Is There a Doctor in the House? Expert Product Users, Organizational Roles, and Innovation

Riitta Katila, Sruthi Thatchenkery, Michael Quinn Christensen, Stefanos Zenios · 2017 · Academy of Management Journal

Summary. Surgeon-inventors and board members strengthen innovation in surgical instrument startups, but surgeon-executives often block it. The study of 231 ventures over 25 years shows expert users excel at generating diverse solutions but struggle with selecting the right ones for organizational strategy. Expertise backfires when organizational roles mismatch with expert capabilities, revealing how external dependencies shape young firm innovation.

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Katila, R., Thatchenkery, S., Christensen, M. Q., & Zenios, S.. (2017). Is There a Doctor in the House? Expert Product Users, Organizational Roles, and Innovation. Academy of Management Journal. https://doi.org/10.5465/amj.2014.1112

@article{katila-2017-there-doctor-house-expert-product,
  title   = {Is There a Doctor in the House? Expert Product Users, Organizational Roles, and Innovation},
  author  = {Riitta Katila and Sruthi Thatchenkery and Michael Quinn Christensen and Stefanos Zenios},
  journal = {Academy of Management Journal},
  year    = {2017},
  doi     = {10.5465/amj.2014.1112},
  url     = {https://doi.org/10.5465/amj.2014.1112}
}

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AU  - Sruthi Thatchenkery
AU  - Michael Quinn Christensen
AU  - Stefanos Zenios
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Details

DOI: 10.5465/amj.2014.1112
Countries: United States
Regions: North America
Categories: entrepreneurship, innovation-theory, general-innovation
Added: 2026-04-28