Mulhuijzen, Max
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Mulhuijzen, Max
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Mulhuijzen, Max
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Item type:Publication, The nature of underground innovation: Missionary, user, and exploratory orientationBootlegging and creative deviance studies have described “underground” innovations, which employees develop without managerial consent but with company benefits in mind. This phenomenon is explained by structural strain theory: when organizations have innovative goals but limited resources, some employees may pursue these goals without permission. Anecdotal observations, however, reveal underground employee behaviors that do not fit this pattern; underground innovations may serve different purposes and remain permanently invisible. We therefore conducted an explorative study of why and how employees develop underground innovations. Based on interviews and survey data at a multinational automotive company, underground innovations have three orientations: missionary (aimed to change company practices), user (to solve work problems), and exploratory (to cater to developers' passion for exploration). The three orientations differ in their involvement of others, deployed resources, and dissemination efforts. Without missionary orientation, underground innovations are not proactively diffused, inhibiting organizations from reaping their full benefits. We infer a refined theory based on constraints that prevent employees from being openly proactive. Specifically, underground innovation may be triggered by 1. lacking resources to pursue organizational innovation goals, 2. lacking resources and thresholds to improve work processes, and 3. the organization's inability to match work tasks with innovation workers' preferences. The last two constraints are easily overlooked, and organizations will capture more value from their human capital by stimulating the diffusion of user and exploratory-oriented projects.journal articleBand:58Heft:110 - Some of the metrics are blocked by yourconsent settings
Item type:Publication, Underground Innovation: Missionary, User and Lifestyle projectsUnderground innovation has been known to exist already for decades, but its full scope has not yet been mapped. Evidence from unconnected literatures (bootlegging, creative deviance, user innovation, open-source) suggest that multiple types of underground innovation exist, and not always done with organizational benefit as primary driver. We apply a mixed-method approach (interviews, surveys) in the context of a multinational organization concerned with R&D and product development. Three types of underground innovation are identified: missionary (marked by high diffusion persistency to change a company product or practice), user (initiated to solve personal problems at work) and lifestyle (driven by passion for innovation). Comparing these types we detect differences in objects of innovation, involvement of others, employed resources, and diffusion efforts. We discuss that underground innovation includes previously unconnected literatures, and emerges from employees driven by organizational adoption, personal use value, or benefits derived from the innovation process itself.journal article121