Not invented here: how institutionalized socialization practices affect the formation of negative attitudes toward external knowledge

Abstract

Management literature highlights several potential benefits of institutionalized socialization practices that attempt to increase cohesiveness among employees. This article posits that such practices might also contribute to a biased perception of internally generated knowledge and therefore to a greater reluctance to adopt external knowledge, enhancing the so-called not-invented-here (NIH) syndrome. Drawing on multi-informant survey data, the authors find that institutionalized socialization practices are associated with the NIH syndrome. This association is, however, muted in highly technologically specialized companies.