Let's move on! How pair collaboration activates resilience toward innovation crises

Abstract

This study explores how resilience is activated in pairs fostering innovation. On the one hand, a growing body of literature affirms pairs as a form of collaboration adept at instigating and developing breakthrough innovations. On the other hand, innovation inevitably entails failures and setbacks requiring resilience to thrive. As such, numerous scholars call for investigating how resilience works at different level of analysis in organizations: while much has been said at the individual and organizational levels, the literature is mostly silent on how resilience is activated and emerges through social connections. Therefore, this study explores how resilience emerges, and how it is nurtured and sustained in pairs facing innovation crises. Our multiple case study using data from ten innovation pairs in different industries shows that a pair's intimate environment enables resilience, and this intimacy activates two dynamics. First, it facilitates compassionate witnessing, the creation of cohesiveness within the pair, and mutual engagement to move forward. Second, it enables relational redundancy with actors both within and outside the pair's reference group, which is crucial to understanding who to trust and which direction to pursue. From a theoretical perspective, this study contributes to the literature on resilience and pairs. From a managerial perspective, our study suggests relying on pairs as a possible form of collaboration to nurture resilience in innovation.