Antecedents of Idea Management Capability: An Empirical Investigation of Idea Management Systems

46 Pages Posted: 29 Mar 2012 Last revised: 1 May 2012

See all articles by Rosa Mendonca

Rosa Mendonca

Instituto Superior Técnico (IST); CATÓLICA-LISBON School of Business & Economics

Ana Barbosa-Povoa

Instituto Superior Tecnico

Pedro Oliveira

Copenhagen Business School; Nova School of Business and Economics

Date Written: April 29, 2012

Abstract

Idea management systems (IMS), or the tools aimed at collecting contributions for both internal improvements and new products and services, are an emerging area of interest to operations management. Yet little is known about the best practices to manage ideas in organizations. In this study we empirically examine how the idea management (IM) best practices of collaborative work environment (CWE), employees' participation (EP), communications networks (CN) and external sources of ideas (ESI) affect a firm’s capability for managing new ideas and, ultimately, its propensity to innovate (P2I). Additionally, we develop multi-item measurement scales that have sufficient psychometric properties of validity and reliability to be useful for theory building and testing in this area. We use structural equations modeling (SEM) and a sample of 120 companies that have IMS to empirically test the hypothesized model.

We have found that IM best practices can be conceptualized by four dimensions: CWE, EP, CN and ESI, which are key antecedents of IMC. In turn, IMC has a positive impact on P2I. In other words, the analysis of a sample of 120 companies has confirmed that the proposed organizational routines have an impact on the capability to manage ideas, which in turn has an impact on the propensity to develop innovative products and services and enhance existing ones. The metrics we propose in this work are a useful benchmarking tool for practitioners to monitor and improve their business’s idea management practices. To the best of our knowledge, we are the first to operationally define and measure IM best practices in the context of services firms.

Keywords: Idea management systems, Idea management best practices, Idea management capability, propensity to innovate

JEL Classification: O31

Suggested Citation

Mendonca, Rosa and Barbosa-Povoa, Ana Paula and Oliveira, Pedro, Antecedents of Idea Management Capability: An Empirical Investigation of Idea Management Systems (April 29, 2012). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2030859 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2030859

Rosa Mendonca (Contact Author)

Instituto Superior Técnico (IST) ( email )

Av. Prof. Dr. Cavaco Silva
Porto Salvo, 2744-016
Portugal
+351 21 4233533 (Phone)

CATÓLICA-LISBON School of Business & Economics ( email )

Palma de Cima
Lisboa, Lisboa 1649-023
Portugal

Ana Paula Barbosa-Povoa

Instituto Superior Tecnico ( email )

Lisbon
Portugal
+351218417981 (Phone)

Pedro Oliveira

Copenhagen Business School ( email )

Department of Strategy and Innovation (SI)
Kilen, Kilevej 14, K.2.71
Frederiksberg, DK - 2000
Denmark

Nova School of Business and Economics ( email )

Campus de Carcavelos
Rua da Holanda, 1
Carcavelos, 2775-405
Portugal

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