Publications
36 results found
Salter A, ter Wal A, Criscuolo P, 2024, The Graft and Craft of Individual-Level Open Innovation, The Oxford Handbook of Open Innovation, Editors: Chesbrough, Radziwon, Vanhaverbeke, Publisher: Oxford University Press, Pages: 91-105, ISBN: 9780191986321
This chapter seeks to map the emerging literature on the dierent types of roles involved in the graftand craft of open innovation, and presents a description of these roles, including the systems,knowledge, and networks required to perform open innovation practices. The focus of the chapter isnot the organization and its decisions in open innovation but the individuals who compose the openinnovation network, such as technology scouts, gatekeepers, assimilators, champions, shepherds, andambassadors. The chapter then suggests future extensions to the understanding of themicrofoundations of open innovation and outlines a set of future research questions and managerialchallenges.
ter Wal A, Criscuolo P, Salter A, 2023, Inside-out, outside-in, or all-in-one? The role of network sequencing in the elaboration of ideas, Academy of Management Journal, Vol: 66, ISSN: 0001-4273
The structure of advice and support networks within organizations has a profound impact on the elaboration of novel ideas. We explore how the sequence in which individuals expose ideas to their network contacts affects their innovation performance. We argue that, during idea elaboration, inside-out network sequencing – that is, mobilizing input and support from inner-circle ties before outer-circle ones – yields an innovation performance advantage over outside-in network sequencing and all-in-one mobilization of network contacts. Inside-out network sequencing generates valuable early feedback and support from inner-circle ties that actively engage with ill-defined, ill-structured and uncertain ideas, and delays exposure to outer-circle ties until ideas can better withstand criticism from beyond the social circle where they emerged. We further contend that the benefits of inside-out network sequencing are amplified in environments that lack support for innovation. Using an analysis of survey data and archival innovation performance records for 301 R&D scientists and engineers in a large multinational firm, we find support for our predictions.
Hofer M, Criscuolo P, Shah N, et al., 2022, Regulatory policy and pharmaceutical innovation in the United Kingdom after Brexit: initial insights, Frontiers in Medicine, Vol: 9, ISSN: 2296-858X
Brexit was presented as an opportunity to promote innovation by breaking free from the European Union regulatory framework. Since the beginning of 2021 the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has operated as the independent regulatory agency for the United Kingdom. The MHRA's regulatory activity in 2021 was analyzed and compared to that of other international regulatory bodies. The MHRA remained reliant on EU regulatory decision-making for novel medicines and there were significant regulatory delays for a small number of novel medicines in the UK, the reasons being so far unclear. In addition, the MHRA introduced innovation initiatives, which show early promise for quicker authorization of innovative medicines for cancer and other areas of unmet need. Longer-term observation and analysis is needed to show the full impact of post-Brexit pharmaceutical regulatory policy.
Thorsten G, Dahlander L, Salter A, et al., 2022, Better ways to green-light new projects, MIT Sloan Management Review: MIT's journal of management research and ideas, Vol: 63, Pages: 33-38, ISSN: 0019-848X
Salandra R, Criscuolo P, Salter A, 2022, The power of weak signals: how systematic reviews direct researchers away from potentially biased primary studies., Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, Vol: 11, Pages: 1-2, ISSN: 1469-493X
Criscuolo P, Dahlander L, Grohsjean T, et al., 2021, The sequence effect in panel decisions: evidence from the evaluation of research and development projects, Organization Science, Vol: 32, Pages: 909-1148, ISSN: 1047-7039
We examine how groups fall prey to the sequence effect when they make choices based on informed assessments of complex situations, for example, when evaluating research and development (R&D) projects. The core argument is that the temporal sequence of selection matters because projects that appear in a sequence following a funded project are themselves less likely to receive funding. Building on the idea that selecting R&D projects is a demanding process that drains participants’ mental and emotional resources, we further theorize the moderating effect of the influence of the timing of the panel meeting on the sequence effect. We test these conjectures using a randomization in sequence order from several rounds of R&D project selection at a leading professional service firm. We find robust support for the existence of a sequence effect in R&D as well as for the moderating effect. We further explore different explanations for the sequence effect and how it passes from the individual to the panel. These findings have broader implications for the literature on innovation and search in general and on group decision making for R&D, specifically, as they suggest that a previously overlooked dimension affects selection outcomes.
Criscuolo P, Salandra R, Salter A, 2021, Directing scientists away from potentially biased publications: the role of systematic reviews in health care, Research Policy, Vol: 50, ISSN: 0048-7333
Despite increasing concerns about the validity of published research, the issue of how the scientific community can maintain a high-quality body of research is not well understood. We consider the case of systematic reviews in health care, and explore whether risk of bias ratings communicated within these reviews may help shift scientists’ attention towards published research that is at a low risk of bias. We focus on publications deemed at risk of bias due to selective reporting; that is, scientific articles with high chances of systematic errors in the published research findings due to flaws in the reporting. Using a matched-sample control group we find that, after potential bias is signalled in systematic reviews, publications at high risk of bias attract less attention – as indicated by fewer follow-on citations – when compared to a control group of low risk of bias publications. We extend our analysis by considering those cases where risk of bias is unclear, and by examining how different features of the rating system may affect the magnitude of the main effect. The findings provide evidence about whether systematic reviews can play a role in signalling biases in the scientific literature, over and above their established role of synthesising prior research.
ter Wal A, Criscuolo P, McEvily B, et al., 2020, Dual networking: how collaborators network in their quest for innovation, Administrative Science Quarterly, Vol: 65, Pages: 887-930, ISSN: 0001-8392
Organizations typically employ a division of labor between specialist creator roles and generalist business roles in a bid to orchestrate innovation. This paperseeksto determine the extent to which individuals dividing the work across roles canalso benefit from dividing their network.We argue that collaborating individuals benefit from connecting to the same groups but different individuals—an approach we label dual networking—rather than from a pure divide-and-conquer approach. To test this argument, weexploit a unique feature of a dual career-ladder setting in a large multinational where R&D managers and technologists partner up in their quest forinnovation. We propose—and find—thatcollaborators who engage in dual networkingattain an innovationperformance advantage over those who connect to distinctgroups. This advantage stems from the opportunity to engage in dual interpretation and dual influencing, leading to more effective elaboration and championing of innovative ideas. In demonstrating these effects, the paper advances understanding of how collaborators organize their networking activities to best achieve innovative outcomes.
Capponi G, Criscuolo P, Martinelli A, et al., 2019, Profiting from Innovation: Evidence from a survey of Queen's Awards winners, Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Vol: 49, Pages: 155-169, ISSN: 0954-349X
Based on a survey of firms that received the Queen’s Award for Innovation, we investigate the use and perceived effectiveness of different appropriability strategies in the context of breakthrough innovations. We find that firms consistently combine formal and informal intellectual property to prevent imitation, and that their strategies can vary over time according to the phase of development of the innovation. Our results are consistent also with the growing body of evidence showing that in several economic contexts informal appropriability mechanisms are more effective than patents.
Criscuolo P, Alexy O, Sharapov D, et al., 2019, Lifting the veil: using a quasi-replication approach to assess sample selection bias in patent-based studies, Strategic Management Journal, Vol: 40, Pages: 230-252, ISSN: 0143-2095
Research summaryPatent data is a valued source of information for strategy research. However, patent‐based studies may suffer from sample selection bias given that patents result from within‐firm selection processes and hence do not represent the full population of inventions. We assess how incidental and nonincidental data truncation resulting from firm‐level and inventor‐level selection processes may result in sample selection bias using a quasi‐replication approach, drawing on rich qualitative data and a novel, proprietary dataset of all 40,000 invention disclosures within a large multinational firm. We find that accounting for selection both reaffirms and challenges past work, and discuss the implications of our findings for work on the microfoundations of exploratory innovation activities and for strategy research drawing on patent data.Managerial summaryMuch of what is known about innovation in general, and in particular about what makes inventors prolific, comes from studies that use patent data. However, many ideas are never patented, meaning that these studies may not in reality talk about ideas or inventions, but only about patents. In this paper, we examine the question of whether patent data can accurately be used to represent inventions by using data on all inventions generated within a large multinational firm to explore how and to what degree the selection processes behind firms' patenting decisions may lead to important differences between the two. We find that accounting for selection changes many previously given managerial implications; for example, we show how junior inventors may often not get the credit they deserve.
Ter Wal ALJ, Criscuolo P, McEvily B, et al., 2018, The relative value of the division versus duplication of network ties for innovation performance, Academy of Management Proceedings, Publisher: Academy of Management
Exploiting a unique setting of R&D technologists and managers in a large multinational who are “partnered-up” in their pursuit of innovation, this paper explores under what circumstances technologists and managers benefit from duplicating network ties to the same groups in the organization as their partner, or from dividing the network with their partner by each interacting with different groups. Introducing the concept of network duplication – the extent to which two individuals are tied to the same functional groups inside an organization – this paper aims to build and test a theory of the division versus duplication of networks. It advances our understanding of second-order social capital and its role in the interpretation and influencing aspects of the innovation process by shedding light on how network duplication affects technologists’ and managers’ innovation performance. It finds that the merits of a division versus duplication-of- networks approach are contingent on the mutual interdependence of managers and technologists.
Criscuolo P, Laursen K, Reichstein T, et al., 2017, Winning combinations: search strategies and innovativeness in the UK, Industry and Innovation, Vol: 25, Pages: 115-143, ISSN: 1366-2716
Searching for the most rewarding sources of innovative ideas remains a key challenge in management of technological innovation. Yet, little is known about which combinations of internal and external knowledge sources are triggers for innovation. Extending theories about searching for innovation, we examine the effectiveness of different combinations of knowledge sources for achieving innovative performance. We suggest that combinations involving integrative search strategies – combining internal and external knowledge – are the most likely to generate product and process innovation. In this context, we present the idea that cognitively distant knowledge sources are helpful for innovation only when used in conjunction with knowledge sources that are closer to the focal firm. We also find important differences between product and process innovation, with the former associated with broader searches than the latter. Using a large-scale pooled sample of UK firms, we find overall support for our conjectures, particularly in terms of product innovation.
ter Wal ALJ, Criscuolo P, Salter A, 2017, Making a marriage of materials: The role of gatekeepers and shepherds in the absorption of external knowledge and innovation performance, Research Policy, Vol: 46, Pages: 1039-1054, ISSN: 0048-7333
Through interviews and a large-scale survey of R&D scientists and engineers, this paper explores individuals’ attempts to absorb external knowledge, focusing on their efforts to identify and assimilate external knowledge and promote its utilization. Extant research does not explicitly address whether individuals should better specialize in certain absorption efforts or rather work as generalists dedicated to a range of efforts. We suggest that assimilation efforts increase the value of individuals’ efforts at external search and at promoting the utilization of external knowledge, which culminates in two main absorption roles that can help individuals achieve greater innovation performance. We argue that gatekeepers who combine external search with assimilation effort help to achieve innovation by contributing to building potential absorptive capacity, while shepherds who combine assimilation with utilization effort aid innovation by building realized absorptive capacity. We find support for these predictions and discuss the implications for research and managerial practice in open innovation.
Criscuolo P, Dahlander L, Grohsjean T, et al., 2017, Evaluating novelty: the role of panels in the selection of R&D projects, Academy of Management Journal, Vol: 60, Pages: 433-460, ISSN: 1535-3990
Building on a unique, multi-source, and multi-method study of R&D projects in a leadingprofessional service firm, we develop the argument that organizations are more likely to fundprojects with intermediate levels of novelty. That is, some project novelty increases the share ofrequested funds received, but too much novelty is difficult to appreciate and is selected against.While prior research has considered the characteristics of the individuals generating projectideas, we shift the focus to panel selectors and explore how they shape the evaluation of novelty.We theorize that a high panel workload reduces panel preference for novelty in selection,whereas a diversity of panel expertise and a shared location between panel and applicant increasepreference for novelty. We explore the implications of these findings for theories of innovationsearch, organizational selection, and managerial practice.
Criscuolo P, Dahlander L, Groshjean T, et al., 2017, The biases that keep good R&D projects from getting funded, Harvard Business Review
Salter A, Ter Wal AJL, Criscuolo P, et al., 2015, Open for ideation: Individual-level openness and idea generation in R&D, The Journal of Product Innovation Management, Vol: 32, Pages: 488-504, ISSN: 0737-6782
Organizations are increasingly encouraging their scientists and engineers to source knowledge externally. However, it is unclear how the openness of individuals to external sources of knowledge affects their ideation performance, that is, their ability to develop new, useful innovative ideas for their organization, and which factors might moderate this process. Drawing on theories of combinatorial search, and using a sample of 329 R&D scientists and engineers working in a large organization, we demonstrate that individuals' openness to external sources of knowledge is curvilinearly related to their ideation performance. Openness provides benefits such as alertness and variety which contribute to ideation up to the point where increasing integration and approval costs cause negative returns to set in. We also examine how the R&D time horizon, ties to senior managers, and the breadth of individual knowledge moderate the costs and benefits of openness to individuals. We explore the implications of these findings for managerial practice.
Haas M, Criscuolo P, George G, 2015, Which problems to solve? Attention allocation and online knowledge sharing in organizations, Academy of Management Journal, Vol: 58, Pages: 680-711, ISSN: 0001-4273
Why do individuals allocate attention to specific problems in organizations? Viewing online knowledge sharing as a matching process between knowledge providers and problems, we examine attention allocation in the context of an online community within which knowledge providers respond to problems posted by other organization members. We argue that knowledge providers are more likely to allocate attention to solving problems that more closely match their expertise, but that decisions to allocate attention are also influenced by problem characteristics such as length, breadth, and novelty, as well as by problem crowding. Analyzing 1,251 realized matches and 12,510 nonrealized matches among knowledge providers and problems posted over a 32-month period on an online discussion forum within a global engineering firm, we find evidence to support our claim that attention allocation is driven by the features of a particular provider–problem match, thereby shifting the discourse from knowledge provider–seeker relationships to knowledge provider–problem matches. The implications for theories of knowledge sharing, matching processes, and managerial attention are discussed.
Salter A, Criscuolo P, Ter Wal ALJ, 2014, Coping with Open Innovation: Responding to the Challenges of External Engagement in R&D, California Management Review, Vol: 56, Pages: 77-94, ISSN: 0008-1256
Open innovation often requires wholesale changes to the nature of R&D. However, academic research and managerial practice have paid little attention to the challenges that individuals face in the daily pursuit of open innovation. As a result, there is little understanding of how individuals cope with open innovation, and which organizational practices can support them in this role. Drawing on the experiences of R&D professionals, this article identifies four specific challenges and coping strategies of individuals engaged in open innovation. It proposes a range of open innovation practices that organizations can implement to better equip their staff to undertake effective external engagement.
Criscuolo P, Salter A, Ter Wal A, 2014, Going underground: Bootlegging and individual innovative performance, Organization Science, Vol: 25, Pages: 1287-1305, ISSN: 1047-7039
To develop innovations in large, mature organizations, individuals often have to resort to underground, “bootleg” research and development (R&D) activities that have no formal organizational support. In doing so, these individuals attempt to achieve greater autonomy over the direction of their R&D efforts and to escape the constraints of organizational accountability. Drawing on theories of proactive creativity and innovation, we argue that these underground R&D efforts help individuals to develop innovations based on the exploration of uncharted territory and delayed assessment of embryonic ideas. After carefully assessing the direction of causality, we find that individuals’ bootleg efforts are associated with achievement of high levels of innovative performance. Furthermore, we show that the costs and benefits of bootlegging for innovation are contingent on the emphasis on the enforcement of organizational norms in the individual’s work environment; we argue and demonstrate empirically that the benefits of an individual’s bootlegging efforts are enhanced in work units with high levels of innovative performance and which include members who are also engaged in bootlegging. However, during periods of organizational change involving formalization of the R&D process, individuals who increase their bootlegging activities are less likely to innovate. We explore the implications of these findings for our understanding of proactive and deviant creativity.
Alexy O, Criscuolo P, Salter A, 2012, Managing unsolicited ideas for R&D, California Management Review, Vol: 54, Pages: 116-139, ISSN: 0008-1256
Criscuolo P, Nicolaou N, Salter A, 2012, The elixir (or burden) of youth? Exploring differences in innovation between start-ups and established firms, Research Policy, Vol: 14, Pages: 319-333
Despite the widely acknowledged role of start-ups in economic development, little is known about theirinnovative activities compared with those of established firms. Drawing on a sample of 12,209 UK firms,we differentiate between services and manufacturing firms and, using a matching estimator approach,demonstrate that start-ups differ significantly from established firms in their innovation activities. Wefind that in services, being a start-up increases the likelihood of product innovations. However, in manufacturing,we find no significant differences in the likelihood of product innovation between start-ups andestablished firms. When examining the returns to innovation, we find that start-ups have a significantadvantage both in services and in manufacturing. We explore the implications of these results for theoryand policy.
Alexy O, Criscuolo P, Salter A, 2009, Does IP Strategy Have to Cripple Open Innovation?, MIT SLOAN MANAGEMENT REVIEW, Vol: 51, Pages: 71-77, ISSN: 1532-9194
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- Citations: 134
Criscuolo P, 2009, Inter-firm reverse technology transfer: the home country effect of R&D internationalization, INDUSTRIAL AND CORPORATE CHANGE, Vol: 18, Pages: 869-899, ISSN: 0960-6491
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- Citations: 41
Criscuolo P, Verspagen B, 2008, Does it matter where patent citations come from? Inventor vs. examiner citations in European patents, RESEARCH POLICY, Vol: 37, Pages: 1892-1908, ISSN: 0048-7333
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- Citations: 193
Criscuolo P, Verspagen B, 2008, Does it matter where patent citations come from? Inventor vs. examiner citations in European patents, Vol: 37, Pages: 1892-1908
This paper addresses the question of whether patent citations are useful indicators of technology flows. We exploit the distinction between citations added by inventors and patent examiners. We use information from the search reports of European Patent Office patent examiners to construct our dataset of patenting activity in Europe and the US, and apply various econometric models to investigate what determines the probability that a citation is added by the inventor rather than the examiner. Contrary to previous work which uses US Patent and Trademark Office data, we find that geographical distance is a factor that strongly diminishes the probability of knowledge flows. We find other significant effects of such factors as cognitive distance, time and strategic factors on citing behaviour.
Criscuolo P, Rajneesh N, 2007, Using multi-hub structures for international R&D: organisational inertia and the challenges of implementation, Management International Review, Pages: 639-660
Paola Criscuolo, Ammon Salter, Tony Sheehan, 2007, Making knowledge visible: Using expert yellow pages to map capabilities in professional services firms, Research Policy, Vol: Available online 18 October 2007
Criscuolo P, 2006, The 'home advantage' effect and patent families. A comparison of OECD triadic patents, the USPTO and the EPO, Scientometrics, Vol: 66, Pages: 23-41
Criscuolo P, 2006, The 'home advantage' effect and patent families. A comparison of OECD triadic patents, the USPTO and the EPO, 8th International Conference on Science and Technology Indicators, Publisher: SPRINGER, Pages: 23-41, ISSN: 0138-9130
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- Citations: 90
Criscuolo P, 2005, On the road again: Researcher mobility inside the R&D network, RESEARCH POLICY, Vol: 34, Pages: 1350-1365, ISSN: 0048-7333
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- Citations: 36
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