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Available Issues

April 10, 2013 - May 29, 2026

Available Issues

April 10, 2013 - May 29, 2026

Virtual Special Issue:
Knowldge Transfers Within Organizations

The Mechanisms and Components of Knowledge Transfer: The Virtual Special Issue on Knowledge Transfer Within Organizations

Published Online:

Organization Science

    Abstract
    Knowledge transfer within organizations has important implications for organizational performance and competitive advantage. In this virtual special issue, we review articles on this topic published in Organization Science between 2014 and 2020 and ...
The Effects of Communication Networks and Turnover on Transactive Memory and Group Performance

Published Online:

Organization Science

    Abstract
    We theorize that the effect of membership turnover on group processes and performance depends on a group’s communication network. We describe two mechanisms through which communication networks affect group performance: (1) the number of direct ...
Early-Stage Venture Incubation and Mentoring Promote Learning, Scaling, and Profitability Among Disadvantaged Entrepreneurs

Published Online:

Organization Science

    Abstract
    Socially and educationally disadvantaged entrepreneurs often lack the knowledge and prior experience to develop and scale their businesses. Owing to limited educational and employment opportunities, poverty, and discrimination, these entrepreneurs ...
The Paradox of Corrupt Networks: An Analysis of Organizational Crime at Enron

Published Online:

Organization Science

    Abstract
    Despite the prevalence of organizational crime and renewed academic interest in corruption, the coordination of corrupt activities remains undertheorized. This study uses longitudinal data based on the email communication from Enron Corporation prior to ...In the article “The Paradox of Corrupt Networks: An Analysis of Organizational Crime at Enron,” by Brandy L. Aven (Organization Science, Vol. 26, No. 4, pp. 980–996), there were minor errors. In Table 1, the correct average for the total number of members ...
Strength from Within: Internal Mobility and the Retention of High Performers

Published Online:

Organization Science

    Abstract
    We develop and test a theoretically informed and generalizable empirical framework for evaluating the performance gap between internally and externally hired workers. First, human capital theory predicts that internal hires will be immediately more ...
Knowledge Sources and Operational Problems: Less Now, More Later

Published Online:

Organization Science

    Abstract
    Unlike problems requiring new-to-the-world solutions that combine knowledge from multiple sources, operational problems can often be solved by repurposing existing knowledge from other contexts into new-to-the-firm solutions. Firms that seek new-to-the-...
The Influence of Multiple Knowledge Networks on Innovation in Foreign Operations

Published Online:

Organization Science

    Abstract
    Although extant literature has long argued that firm embeddedness within knowledge networks increases innovation, we know much less about how interactions across multiple knowledge networks jointly influence learning and innovation outcomes within firms. ...
Cultural Molding, Shielding, and Shoring at Oilco: The Role of Culture in the Integration of Routines

Published Online:

Organization Science

    Abstract
    We explore how organizational culture shapes an organization’s integration and enactment of an external routine that is not a cultural fit. Attending to employees’ use of culture as a repertoire of strategies of action, we found that the use of familiar ...
The Semiformal Organization

Published Online:

Organization Science

    Abstract
    This paper draws attention to a new dimension of organization, the semiformal organization, and it reveals how the allocation of different membership forms can render knowledge-intensive organizations more flexible and exploratory in their knowledge ...
The Semiformal Organization

Published Online:

Organization Science

    Abstract
    This paper draws attention to a new dimension of organization, the semiformal organization, and it reveals how the allocation of different membership forms can render knowledge-intensive organizations more flexible and exploratory in their knowledge ...
Status Inertia and Member Replacement in Role-Differentiated Teams

Published Online:

Organization Science

    Abstract
    The arrival of a new member can provide the impetus for learning and performance improvement in groups, but only if the newcomer is accorded status within the new group. We examine newcomer status in cases of member replacement, i.e., when a newcomer ...
The Rejuvenation of Inventors Through Corporate Spinouts

Published Online:

Organization Science

    Abstract
    This article focuses on corporate spinouts as a strategy that can rejuvenate the inventive efforts of inventors with a long tenure in the same company. We rely on an unbalanced panel of 5,604 inventor-year observations to study a matched sample of 431 ...
The Replication Dilemma Unravelled: How Organizations Enact Multiple Goals in Routine Transfer

Published Online:

Organization Science

    Abstract
    I examine how organizations address the replication dilemma by simultaneously enacting contrasting goals while transferring routines across complex organizational settings. I address this issue by drawing on a qualitative case-based inquiry into the ...
Rising from Failure and Learning from Success: The Role of Past Experience in Radical Initiative Taking

Published Online:

Organization Science

    Abstract
    We investigate how the successes and failures of people who initiate radical ideas influence (a) the inclination to take new personal initiatives and (b) the outcome of those initiatives. Using the data of 1,792 radical ideas suggested by 908 employees in ...
Transferring Tacit Know-How: Do Opportunism Safeguards Matter for Firm Boundary Decisions?

Published Online:

Organization Science

    Abstract
    In recent years, scholars have demonstrated that capability theories of firm boundaries are fundamentally intertwined with contractual arguments. A productive use of capability arguments, therefore, is when they are joined with contractual ones in an ...
Homophily and Individual Performance

Published Online:

Organization Science

    Abstract
    We study the relationship between choice homophily in instrumental relationships and individual performance in knowledge-intensive organizations. Although homophily should make it easier for people to get access to some colleagues, it may also lead to ...
Personnel Mobility and Organizational Performance: The Effects of Specialist vs. Generalist Experience and Organizational Work Structure

Published Online:

Organization Science

    Abstract
    This study advances understanding of the conditions under which a new worker improves organizational performance. We argue that the extent to which new group members have experience working as specialists or generalists is a critical factor in explaining ...
The Role of Writing in Distributed Collaboration

Published Online:

Organization Science

    Abstract
    Distributed collaborations face significant dialogical challenges: sharing knowledge, questioning ideas, and developing new solutions. These challenges are often associated with collaborations' reliance on written communication such as emails and ...
Using What You Know: Patented Knowledge in Incumbent Firms and Employee Entrepreneurship

Published Online:

Organization Science

    Abstract
    Prior studies have shown that the acquisition of relevant knowledge by employees in existing firms is associated with the creation of new firms through employee entrepreneurship. Some researchers propose that the transition to entrepreneurship may be ...
Ambition Is Nothing Without Focus: Compensating for Negative Transfer of Experience in R&D

Published Online:

Organization Science

    Abstract
    Organizations create high-impact inventions when they combine disparate strands of technology in their corporate research and development. We theorize that when undertaking complex inventive search characterized by high breadth, i.e., drawing on multiple ...
The Role of Individual and Organizational Expertise in the Adoption of New Practices

Published Online:

Organization Science

    Abstract
    New information pertinent to organizational decision making, even when publicly available, may not diffuse rapidly in the form of adoption and transformation of organizational practices. In this study, we examine how different markers of expertise, each ...
Do Accelerators Work? If So, How?

Published Online:

Organization Science

    Abstract
    Accelerators are entrepreneurial programs that attempt to help ventures learn, often utilizing extensive consultation with mentors, program directors, customers, guest speakers, alumni, and peers. Although accelerators have rapidly emerged as prominent ...
Situated Coworker Familiarity: How Site Visits Transform Relationships Among Distributed Workers

Published Online:

Organization Science

    Abstract
    Previous research describes significant benefits from coworker familiarity but has largely assumed proximity and that familiarity accrues simply with the passage of time. Based on a qualitative study of 164 workers on globally distributed teams, we ...
Knowledge Sharing in Online Communities: Learning to Cross Geographic and Hierarchical Boundaries

Published Online:

Organization Science

    Abstract
    Many organizations have launched online knowledge-exchanging communities to promote knowledge sharing among their employees. We empirically examine the dynamics of knowledge sharing in an organization-hosted knowledge forum. Although previous researchers ...
Structural Recombination and Innovation: Unlocking Intraorganizational Knowledge Synergy Through Structural Change

Published Online:

Organization Science

    Abstract
    This paper examines how structural recombination of business units within a firm impacts subsequent firm innovation. We argue that structural recombination is both a means for firms to unlock the potential for intraorganizational knowledge recombination ...
Moving Violations: Pairing an Illegitimate Learning Hierarchy with Trainee Status Mobility for Acquiring New Skills When Traditional Expertise Erodes

Published Online:

Organization Science

    Abstract
    We explore how members of a community of practice learn new tools and techniques when environmental shifts undermine existing expertise. In our 20-month comparative field study of medical assistants and patient-service representatives learning to use new ...
Taking Stock of the Ability to Change: The Effect of Prior Experience

Published Online:

Organization Science

    Abstract
    In aiming to understand why teams differ in their ability to adapt to new contexts, I explore the extent to which prior experience with a previous practice impacts the ability to properly execute a new organizational practice. I generate predictions by ...
Coordinating Flexible Performance During Everyday Work: An Ethnomethodological Study of Handoff Routines

Published Online:

Organization Science

    Abstract
    Our paper examines the challenge of coordinating flexible performance during everyday work. We draw on routine dynamics and ethnomethodology to examine how intensive care unit (ICU) physicians coordinate their actions—flexibly yet intelligibly—as they ...
Learning-by-Moving: Can Reconfiguring Spatial Proximity Between Organizational Members Promote Individual-level Exploration?

Published Online:

Organization Science

    Abstract
    This research proposes that individual-level exploration can be promoted by reconfiguring the spatial proximity between organizational members’ workspaces. To test this idea, I exploit a natural experiment in an e-commerce company where the spatial ...
Where Do Stars Come From? The Role of Star vs. Nonstar Collaborators in Creative Settings

Published Online:

Organization Science

    Abstract
    Creative stars make disproportionately influential contributions to their fields. Yet we know little about how an innovator’s creative performance is affected by collaborating with stars. This paper studies the creative aspects of interpersonal ...
The Focused Organization of Advice Relations: A Study in Boundary Crossing

Published Online:

Organization Science

    Abstract
    Organizations contain multiple social foci—settings for interaction providing members with occasions for structuring their social relations. In this paper we examine how identification with particular social foci within organizations influences the ...
Thinking Broad and Deep: Why Some Directors Exert an Outsized Influence on Strategic Change

Published Online:

Organization Science

    Abstract
    This study addresses the oft-debated questions of whether, when, and how corporate board members help shape firm strategy by advancing a new perspective on heterogeneous director influence that introduces the notion of the deep/broad director. ...
Too Much Trust in Group Decisions: Uncovering Hidden Profiles by Groups and Markets

Published Online:

Organization Science

    Abstract
    A crucial challenge for organizations is to pool and aggregate information effectively. Traditionally, organizations have relied on committees and teams, but recently many organizations have explored the use of information markets. In this paper, the ...
Drawing Snow White and Animating Buzz Lightyear: Technological Toolkit Characteristics and Creativity in Cross-Disciplinary Teams

Published Online:

Organization Science

    Abstract
    The use of technological tools to execute creative tasks is pervasive within cross-disciplinary teams, yet little attention has been paid to their role in influencing team creativity. In particular, no research has focused on how the characteristics of a ...
Big Fish, Big Pond? The Joint Effect of Formal and Informal Core/Periphery Positions on the Generation of Incremental Innovations

Published Online:

Organization Science

    Abstract
    In this paper, we apply a core/periphery framework to an intraorganizational context to study the interplay between formal and informal core/periphery structures. Specifically, we consider how core positions occupied by inventors in the corporate research ...
Noise as Signal in Learning from Rare Events

Published Online:

Organization Science

    Abstract
    Firms increasingly have access to information about the failure events of other firms through public repositories. We study one such repository that accumulates reports of adverse events in the medical device industry. We provide qualitative evidence that ...
Bridging Temporal Divides: Temporal Brokerage in Global Teams and Its Impact on Individual Performance

Published Online:

Organization Science

    Abstract
    Members of global teams are often dispersed across time zones. This paper introduces the construct of temporal brokerage, which we define as being in a position within a team’s temporal structure that bridges subgroups that have little or no temporal ...
Learning by Contributing: Gaining Competitive Advantage Through Contribution to Crowdsourced Public Goods

Published Online:

Organization Science

    Abstract
    As the economy becomes more information based, firms are increasingly using crowdsourced public goods as inputs for innovation and production. Counterintuitively, some firms pay their employees to contribute to the creation of these goods, which can be ...
How Emerging Organizations Take Form: The Role of Imprinting and Values in Organizational Bricolage

Published Online:

Organization Science

    Abstract
    We examine how emerging organizations acquire shape by drawing on multiple organizational forms, a process we call organizational bricolage. Studying Indymedia London, a grassroots media collective, we propose a grounded theory of organizational bricolage ...
A Social Composition View of Team Creativity: The Role of Member Nationality-Heterogeneous Ties Outside of the Team

Published Online:

Organization Science

    Abstract
    We sought to understand team member informal social network ties outside of the team as a way to achieve cognitive variation within the team, thereby facilitating creativity. Specifically, we take a configural perspective, which emphasizes individual team ...
Starstruck: How Hiring High-Status Employees Affects Incumbents’ Performance

Published Online:

Organization Science

    Abstract
    This study investigates the effects of high-status inbound mobility on the performance of incumbents. Leveraging sociological theory on status, we suggest that high-status newcomers generate only limited knowledge spillovers compared to the resources they ...
How Do Brokers Broker? Tertius Gaudens, Tertius Iungens, and the Temporality of Structural Holes

Published Online:

Organization Science

    Abstract
    Organizational network research has demonstrated that multiple benefits accrue to people occupying brokerage positions. However, the extant literature offers scant evidence of the process postulated to drive such benefits (information brokerage) and ...
Growing New Corporate Businesses: From Initiation to Graduation

Published Online:

Organization Science

    Abstract
    Large companies initiate many new businesses, but few of them reach scale. The ambidexterity literature describes how companies create exploratory businesses, but says little about how they subsequently scale these businesses. The strategy literature uses ...
Forgotten Third Parties: Analyzing the Contingent Association Between Unshared Third Parties, Knowledge Overlap, and Knowledge Transfer Relationships with Outsiders

Published Online:

Organization Science

    Abstract
    Third parties play a prominent role in network-based explanations for successful knowledge transfer. Third parties can be either shared or unshared. Shared third parties signal insider status and have a predictable positive effect on knowledge transfer. ...
Shots Fired! Switching Between Practices in Police Work

Published Online:

Organization Science

    Abstract
    Fast-response organizations are under increased scrutiny as to their ability to mount a timely and coordinated response to unexpected events. Our inductive study focuses on a high profile murder that occurred in Amsterdam in 2011 where a large ...
Unpacking the Dynamics of Ecologies of Routines: Mediators and Their Generative Effects in Routine Interactions

Published Online:

Organization Science

    Abstract
    Building on an in-depth ethnographic study at a renowned research laboratory, we show how the interactions of organizational routines can be more or less generative by tracing and analyzing how human and nonhuman actors (actants) connect routines. ...
Learning by Hiring: The Effects of Scientists’ Inbound Mobility on Research Performance in Academia

Published Online:

Organization Science

    Abstract
    This study investigates the effects of scientists’ inbound mobility on the research performance of incumbent scientists in an academic setting. The theoretical framework integrates insights from learning theory and social comparison theory to suggest two ...
Can Informal Communication Networks Disrupt Coordination in New Product Development Projects?

Published Online:

Organization Science

    Abstract
    This paper investigates how the structure of the informal communication network that results from efforts to coordinate task interdependence between design teams in complex product development projects moderates the effect of task interdependence on ...
Overcoming Stickiness: How the Timing of Knowledge Transfer Methods Affects Transfer Difficulty

Published Online:

Organization Science

    Abstract
    Knowledge transfer can be facilitated through the judicious timing of transfer methods. Yet, extant research has neglected the impact of the timing of transfer methods. Departing from this observation, we theorize the existence of two knowledge transfer ...
Being a Catalyst of Innovation: The Role of Knowledge Diversity and Network Closure

Published Online:

Organization Science

    Abstract
    Whereas recent research on organizational innovation suggests that there is an ecology of roles supporting the innovation process, the majority of network research has concentrated on the role of inventors. In this paper, we contribute to research on ...
Bridging the Social Chasm in Geographically Distributed R&D Teams: The Moderating Effects of Relational Strength and Status Asymmetry on the Novelty of Team Innovation

Published Online:

Organization Science

    Abstract
    The access to the diverse information that teams gain through the geographic dispersion of their members is argued to increase the likelihood that they will produce more novel innovations. Although valuable, such dispersion also increases communication ...
Network-Biased Technical Change: How Modern Digital Collaboration Tools Overcome Some Biases but Exacerbate Others

Published Online:

Organization Science

    Abstract
    Using three years’ data from more than 1,000 employees at a large professional services firm, we find that adopting an expertise search tool improves employee work performance in billable revenue, which results from improvements in network connections and ...
How Vertical Integration Affects Firm Innovation: Quasi-Experimental Evidence

Published Online:

Organization Science

    Abstract
    Although it is well established that vertical integration decisions have important consequences for firms, direct evidence on how vertical integration matters to firm innovation has been scarce. This study draws from seminal research on organizing for ...
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