Innovation Ownership Struggles

Abstract

Scholars frequently adopt a rational approach to studying innovation, yet it is well known that the innovation process is fraught with irrational decision-making, relational power dynamics, and other human follies. Embracing the latter approach, we blend theoretical perspectives on psychological ownership (Pierce, Kostova, & Dirks, 2001; 2003) and workplace resistance (Prasad & Prasad, 1998; 2001) to propose a new theoretical model explaining the inherent ownership tensions between managers and innovators in the innovation process. The model is grounded in observations, interviews, informal conversations, and archival data gathered during an ethnographic study of three R&D teams in a large, multinational organization. Specifically, we explain how innovation ownership struggles – discursive disputes between managers and innovators as they negotiate control over the innovation – emerge and unfold over time and examine its complex outcomes for the innovation process. We discuss the implications of our model ...