IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/techno/v84-85y2019ip71-85.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Forward-looking search during innovation projects: Under which conditions it impacts innovativeness

Author

Listed:
  • Jissink, Tymen
  • Schweitzer, Fiona
  • Rohrbeck, René

Abstract

There is growing research interest in understanding the impact of search and the evaluation of information on markets, customers, and technologies. If search has an explicit future focus, this paper refers to it as forward-looking search. Previous research has focussed on the firm or innovation portfolio level. Little research has investigated whether forward-looking search practices occur during innovation projects and whether they may contribute towards a project's innovativeness. This paper follows the bounded rationality assumption, which views decision makers as lacking complete knowledge and anticipation of the consequences of their decision. The current study posits that project teams must engage in forward-looking search during project development to ensure their project's innovativeness. However, this paper argues that this is only relevant if there is 1) room in project planning to facilitate forward-looking search, 2) slack resources available to implement such changes, and 3) a dynamic external environment. The data on 159 unique innovation projects from the Danish manufacturing industry show that forward-looking search significantly impacts innovativeness. Furthermore, this study finds that project planning and slack resources moderate this relationship, while industry concentration has no moderating influence. These findings suggest that to increase the innovativeness of projects, continuous forward-looking planning should retain room for flexibility and slack budgets for project adjustment during execution.

Suggested Citation

  • Jissink, Tymen & Schweitzer, Fiona & Rohrbeck, René, 2019. "Forward-looking search during innovation projects: Under which conditions it impacts innovativeness," Technovation, Elsevier, vol. 84, pages 71-85.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:techno:v:84-85:y:2019:i::p:71-85
    DOI: 10.1016/j.technovation.2018.07.001
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0166497217305229
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.technovation.2018.07.001?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. James G. March, 1991. "Exploration and Exploitation in Organizational Learning," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 2(1), pages 71-87, February.
    2. Rohrbeck, Rene & Arnold, Heinrich M. & Heuer, Jörg, 2007. "Strategic Foresight in multinational enterprises – a case study on the Deutsche Telekom Laboratories," MPRA Paper 5700, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    3. Richard L Daft & Juhani Sormunen & Don Parks, 1988. "Chief executive scanning, environmental characteristics, and company performance: An empirical study," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 9(2), pages 123-139, March.
    4. Linus Dahlander & Siobhan O'Mahony & David M. Gann, 2016. "One foot in, one foot out: how does individuals' external search breadth affect innovation outcomes?," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 37(2), pages 280-302, February.
    5. Timothy B. Palmer & Robert M. Wiseman, 1999. "Decoupling risk taking from income stream uncertainty: a holistic model of risk," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 20(11), pages 1037-1062, November.
    6. John Hauser & Gerard J. Tellis & Abbie Griffin, 2006. "Research on Innovation: A Review and Agenda for," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 25(6), pages 687-717, 11-12.
    7. Henk W. Volberda & Niels van der Weerdt & Ernst Verwaal & Marten Stienstra & Antonio J. Verdu, 2012. "Contingency Fit, Institutional Fit, and Firm Performance: A Metafit Approach to Organization–Environment Relationships," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 23(4), pages 1040-1054, August.
    8. Daniel A. Levinthal & James G. March, 1993. "The myopia of learning," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 14(S2), pages 95-112, December.
    9. Josh Lerner & Morten Sorensen & Per Strömberg, 2011. "Private Equity and Long‐Run Investment: The Case of Innovation," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 66(2), pages 445-477, April.
    10. Jarvis, Cheryl Burke & MacKenzie, Scott B & Podsakoff, Philip M, 2003. "A Critical Review of Construct Indicators and Measurement Model Misspecification in Marketing and Consumer Research," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 30(2), pages 199-218, September.
    11. Bikker, Jacob A. & Haaf, Katharina, 2002. "Competition, concentration and their relationship: An empirical analysis of the banking industry," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 26(11), pages 2191-2214, November.
    12. Arora, Ashish & Gambardella, Alfonso, 1994. "The changing technology of technological change: general and abstract knowledge and the division of innovative labour," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 23(5), pages 523-532, September.
    13. Frankort, Hans T.W., 2016. "When does knowledge acquisition in R&D alliances increase new product development? The moderating roles of technological relatedness and product-market competition," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 45(1), pages 291-302.
    14. Rohrbeck, René & Kum, Menes Etingue, 2018. "Corporate foresight and its impact on firm performance: A longitudinal analysis," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 129(C), pages 105-116.
    15. Brem, Alexander & Nylund, Petra A. & Schuster, Gerd, 2016. "Innovation and de facto standardization: The influence of dominant design on innovative performance, radical innovation, and process innovation," Technovation, Elsevier, vol. 50, pages 79-88.
    16. Daniel A. Levinthal, 1997. "Adaptation on Rugged Landscapes," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 43(7), pages 934-950, July.
    17. Levinthal, Daniel & March, James G., 1981. "A model of adaptive organizational search," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 2(4), pages 307-333, December.
    18. Sauer, Andreas & Thielmann, Axel & Isenmann, Ralf, 2017. "Modularity in Roadmapping – Integrated foresight of technologies, products, applications, markets and society: The case of “Lithium Ion Battery LIB 2015”," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 125(C), pages 321-333.
    19. Sarah Kaplan & Wanda J. Orlikowski, 2013. "Temporal Work in Strategy Making," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 24(4), pages 965-995, August.
    20. Wei-Ru Chen, 2008. "Determinants of Firms' Backward- and Forward-Looking R&D Search Behavior," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 19(4), pages 609-622, August.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Jan Oliver Schwarz & René Rohrbeck & Bernhard Wach, 2020. "Corporate foresight as a microfoundation of dynamic capabilities," Futures & Foresight Science, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 2(2), June.
    2. Sakellariou, Evy & Vecchiato, Riccardo, 2022. "Foresight, sensemaking, and new product development: Constructing meanings for the future," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 184(C).
    3. Afnan Zafar, 2020. "Reasons for outsourcing innovations and its effect on firm performance: Evidence from highly innovative firms from twenty countries," Technium Social Sciences Journal, Technium Science, vol. 13(1), pages 305-319, November.
    4. Mu, Yu & Bossink, Bart & Vinig, Tsvi, 2022. "Developing a classification scheme of service innovation," Annals of Tourism Research, Elsevier, vol. 95(C).
    5. Walrave, Bob & Gilsing, Victor A., 2023. "Game of skill or game of luck? Distant search in response to performance feedback," Technovation, Elsevier, vol. 121(C).
    6. Su, Jingqin & Zhang, Yajie & Wu, Xianyun, 2023. "How market pressures and organizational readiness drive digital marketing adoption strategies' evolution in small and medium enterprises," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 193(C).
    7. Gozuacik, Necip & Sakar, C. Okan & Ozcan, Sercan, 2023. "Technological forecasting based on estimation of word embedding matrix using LSTM networks," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 191(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Yang, Hongyan & Steensma, H. Kevin, 2014. "When do firms rely on their knowledge spillover recipients for guidance in exploring unfamiliar knowledge?," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 43(9), pages 1496-1507.
    2. Choi, Jaeho & Rhee, Mooweon & Kim, Young-Choon, 2019. "Performance feedback and problemistic search: The moderating effects of managerial and board outsiderness," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 102(C), pages 21-33.
    3. Heuschneider, Sara & Herstatt, Cornelius, 2016. "External search for exploration of future discontinuities and trends: Implications from the literature using co-citation and content analysis," Working Papers 92, Hamburg University of Technology (TUHH), Institute for Technology and Innovation Management.
    4. Christina Fang & Daniel Levinthal, 2009. "Near-Term Liability of Exploitation: Exploration and Exploitation in Multistage Problems," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 20(3), pages 538-551, June.
    5. Christina Fang & Jeho Lee & Melissa A. Schilling, 2010. "Balancing Exploration and Exploitation Through Structural Design: The Isolation of Subgroups and Organizational Learning," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 21(3), pages 625-642, June.
    6. Linda Argote & Sunkee Lee & Jisoo Park, 2021. "Organizational Learning Processes and Outcomes: Major Findings and Future Research Directions," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 67(9), pages 5399-5429, September.
    7. Gatti, Corrado & Volpe, Loredana & Vagnani, Gianluca, 2015. "Interdependence among productive activities: Implications for exploration and exploitation," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 68(3), pages 711-722.
    8. Alessandri, Todd M. & Pattit, Jason M., 2014. "Drivers of R&D investment: The interaction of behavioral theory and managerial incentives," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 67(2), pages 151-158.
    9. James H. Moore & Matthew S. Kraatz, 2011. "Governance Form and Organizational Adaptation: Lessons from the Savings and Loan Industry in the 1980s," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 22(4), pages 850-868, August.
    10. Lampert, Curba Morris & Kim, Minyoung, 2019. "Going far to go further: Offshoring, exploration, and R&D performance," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 103(C), pages 376-386.
    11. Johannes G. Jaspersen & Richard Peter, 2017. "Experiential Learning, Competitive Selection, and Downside Risk: A New Perspective on Managerial Risk Taking," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 28(5), pages 915-930, October.
    12. Beverly B. Tyler & Turanay Caner, 2016. "New product introductions below aspirations, slack and R&D alliances: A behavioral perspective," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 37(5), pages 896-910, May.
    13. Hazhir Rahmandad, 2008. "Effect of Delays on Complexity of Organizational Learning," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 54(7), pages 1297-1312, July.
    14. Telma Mendes & Vítor Braga & Carina Silva & Vanessa Ratten, 2023. "Taking a closer look at the regionally clustered firms: How can ambidexterity explain the link between management, entrepreneurship, and innovation in a post-industrialized world?," The Journal of Technology Transfer, Springer, vol. 48(6), pages 2007-2053, December.
    15. Inseong Song & Jonghoon Bae, 2016. "Politics, strong institution and competitive advantage: an examination of organizational aspiration for competition," Computational and Mathematical Organization Theory, Springer, vol. 22(4), pages 412-443, December.
    16. Bae, Joonhyung & Ozmel, Umit, 2024. "The interplay between product development failures and alliance portfolio properties in the formation of exploration versus exploitation alliances," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 177(C).
    17. Sasanka Sekhar Chanda, 2017. "Inferring final organizational outcomes from intermediate outcomes of exploration and exploitation: the complexity link," Computational and Mathematical Organization Theory, Springer, vol. 23(1), pages 61-93, March.
    18. Jerker Denrell & James G. March, 2001. "Adaptation as Information Restriction: The Hot Stove Effect," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 12(5), pages 523-538, October.
    19. Wei-Ru Chen, 2008. "Determinants of Firms' Backward- and Forward-Looking R&D Search Behavior," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 19(4), pages 609-622, August.
    20. Daniel A. Levinthal, 2020. "Learning in context: Grateful reflections on reflections," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 51(9), pages 1529-1531, December.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:techno:v:84-85:y:2019:i::p:71-85. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/01664972 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.