CALL FOR ARTICLE PROPOSALS

The role of communication in creating and maintaining a culture of corporate innovation.

Thematics Editors

Dr. Cristian Granados Sánchez. Tecnológico de Monterrey, Entrepreneurship Department (Mexico)

Dr. Cris Bravo Monge. Tecnológico de Monterrey, Entrepreneurship Department (Mexico)

Scope and descriptors

Innovation plays an important role in business performance (Daniel, 2011). Innovation is understood as the creation or improvement of products, services, business models, etc.; without forgetting the benefit obtained from them. Decades of research on this topic have attempted to answer the following question: Why are some organizations more capable of innovating than others? We admire companies like Google, Apple, Amazon, etc., and we ask ourselves: What do they have in common that makes them so innovative?

The existing literature in this issue highlights two main factors. First, an ecosystem of innovation based on some elements such as an organizational structure that supports innovation, correct KPI´s, wide use of agile methodologies, available time for innovation and a specific strategy to guide all innovation efforts (Eisenmann et al. 2013; Rao & Weintraub, 2013; Viki, et al. 2017). The studies made by Kuratko et al. (2014) indicate that support from top executives, the use of rewards, work discretion and organizational boundaries are other important elements.

The second factor is an organization culture that enhance and facilitate innovation. In general, culture can be defined as a certain set of values, beliefs, behaviors, and attitudes; which are shared, interpreted, and transmitted over time within a collective; and that makes the collective unique and distinguishes it from others (Bik, 2010). Therefore, individuals in a particular organization with a cultural atmosphere are inevitable influenced to innovate or not. In this regard, current literature indicates that some positive culture elements that enhance innovation are: tolerance for failure, willingness to experiment, psychological safety, a culture of collaboration, a culture of recognition, a culture of continuous learning, adhocracy, a developmental culture with no high hierarchy and fluid communication, a final user oriented culture, among others (Michaelis et al. 2018; Rao & Weintraub, 2013; Eisenmann et al. 2013; Pisano, 2019; Kuratko et al. 2014; Tian et al. 2018).

On the other hand, we know that the process to create and maintain a culture of innovation over time is not an easy task, and that leadership from collaborators or intrapreneurs (i.e. employees who lead innovation efforts within companies), the support from top executives, and the correct communication to spread the strategy and the culture are key (Deprez, et al. 2018; Soken et al. 2014). However, there are not enough studies on the role of communication in creating and maintaining a culture of innovation.

Communication helps shape reality and form social relationships through the construction and formation of the sense of our reality and culture. In this topic, this call for papers aims to answer some of the following questions:

What is the role of communication in creating and maintaining a culture of innovation?
What communication tools can be displayed for such goal? Which one performs better?
What type of communication fits best or has the best impact?
How is this communication and from whom or where should it come from?
Could communication have a negative effect on an already established culture of innovation?
Is communication different when the company needs to create the culture than when it needs to be maintained?
What role do communications play when companies need to create a culture based on values such as experimentation, continuous learning, tolerance of failure, etc.?
Should communication be explicit or implicit to improve such values?
Can we change through communication the negative elements integrated into an organizational culture that reduce innovation?
Given the nature of the topic, we are open to receive all contributions that answer some of the questions asked or others related. Contributions may take some of the following research frameworks: i) Theoretical studies that propose models or explanations based on existing papers, ii) Qualitative studies, such as case studies, that explain one or some of the questions in depth. iii) Quantitative studies in any level of analysis. iv) Studies based on professional experience or action research with a clear contribution to existing literature. v) Literature reviews that allow understanding the knowledge frontier and contribute to proposing future lines of research.

Contributions should follow the general format: introduction, literature review, methodology, results, discussion and conclusions.

Initial date for proposal articles June 15, 2020
Deadline for submission of articles October 1, 2020
Date of publication of issue N20 February 25, 2021