Creator or Integrator? Knowledge and Representation Types in Core Teams in the K-Pop Industry

Abstract

Idea creation and integration are the two pillars of producing creative works, but prior studies have only examined their relationship with innovation performance from one side. This study combines the idea creation and integration perspectives for innovation activities. We distinguish between explicit and implicit ideas and investigate types of product representations as a bifurcation to draw a line between the creator and integrator roles of core teams. Our hypotheses are tested in the context of the Korean popular music industry. The analysis reveals that the core team plays an integrator role when dealing with explicit ideas. Further, a flexible representation shifts the core team’s balance to an integrator role, whereas an inflexible one shifts it to a creator role for generic ideas. This study contributes to our understanding of the tension between idea creation and integration and provides a practical implication for resolving the dilemma between them.