New publication on the role of middle management in innovation
The TIE Institute has published a new study on this question in the Journal of Management Studies. The study, conducted jointly with colleagues from RWTH Aachen University, applies the concept of dynamic management capabilities, originally developed to understand the strategic decisions of top managers, to middle managers and their role in promoting exploratory and exploitative product innovation in companies.
Based on survey data collected in two waves over a three-year period and enriched with archival data, the study shows that middle managers' general human capital, structural social capital, and relational social capital promote product ambidexterity, while their cognitive social capital impairs it. Thus, the study contributes to a better understanding of how middle managers foster both exploratory and exploitative innovation, which is known to be a complex but important challenge for organizations.