Integrating corporate innovation communities: the role of structure and culture

Abstract

A fundamental weakness of current research on corporate innovation communities is that knowledge about how to alter them for innovation endeavors remains vague. To help facilitate this gap, we analyze the influence of organizational contexts on innovation activities and outcomes from a contingency theory perspective. From the analysis of multiple in-depth case studies, four types of organizational integration as triggers for distinct sets of innovation activities as well as enablers for divergent sets of innovation outcomes have been identified. Based on our findings a taxonomy of organizational integration of corporate innovation communities is developed.