Facilitating Individual Innovation from the Perspective of Social Network Ties: A Fuzzy‐Set QCA Approach
研究利用模糊集定性比较分析，识别出促进员工创意产生和创意实施的不同社会网络关系组合，为管理者提供配置策略。
ABSTRACT Pursuing successful innovation poses a significant challenge for employees, as generating creative ideas does not guarantee final innovation outcomes (i.e., products). To enrich our understanding of the critical factors that contribute to the success of transforming creative ideas into innovation outcomes, drawing on the social network perspective and configuration theory, we utilize the fuzzy‐set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) approach to identify how different social network tie configurations facilitate various stages of individual innovation, including idea generation and idea implementation. Through a survey of 216 R&D employees in China, we have identified four pathways with distinct configurations that promote high levels of idea generation and three pathways that facilitate high levels of idea implementation. This work contributes to developing a configurational strategy for facilitating individual innovation from the perspective of social network ties, thus shedding light on how employees might successfully traverse different stages of the innovation journey.