Innovation and influence: How individuals and organizations make use of multiple network structures to increase creativity and diffusion.

摘要

Innovations must be created and diffused to benefit organizations, a process that has been shown to require multiple network structures. Yet, scholars have done little to examine how both structural hole networks and closed networks can be developed and utilized by either organizations or the individuals that make them up. Using a systematic review methodology, this dissertation investigates how individuals and organizations are able to make use of bridging and bonding network structures simultaneously, thereby increasing both the creation and diffusion of innovation. As a result of this research, it can be surmised that organizations and individuals make use of multiple network structures differently. This study contributes to the conversation around trust, innovation, and social capital by furthering our understanding of how a portfolio of ties helps organizations access both boundary spanning networks and strong-tie networks simultaneously. Furthermore, this systematic review introduces a new tie type---the unidirectional tie---that takes a more nuanced approach to the exchange of social capital by allowing for the possibility of nonreciprocal trust where information and trust flow in only one direction between actors.