Our article makes three contributions to the literature. First, while previous research on creativity and innovation has focused on individuals and teams, we investigate creative dyads. Second, we consider not only benefits that knowledge workers gain from resourceful partners but also tie-related costs that both partners incur. As a result we develop a research framework in which a dyad’s creative performance is explained by the amount of knowledge that the tie partners exchange, the level of responsiveness among them, and the efficiency of knowledge-related collaboration. We test empirically hypotheses drawn from this framework, collecting data on 1128 possible non-directed ties among employees directly involved in the new product development of a medium-sized German aerospace company and analyzing these data using the Multiple Regression Quadratic Assignment Procedure (MRQAP). In the final sections we discuss managerial consequences, limitations of our study, and directions of future research.
Acedo FJ, Barroso C., Casanueva C., and Galán JL ( 2006) Co-authorship in management and organizational studies: An empirical and network analysis. Journal of Management Studies43(5): 957-983.
2.
Allen T. ( 1970) Communication networks in R&D labs. R&D Management1(1): 14-21.
3.
Allen J., Andrew DJ, and Gamen P. ( 2007) Formal versus informal knowledge networks in R&D: A case study using social network analysis. R&D Management37(3): 179-196.
4.
Amabile TM ( 1988) A model of creativity and innovation in organizations . In: Staw BM, Cummings LL (eds) Research in Organizational Behaviour , vol. 10. Greenwich, CT: JAI Press, 123-167.
5.
Amabile TM, Conti R., Coon H., Lazenby J., and Herron M. ( 1996) Assessing the work environment for creativity. Academy of Management Journal39(5): 1154-1184.
6.
Ancona DG, Bresman H., and Kaeufer K. ( 2002) The comparative advantage of x-teams. Sloan Management Review43(3): 33-39.
7.
Ancona DG, Caldwell D. ( 1992) Bridging the boundary: External activity and performance in organisational teams. Administrative Science Quarterly37(4): 634-675.
8.
Arthur MB, Rousseau DM ( 1996) The Boundaryless Career: A New Employment Principle for a New Organizational Era. New York: Oxford University Press.
9.
Axelrod B., Handfield-Jones H., and Welsh T. ( 2001) War for talent, part two. McKinsey Quarterly2(1): 9-11.
10.
Bae J., Koo J. ( 2008) Information loss, knowledge transfer cost and the value of social relations. Strategic Organization6(3): 227-258.
11.
Becker G. ( 2002) The age of human capital. In: Lazear EP (ed.) Education in the 21st Century. Stanford, CA: Hoover Institution Press, 3-8. Available at: http://media.hoover.org/documents/0817928928_3.pdf.
12.
Benbasat I., Lim LH ( 1993) The effects of group, task, context, and technology variables on the usefulness of group support systems: A meta-analysis of experimental studies. Small Group Research24(4): 430-462.
13.
Berscheid E. ( 1999) The greening of relationship science. American Psychologist54(4), S.260-266.
14.
Borgatti SP, Everett MG, and Freeman LC ( 2002) Ucinet for Windows: Software for Social Network Analysis . Harvard, MA: Analytic Technologies .
15.
Borgatti SP, Foster PC ( 2003) The network paradigm in organizational research: A review and typology. Journal of Management29(6): 991-1013.
16.
Brass DJ ( 1996) Creativity: It’s all in your social network. In: Ford CM, Gioia DA (eds) Creative Action in Organizations: Ivory Tower Visions & Real World Voices. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE, 94-105.
17.
Brass DJ, Labianca G. ( 1999) Social capital, social liabilities, and social resources management. In: Leenders RT, Gabbay SM (eds) Corporate Social Capital and Liability. Boston, MA: Kluwer , 322-338.
18.
Bundesagentur für Arbeit (2007) Flyer Maschinenbauingenieure 2008, available at: http://www.pub.arbeitsamt.de/hst/services/statistik/000100/html/sonder/flyer_maschinenbauingenieure_2008.pdf (accessed 10 January 2009).
19.
Burt R. ( 2001) Structural holes versus network closure as social capital . In: Lin N, Cook K, and Burt RS (eds) Social Capital: Theory and Research. New York: Aldine De Gruyter, 31-56.
20.
Burt R. ( 2004) Structural holes and good ideas. American Journal of Sociology110(2): 349-399.
21.
Business Week ( 2008) How Google fuels its idea factory, 29 April, available at: http://www.businessweek.com/print/magazine/content/08_19/b4083054277984.htm .
22.
Chesbrough H. ( 2003) Open Innovation: The New Imperative for Creating and Profiting from Technology. Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press.
23.
Cohen WM, Levinthal DA ( 1990) Absorptive capacity: A new perspective on learning and innovation. Administrative Science Quarterly35(1): 128-152.
24.
Committee for Study of Invention (2003) The Architecture of Invention: Individual Workshop Report. Workshop held at MIT, August, supported by the Lemelson-MIT Program and the National Science Foundation. Available at: http://web.mit.edu/invent/n-pressreleases/downloads/architecture.pdf.
25.
Cooper RG, Kleinschmidt EJ ( 1995) Benchmarking the firm’s critical success factors in new product development. Journal of Product Innovation Management12(5): 374-391.
26.
Crabtree S. ( 2004) Getting personal in the workplace. Gallup Management Journal Online, 10 June.
27.
Cross R., Cummings JN ( 2004) Tie and network correlates of individual performance in knowledge-intensive work. Academy of Management Journal47(6): 928-937.
28.
Cross R., Parker A., Prusak L., and Borgatti SP ( 2001) Knowing what we know: Supporting knowledge creation and sharing in social networks. Organizational Dynamics30(2): 100-120.
29.
Cross R., Sproull L. ( 2004) More than an answer: Information relationships for actionable knowledge. Organization Science15(4): 446-462.
30.
Csikszentmihalyi M., Sawyer KR ( 1995) Creative insight: The social dimension of a solitary moment . In: Sternberg RJ, Davidson JE (eds) The Nature of Insight. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 329-362.
31.
Davis SJ, Faberman, RJ, and Haltiwanger J. ( 2005) The flow approach to labor markets: New data sources, micro-macro links and the recent downturn. Discussion paper series IZA DP No. 1639, Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit, Institute for the Study of Labor, June.
32.
Dougherty D. ( 1992) Interpretative barriers to successful product innovation in large firms. Organization Science3(2): 179-202.
33.
Drucker PF ( 1999) Knowledge-worker productivity: The biggest challenge. California Management Review41(2): 79-94.
34.
Dunbar KN ( 1999) Science. In: Runco M, Pritzker S (eds) The Encyclopedia of Creativity, vol. 1. San Diego, CA: Academic Press, 1379-1384. Available at: http://www.dartmouth.edu/~kndunbar/publications.html.
35.
Ernst H. ( 2002) Success factors of new product development: A review of the empirical literature. International Journal of Management Reviews4(1): 1-40.
36.
Feeney MK, Bozeman B. ( 2008) Mentoring and network ties. Human Relations61(12): 1651-1676.
37.
Fehr E., Fischbacher U. ( 2003) The nature of human altruism. Nature425(23 October): 785-791.
38.
Fehr E., Gächter S. ( 1998) Reciprocity and economics: The economic implications of Homo Reciprocans. European Economic Review42(3): 845-859.
39.
Fehr E., Fischbacher U., and Gächter S. ( 2002) Strong reciprocity, human cooperation, and the enforcement of social norms. Human Nature13(1): 1-25.
40.
Finholt T., Sproull LS ( 1990) Electronic groups at work. Organisation Science1(1): 41-64.
41.
Fleming L., Mingo S., and Chen D. ( 2007) Collaborative brokerage, generative creativity, and creative success. Administrative Science Quarterly52(3): 443-475.
42.
Fliaster A. ( 2007) Innovationen in Netzwerken: Wie Humankapital und Sozialkapital zu kreativen Ideen führen. München and Mering : Rainer Hampp Verlag.
43.
Fliaster A., Spiess J. ( 2008) Knowledge mobilization through social ties: The cost benefit analysis. Schmalenbach Business Review60(1): 99-117.
44.
Ford CM ( 1996) Striking inspirational sparks and fanning creative flames: A multi-domain model of creative action taking. In: Goia DA, Ford CM (eds) Creative Action in Organizations: Ivory Tower Visions & Real World Voices . Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE, 330-354.
45.
Frey BS, Osterloh M. ( 2001) Motivation - A dual-edged factor of production. In: Frey BS, Osterloh M (eds) Successful Management by Motivation. Balancing Intrinsic and Extrinsic Incentives. Wiesbaden: Springer, 3-26.
46.
Gabbay SM, Leenders Rtaj ( 2001) Social capital of organizations: From social structure to the management of corporate social capital. In: Gabbay SM, Leenders RTAJ (eds) Social Capital of Organizations/Research in the Sociology of Organizations , vol. 18. Amsterdam: Elsevier Science, 1-20.
47.
Gallup Management Journal (2006) Gallup study: Engaged employees inspire company innovation, 12 October, available at: http://gmj.gallup.com.
48.
Garber M. ( 2002) Our genius problem. The Atlantic Monthly , December, available at: http://www.theatlantic.com/issues/2002/12/garber.htm .
49.
Gargiulo M., Benassi M. ( 1999) The dark side of social capital. In: Leenders RT, Gabbay SM (eds) Corporate Social Capital and Liability. Boston: Kluwer, 298-322.
50.
Gouldner AW ( 1960) The norm of reciprocity: A preliminary statement. American Sociological Review25(2): 161-178.
51.
Granovetter MS ( 1973) The strength of weak ties. American Journal of Sociology78(6): 1360-1380.
52.
Granovetter MS ( 1992) Problems of explanation in economic sociology. In: Nohria N, Eccles RG (eds) Networks and Organizations: Structure, Form and Action. Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press, 25-56.
53.
Griffin A., Hauser JR ( 1996) Integrating R&D and marketing: A review and analysis of the literature. Journal of Product Innovation Management13(3): 191-215.
54.
Guthridge M., Komm AB, and Lawson E. ( 2008) Making talent a strategic priority. McKinsey Quarterly1(1): 48-59.
55.
Hansen MT ( 1999) The search-transfer problem: The role of weak ties in sharing knowledge across organization subunits. Administrative Science Quarterly44(1): 82-111.
56.
Hansen MT, Podolny JM, and Pfeffer J. ( 2001) So many ties, so little time: A task contingency perspective on corporate social capital in organizations. In: Gabbay SM, Leenders RTAJ (eds) Social Capital of Organizations/Research in the Sociology of Organizations , vol. 18. Amsterdam: Elsevier Science, 21-57.
57.
Hargadon A. ( 2003) How Breakthroughs Happen: The Surprising Truth About How Companies Innovate. Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press.
58.
Harris MM, Schaubroeck J. ( 1998) A meta-analysis of self-supervisor, self-peer, and peer-supervisor ratings. Personnel Psychology41(1): 43-62.
59.
Hinds PJ, Carley KM, and Krackhardt D. ( 2000) Choosing work group members: Balancing similarity, competence, and familiarity. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes81(2): 226-251.
60.
Hoegl M., Gemuenden HG ( 2001) Teamwork quality and the success of innovative projects: A theoretical concept and empirical evidence. Organization Science12(4): 435-449.
61.
Huxham C., Vangen S. ( 2000) Ambiguity, complexity and dynamics in the membership of collaboration. Human Relations53(6): 771-806.
62.
Huxham C., Vangen S. ( 2005) Managing to Collaborate: The Theory and Practice of Collaborative Advantage. New York: Routledge.
63.
Jehn KA, Shah PP ( 1997) Interpersonal relationships and task performance: An examination of mediating processes in friendship and acquaintance groups. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology72(4): 775-790.
64.
Kelley R., Caplan J. ( 1993) How Bell Labs creates star performers. Harvard Business Review71(4): 128-139.
65.
Kilduff M., Krackhardt D. ( 1994) Bringing the individual back in: A structural analysis of the internal market for reputation in organizations. Academy of Management Journal37(1): 87-108.
66.
Kogut B., Zander U. ( 1992) Knowledge of the firm, combinative capabilities, and the replication of technology. Organization Science3(3): 383-397.
67.
Krackhardt D. ( 1988) Predicting with networks: Nonparametric multiple regression analysis of dyadic data. Social Networks10(4): 359-381.
68.
Krackhardt D., Hanson JR ( 1993) Informal networks: The company. Harvard Business Review, July/August, pp. 104-111.
69.
Labianca G., Brass DJ, and Gray B. ( 1998) Social networks and perceptions of inter-group conflict: The role of negative relationships and third parties. Academy of Management Journal41(1): 55-67.
70.
Laughlin PR, Bitz DS ( 1975) Individual versus dyadic performance on a disjunctive task as a function of initial ability level. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology31(3): 487-496.
71.
Laumann EO, Marsden PV, and Prensky D. ( 1983) The boundary specification problem in network analysis . In: Burt RS, Minor MJ (eds) Applied Network Analysis. Beverly Hills, CA: SAGE, 18-34.
72.
Lin N. ( 1999) Building a network theory of social capital. Connections22(1): 28-51.
73.
Lin N, Cook K, and Burt RS (eds) (2001) Social Capital: Theory and Research. New York: Aldine De Gruyter.
74.
McPherson M., Smith-Lovin L., and Cook JM ( 2001) Birds of a feather: Homophily in social networks. Annual Review of Sociology27(1): 415-444.
75.
Mednick S. ( 1962) The associative basis of the creative process. Psychological Review69(3): 220-232.
76.
Mehra A., Kilduff M., and Brass DJ ( 2001) The social networks of high and low self-monitors: Implications for workplace performance. Administrative Science Quarterly46(1): 121-146.
77.
Mumford MD, Whetzel DL, and Reiter-Palmon R. (1997) Thinking creativity at work: Organization influences on creative problem solving. Journal of Creative Behavior31(1): 7-17.
78.
Nahapiet J., Ghoshal S. ( 1998) Social capital, intellectual capital, and the organizational advantage. Academy of Management Review, 23(2): 242-266.
79.
Nonaka I., Takeuchi H. ( 1995) The Knowledge-Creating Company: How Japanese Companies Create the Dynamics of Innovation. New York and Oxford : Oxford University Press.
80.
Oldham GR, Cummings S. ( 1996) Employee creativity: Personal and contextual factors at work. Academy of Management Journal39(3): 607-634.
81.
Perry-Smith JE ( 2006) Social yet creative: The role of social relationships in facilitating individual creativity. Academy of Management Journal49(1): 85-101.
82.
Podolny JM, Baron JN ( 1997) Resources and relationships: Social networks and mobility in the workplace. American Sociological Review62(5): 673-693.
83.
Portes A. ( 1998) Social capital: Its origins and applications in modern sociology. Annual Review of Sociology24(1): 1-24.
84.
Reagans R., McEvily B. ( 2003) Network structure and knowledge transfer: The effects of cohesion and range. Administrative Science Quarterly48(2): 240-267.
85.
Reagans R., Zuckerman E. ( 2001) Networks, diversity, and productivity: The social capital of corporate R&D teams. Organization Science12(4): 502-517.
86.
Ringo T., Schweyer A., DeMarco M., Jones R., and Lesser E. ( 2008) Integrated talent management. IBM Global Business Services, available at: http://www.-935.ibm.com/services/us/index.wss/ibvstudy/gbs/a1029981?ca=rss_bcs.
87.
Schuller T. ( 2001) The complementary roles of human and social capital. ISUMA (Canadian Journal of Policy Research)2(1): 18-24.
88.
Schumpeter J. ( 1964) Theorie der wirtschaftlichen Entwicklung, unveränderter Nachdruck der 1934 erschienenen 4. Berlin: Auflage.
89.
Seibert SE, Kraimer ML, and Liden RC ( 2001) A social capital theory of career success. Academy of Management Journal44(2): 219-237.
90.
Shiflett S. ( 1976) Dyadic performance on two tasks as a function of task difficulty, work strategy, and member ability. Journal of Applied Psychology61(4): 455-462.
91.
Simon H. ( 1996) Hidden Champions: Lessons from 500 of the World’s Best Unknown Companies. Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press.
92.
Simonton DK ( 2000) Creativity: Cognitive, personal, developmental, and social aspects. American Psychologist55(1): 151-158.
93.
Sparrow RT, Liden RC, Wayne SJ, and Kraimer ML ( 2001) Social networks and the performance of individuals and groups. Academy of Management Journal44(2): 316-325.
94.
Sternberg RJ ( 1988) A three-facet model of creativity. In: Sternberg RJ (ed.) The Nature of Creativity . Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 125-148.
95.
Sternberg RJ, Lubart T. ( 1996) Investing in creativity. American Psychologist51(7): 677-688.
96.
Sullivan SE ( 1999) The changing nature of careers: A review and research agenda. Journal of Management25(3): 457-484.
97.
Tsai W., Ghoshal S. ( 1998) Social capital and value creation: The role of intrafirm networks, Academy of Management Journal41(4): 464-476.
98.
Tushman ML ( 1979) Managing communication networks in R&D laboratories . Sloan Management Review20(2): 37-49.
99.
Tushman ML, Scanlan TJ ( 1981) Boundary spanning individuals: Their role in information transfer and their antecedents. Academy of Management Journal24(2): 289-305.
100.
Venkataramani V., Dalal RS ( 2007) Who helps and harms whom? Relational antecedents of interpersonal helping and harming in organizations. Journal of Applied Psychology92(4): 952-966.
101.
von Wartburg I., Teichert T., and Rost K. ( 2005) Inventive progress measured by multi-stage patent citation analysis. Research Policy34(10): 1591-1607.
102.
Wassermann S., Faust K. ( 1994) Social Network Analysis: Methods and Application. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994.
103.
Willem A., Scarbrough H. ( 2006) Social capital and political bias in knowledge sharing: An exploratory study. Human Relations59(10): 1343-1370.
