← All articles

Photo · Gordon More

With a Little Help from Our Colleagues: A Longitudinal Study of Social Networks for Innovation

Bob Kijkuit, Jan van den Ende · 2010 · Organization Studies

Summary. This longitudinal study tracks social networks within new product development teams across two research laboratories. The research challenges the conventional wisdom that sparse networks with weak ties drive innovation. Instead, the authors find that strong ties, network density, and cross-unit relationships significantly improve idea adoption chances during early development phases. They recommend organizations actively promote communication between colleagues across different units to enhance innovation outcomes.

Read the original

Cite this article

Kijkuit, B., & Ende, J. V. D.. (2010). With a Little Help from Our Colleagues: A Longitudinal Study of Social Networks for Innovation. Organization Studies. https://doi.org/10.1177/0170840609357398

Details

DOI
10.1177/0170840609357398
Countries
Netherlands
Regions
Europe
Categories
innovation-networks, innovation-theory, general-innovation
Added
2026-04-28