The nature of underground innovation: Missionary, user, and exploratory orientation
研究员工未经管理层许可但为公司利益进行的“地下”创新，发现其有三种导向：使命导向（改变公司实践）、用户导向（解决工作问题）和探索导向（满足开发者的探索热情），并分析了不同导向对创新扩散的影响。
Bootlegging and creative deviance studies have described “underground” innovations, which employees develop without managerial consent but with company benefits in mind. This phenomenon is explained by structural strain theory: when organizations have innovative goals but limited resources, some employees may pursue these goals without permission. Anecdotal observations, however, reveal underground employee behaviors that do not fit this pattern; underground innovations may serve different purposes and remain permanently invisible. We therefore conducted an explorative study of why and how employees develop underground innovations. Based on interviews and survey data at a multinational automotive company, underground innovations have three orientations: missionary (aimed to change company practices), user (to solve work problems), and exploratory (to cater to developers’ passion for exploration). The three orientations differ in their involvement of others, deployed resources, and dissemination efforts. Without missionary orientation, underground innovations are not proactively diffused, inhibiting organizations from reaping their full benefits. We infer a refined theory based on constraints that prevent employees from being openly proactive. Specifically, underground innovation may be triggered by 1. lacking resources to pursue organizational innovation goals, 2. lacking resources and thresholds to improve work processes, and 3. the organization’s inability to match work tasks with innovation workers’ preferences. The last two constraints are easily overlooked, and organizations will capture more value from their human capital by stimulating the diffusion of user and exploratory-oriented projects. • Constraints to be openly proactive make some employees innovate “underground”. • Three orientations of underground projects: missionary, user, and exploratory. • Missionary orientation implies proactive diffusion to change company practices. • User-oriented projects address work problems and are passively revealed. • Exploratory innovations are developed out of passion, and showcased. • Without missionary orientation, underground innovations are hard to detect.