A selection of interesting research and articles we found recently on innovation and creativity.

Core values and beliefs in leading innovative organisations
Innovation is a key driving force for sustainability and growth even in the current economic global slowdown. At present hardly any studies show why innovation is successful at some organizations and yet fails to achieve the desired results at others. Sai Manohar and Shiv Pandit investigated the role of “core values and beliefs” of leading innovative companies in India and abroad on how they go about building a unique innovation culture to ensure their continuous growth even in troubled times.

Read further at: S. Sai Manohar and Shiv R. Pandit. 2014. Core Values and Beliefs: A Study of Leading Innovative Organizations.
Journal of Business Ethics, 125(4), 667-680.

 

Founders human capital matters for innovation
Masatoshi Kato, Hiroyuki Okamuro and Yuji Honjo used a questionnaire survey to explore whether, and how, founders’ human capital affects the innovation outcomes of start-ups in Japan. They showed that founders with greater human capital are more likely to yield innovation outcomes. Because certain types of human capital may boost research and development (R&D) investment, which possibly results in innovation outcomes, Kato et al. estimated the determinants of innovation outcomes by an instrumental variable model.

The findings suggest that specific human capital for innovation, such as prior innovation experience, is directly associated with innovation outcomes, whereas generic human capital, such as educational background, indirectly affects innovation outcomes through R&D investment.

For more insights, read the full article for free: Masatoshi Kato, Hiroyuki Okamuro and Yuji Honjo. 2015. Does Founders’ Human Capital Matter for Innovation? Evidence from Japanese Start-ups.
Journal of Small Business Management, 53(1), 114–128.

 

What is the state of play of innovation and creativity in organizations?
Creativity and innovation in any organization are vital to its successful performance. Neil Anderson, Kristina Potočnik and Jing Zhou review the rapidly growing body of research in this area with particular attention paid to the period 2002 to 2013, inclusive. Conceiving of both creativity and innovation as being integral parts of essentially the same process, they propose a new, integrative definition. They note that research into creativity has typically examined the stage of idea generation, whereas innovation studies have commonly also included the latter phase of idea implementation.

The authors discuss several seminal theories of creativity and innovation and then apply a comprehensive levels-of-analysis framework to review extant research into individual, team, organizational and multilevel innovation. Key measurement characteristics of the reviewed studies are then noted. In conclusion, Anderson and his colleagues propose a guiding framework for future research comprising 11 major themes and 60 specific questions for future studies.

See more: Neil Anderson, Kristina Potočnik, and Jing Zhou. 2014. Innovation and Creativity in Organizations: A State-of-the-Science Review, Prospective Commentary, and Guiding Framework.
Journal of Management, 40(5), 1297-1333.

 

Creativity under moral leadership
In a study from China, Qinxuan Gu, Thomas Li-Ping Tang and Wan Jiang explore the relationship between moral leadership and employee creativity, using employee identification with the leader and leader–member exchange (LMX) as two mediators. The authors develop a new theoretical model of employee creativity. Their data collected from 160 supervisor–subordinate dyads demonstrate that moral leadership is positively related to both employee identification with the leader and LMX.

Further, employee identification with the leader partially mediates the relationship between moral leadership and LMX. In particular, employee identification with leader greatly enhances LMX, which leads to high creativity. Overall, the relationship between moral leadership and employee creativity is mediated by not only employee identification with the leader but also by LMX. The fndings offer a new theoretical framework for future theory development and testing on creativity, as well as practical implications for researchers and managers in business ethics.

Read more in: Qinxuan Gu, Thomas Li-Ping Tang and Wan Jiang. 2015. Does Moral Leadership Enhance Employee Creativity? Employee Identification with Leader and Leader–Member Exchange (LMX) in the Chinese Context.
Journal of Business Ethics, 126(3), 513-529.

 

How do the best innovators do it? Special issue of Strategy & Leadership
Strategy & Leadership has devoted an entire issue (vol.43 issue 1) to innovation.  The following articles in this issue are aimed primarily at practitioners: