Idea championing as the missing link between idea generation and team innovation implementation

Abstract

The paper examines idea championing as the missing link between idea generation and idea implementation in work teams. Building upon multilevel theory we theorize and test emergence patterns of team innovation processes (esp. idea generation and idea championing) in order to understand the underlying mechanisms. We do so via a multi-study research design, employing a two-wave two-source field study (505 employees nested into 92 teams with direct supervisors) as well as an experimental study with 423 second-year undergraduates (79 teams). The results indicate that having stand-out individuals in terms of idea generation is more likely to lead to team innovation than having the idea generation process dispersed more equally among team members. When the former is the case, selected-actor idea championing mediates the relationship between generative idea generation maximum and team-level innovation. When dealing with a dispersed idea championing process, on the other hand, structured idea generation process facilitates team innovation.