Sociometric location and innovation: how the social network intervenes
between the structural position of early adopters and changes in
the power map
Technovation, 21 (1):
1-13 (2001/1)Abstract
The introduction and development of innovation in small and medium-sized
firms has most often been considered as being driven by the entrepreneur-owner
who is supposed to conceive the innovation and then consistently
sponsor and pursue its implementation within the organization. However,
when the innovation turns from an abstract idea into a change embedded
within a social network, fear of modifying the power map within the
network can lead to inconsistent behaviors on the part of the owner,
who may even try to make the innovation process fail.An ethnographic
study was carried out in a small Italian firm that manufactures staircases,
observing from start to finish the process by which a new Information
System was implemented. From the field notes, clear pro- and anti-innovation
coalitions emerged. The findings of the study noted that the entrepreneur-owner,
although unanimously acknowledged to have argued in favor of the
innovation, withdrew his support from its implementation when he
realized that, contrary to his expectations, it increased the power
of a few core actors defined, in this instance, as those actors with
greater and more sought-after technical know-how and skills.
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