Establishing and managing a network for continuous innovation: Invoking organizational pressure

Social networks in organizations have been identified as important both in terms of increasing our understanding of innovation and for organizations to realize innovation outcomes. While previous studies have informed us of the importance of networks for innovation, we know little of how companies intentionally can design and utilize networks to achieve continuous innovation. The aim of this paper is to explore how a network for continuous innovation can be established and managed. A longitudinal case study has been performed using data covering the establishment and subsequent management of a network for supporting continuous innovation, spanning the product management and R&D department of a large multinational company. The results reveal the potential to use intra‐organizational networks to invoke organizational pressure conducive for making innovation happen. This pressure is induced by autonomy and self‐organizing in the network and consists of reciprocal expectations and demands between the top (management) and the bottom (employees involved in the network) of the organizational hierarchy. Implications for theory and practice are discussed.