Project

Decision-making; Role identity; Exploitation / Exploration; Attention; Role transition

Lead
Im Spannungsfeld zwischen inkrementellen (exploitativen) und radikalen (explorativen) Innovationen im organisationalen Rahmen wissen wir bislang wenig über die Motivation und Fähigkeit des Individuums begrenzte Aufmerksamkeit den einzelnen Aufgaben zuteilwerden zu lassen. Um die Art und den Erfolg von Innovationsvorhaben jedoch besser zu steuern ist dies ein wichtiger Aspekt neben den kontextuellen Faktoren, die die Organisation bereitstellt.
Lay summary
Inhalte und Ziel des Forschungsprojekts In einem organisationalen Rahmen, welcher durch Informationsüberfluss und hohe Unsicherheit auszeichnet ist, zeigen jüngste Studien, dass der Entscheidungserfolg zwischen inkrementellen und radikalen Innovationen direkt dadurch beeinflusst wird, wie Individuen ihre Aufmerksamkeit steuern. Das Identitätsverständnis ist ein Bezugsrahmen eines Individuums, Aufmerksamkeit zu steuern, um eine Auswahl von geeignete Informationen zu beurteilen und ihre Implementierung zuzuordnen. Hierbei sind Rollenidentitäten, Identitäten die ein Individuum über funktionale Rollen im Arbeitsumfeld bezieht von besonderer Bedeutung. Ziel dieses Forschungsprojektes ist es zu erklären, wie der Wechsel zwischen einzelnen Rollenidentitäten als Filter für die Informationsaufnahme fungiert und die Betätigung in inkrementellen und radikalen Innovationen beeinflusst. Wissenschaftlicher und gesellschaftlicher Kontext Dieses Forschungsprojekt integriert Perspektiven der Identitätstheorie mit dem klassischen Innovationsmanagement. Hiermit leisten wir einen Beitrag zum holistischeren Verständnis des Innovationsmanagements und generieren wertvolle Ansätze für ein tiefergehendes Verständnis des Individuums hinsichtlich kognitiver und sozio-psychologischer Einflüsse auf organisationale Entscheidungsfindung.   Keywords Role identity | Role transition | Attention | Decision-making | Exploitation / Exploration

Direct link to Lay Summary

Last update: 31.03.2015

Active participation

Number	Title	Start	Funding scheme

Past studies provide evidence that individuals’ innovativeness (the degree to which they engage in exploitation vs. exploration) and decision-making performance is directly influenced by their ability to control their focus of attention (Laureiro et al., forthcoming; Laureiro, forthcoming; Laureiro, et al., 2014). Identity is one mechanism that allows individuals to allocate attention by using their identity as a frame of reference to evaluate the appropriate selection of information and their respective implementation (Brusoni & Rosenkranz, 2014). This line of work concentrates on role identities, an identity construct that ties to the functional roles an individual executes (for example, the role of an academic). In particular we concentrate on role transition as the mechanism by which individuals move between different role identities in order to allocate their attention situationally. Extant research corroborates that individuals differ in the degree to which they prefer to segment or integrate role domains (Ashforth et al., 2000), which has been shown to impact their information sharing and decision making process. Already Nicholson (1984) provided evidence that role transition allows individuals to balance stability and change. In analyzing how role transition impacts an individual’s attention allocation, we build on and complement research in this field, to extend our understanding of what guides individual decision making. Second, and related, is the discussion about individuals as a precursor to organizational level performance. Yet, we know next to nothing about how the emerging discussion about individual level mechanisms of attention control aggregate into organizational level behavior and related performance.The objective is to understand how different role transition styles impact individual attention allocation and how this in turn effects their active engagement in exploitative and exploratory activities. This research project is composed of one conceptual and two empirical papers, one quantitative and one qualitative study. The conceptual paper has already received a revise and resubmit with AMR and is currently under revision. The quantitative study is based on data collection efforts, which have been concluded in the Fall of 2013. Based on simulation data and complementary questionnaire responses, we test a multi-level longitudinal moderated-mediation model. The qualitative study will make use of the extensive expertise at the chair in qualitative research methods, particularly experiments and verbal protocol analysis (VPA). This research addresses three central gaps in present research. First, we add to the discussion on how individuals balance and engage in exploitation vs. exploration activities from an identity perspective as a frame of reference to attention allocation. Second, we introduce role transition as a decision-making mechanism to explain decision-making performance. Finally, we provide interesting insights to how individual action aggregates within the organizational context to drive firm-level outcomes. Beyond the importance for research, managers could greatly benefit from a better understanding on what drives their individual attention within the organizational context to raise awareness of the impact their attention focus has on their information selection process, decision making, and notably, the innovativeness and performance results they generate.Based on ongoing research at the department and the findings of this research project, we will write three academic papers (one conceptual and two empirical), and will design a teaching module to be implemented in one of our courses at the Department of Management Technology and Economics at ETH Zurich. This teaching module will target both master and post-experience students in innovation management.