance. The article explores commensurability of Strategic Social Value Orientation with related sustainability orientations, suggesting that future research prioritize more fine-grained assessments of social value and sustainability strategies and performance.
Read the full article: Marcelo F. de la Cruz, Jelena Spanjol, & Theresa Doppstadt (2024). Strategic social value orientation and sustainability performance: A commensuration perspective. Organization Studies, online first.
Posted April 2024
Leadership of innovation teams is more complex than you thought
Recent work by Craig L. Pearce (Pennsylvania State University) and Daan van Knippenberg (Rice University) published in the Journal of Product Innovation Management highlights the special leadership needs and dynamics of innovation teams. To get the best idea developed and implemented, Pearce and van Knippenberg argue that “moderated paradoxical leadership” is needed, delivering effective vertical and shared leadership over the long run and taking into account the different needs of teams as the innovation process unfolds.
Read the full article: Pearce, Craig L., & van Knippenberg, Daan (2023). Moderated paradoxical leadership: Resolving the innovation team leadership conundrum. Journal of Product Innovation Management, 41(1): 3–11.https://doi.org/10.1111/jpim.12713
Posted April 2024
Mind your words!
Corporate accelerators are designed to offer venture founders support to advance business models and market activities. Yet, expectations conveyed discursively by accelerator managers can sometimes stifle innovative ideas, as founds find themselves possibly converging into dominant models of entrepreneurship. Read more about how this happens.
Read the full article: Skade, Lorenzo, Matthias Wenzel, & Jochen Koch (2023).“Do as we Say and You'll Be Successful”: Mundane Power in Corporate Entrepreneurship. . Journal of Product Innovation Management, online first. https://doi.org/10.1111/jpim.12711
Posted April 2024