The Influence of Hierarchy on Innovation and Idea Selection: A Process View
Dongil Daniel Keum, Kelly E. See · Academy of Management Proceedings · 2014
The relationship between group or organizational structure and innovation has been of longstanding scholarly interest, yet the empirical link has been inconsistent. We take a process view that separates out idea generation from idea selection in the innovation process to investigate the effect of hierarchy. Using a multi-method approach that includes a field study and a lab experiment, we argue and find that hierarchical structure is detrimental to the idea generation or creative tasks of innovation, but that hierarchy can be beneficial during the screening or selection phase of innovation. We also propose selection capability as a critical organizational capability that needs to be strategically developed and managed through organizational design. Our findings help refine the theoretical relationship between structure and innovation and highlight important economic and behavioral implications.