Exploring Identity and Organizing for Sustained Innovation in an Entrepreneurial Academic Laboratory: Two Grounded Theory Models

Open Access
- Author:
- Hamilton, Aimee Lou
- Graduate Program:
- Business Administration
- Degree:
- Doctor of Philosophy
- Document Type:
- Dissertation
- Date of Defense:
- February 13, 2012
- Committee Members:
- Dennis Arnold Gioia, Dissertation Advisor/Co-Advisor
Dennis Arnold Gioia, Committee Chair/Co-Chair
Glen Kreiner, Committee Member
Raghu B Garud, Committee Member
Wenpin Tsai, Committee Member
Susan G Strauss, Committee Member - Keywords:
- innovation
academic entrepreneurship
professional identity
organizational identity
social network analysis - Abstract:
- In this dissertation, I conduct an interpretive study to investigate two related research questions regarding aspects of identity and organizing in an entrepreneurial academic laboratory that has a long history of successful innovation. Many organizations aspire to achieve sustained innovation, but find it difficult to accomplish. I employ both qualitative and social network methods to develop two empirically-grounded theory models. The first model describes how key constituent elements including identity dynamics and fluid organizing facilitate sustained innovation and shows how an organization might reconcile the dilemma of simultaneous flexibility and stability in pursuit of innovation. Prior research shows that organizational identity can foster innovation-inhibiting rigidities. In contrast, I found that interplay between organizational identity and members’ professional identities facilitated fluidity and innovation by providing a dynamically stable cognitive scaffold that guided the co-evolution of structures and resources. The resulting fluid organizing process was crucial to sustained innovation. The second grounded theory model explores processes involved in professional identity development among scientists in a multidisciplinary context. I consider the influence of social network relationships and the identity work processes invoked by scientists to manage relational plurality and the development of their professional identities. I document several tensions associated with developing professional identity, as well as three primary identity work tactics used to balance these prevalent tensions. My social network analysis reveals strong relational plurality dimensions which provide diverse resources for identity work. In this study I extend theory concerning professional identity development and demonstrate the importance of social networks to identity work. By connecting the (external) relational aspect of early career professional identity work to the (internal) intrapersonal aspects, I bring together the literatures on professional identity, identity work, and social network analysis and answer calls for greater exploration of the relationships among these concepts. In addition, this exploration of professional identity work demonstrates the import of individual professional identity development to organizational innovation, especially in science-driven fields. Finally, insights from this study into professional identity work in a multidisciplinary context may inform our understanding of the microfoundations of the process of professionalization and the formation of new professions.