Dyadic ties among employees: Empirical analysis of creative performance and efficiency
Alexander Fliaster, Florian Schloderer
Human Relations · 2010 · Volume 63 · Issue 10
Abstract
Our article makes three contributions to the literature. First, while previous research on creativity and innovation has focused on individuals and teams, we investigate creative dyads. Second, we consider not only benefits that knowledge workers gain from resourceful partners but also tie-related costs that both partners incur. As a result we develop a research framework in which a dyad’s creative performance is explained by the amount of knowledge that the tie partners exchange, the level of responsiveness among them, and the efficiency of knowledge-related collaboration. We test empirically hypotheses drawn from this framework, collecting data on 1128 possible non-directed ties among employees directly involved in the new product development of a medium-sized German aerospace company and analyzing these data using the Multiple Regression Quadratic Assignment Procedure (MRQAP). In the final sections we discuss managerial consequences, limitations of our study, and directions of future research.
Keywords
cost-efficiency, creativity, human resource management, innovation, interpersonal relationships, knowledge transfer (communication), social networks, work relationships
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