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! ! The$Best$Of$Both$Worlds:$The$Positive( Effect%Of%Strong%Boundary%Spanning% Ties%On%Creativity.! `! ! ! ! The$best$of$both$worlds:$the$positive( effect%of%strong%boundary%spanning% ties%on%creativity.! ! ! By! ! Danai!Kostoula!! 10099808! !MSc!in!Business!Administration:!Strategy!Track! !Amsterdam!Business!School,!UvA!! Supervisor:!Nathan!E.!Betancourt!! 24/08/2015! ! ! ! ! ! Statement of originality This document is written by Danai Kostoula who declares to take full responsibility for the contents of this document. I declare that the text and the work presented in this document is original and that no sources other than those mentioned in the text and its references have been used in creating it. The Faculty of Economics and Business is responsible solely for the supervision of completion of the work, not for the contents. ! Table!of!Contents! Abstract!................................................................................................................!ii! INTRODUCTION!................................................................................................!1! Research Gap!........................................................................................................................................................!3! THEORETICAL!FRAMEWORK!AND!HYPOTHESES!......................................................!5! Creativity and interpersonal ties!.....................................................................................................................!5! Weak Ties!...............................................................................................................................................................!6! Strong Ties!.............................................................................................................................................................!9! Boundary Spanning Ties!.................................................................................................................................!13! METHODOLOGY AND DATA COLLECTION!..............................................!21! Participants!...........................................................................................................................................................!24! Limitations!...........................................................................................................................................................!25! Survey Design!.....................................................................................................................................................!27! Measures!...............................................................................................................................................................!28! RESULTS!...........................................................................................................!32! Statistical Analysis!............................................................................................................................................!32! Social Network Analysis!.................................................................................................................................!38! DISCUSSION!.....................................................................................................!43! Further Limitations!.........................................................................................................................................!49! CONCLUSION AND FUTURE RESEARCH!....................................................!52! REFERENCES!...................................................................................................!55! ! Table!of!Figures Figure!1!................................................................................................................!21! Figure!2!................................................................................................................!42! List!of!Tables!! Table!1!.................................................................................................................!31! Table!2!.................................................................................................................!40! ! ! 2! ! Abstract This research looked into which strength of tie type has the larger, positive influence on creativity. Tie type is distinguished between boundary spanning and non-boundary spanning ties while strength between strong and weak. The majority of the research agues that it is weak ties that are most beneficial to creativity since they provide diverse, nonredundant information. It is the novel information received that makes one more creative as she can combine it with older ideas and in that way rethink products, services and solutions. Strong ties on the other hand, have not been seen in the same positive light as they provide the focal actor with redundant information since often one’s strong ties are connected with her other strong ties. In addition they encourage group conformity that curbs the exploration of new ideas, however, they also create an environment of trust were new ideas are accepted and complex knowledge can be transferred faster. Boundary spanning ties cross organizational boundaries in order to access pools of knowledge, non-existent in the organization. In that way the focal actor already receives novel and diverse information that aids her creativity. It is argued that strong boundary spanning ties have a positive effect on creativity and the findings match this hypothesis. The employees and freelancers of a Dutch film production company were send a questionnaire and the findings suggest that weak non-boundary spanning and strong boundary spanning ties had a stronger, positive effect on creativity. Weak boundary spanning ties also had a positive effect on creativity and strong non-boundary spanning ties had a negative effect on creativity. One consideration, however, would be the small sample size and the inability thus to generalize the findings. ii! INTRODUCTION “Man is by nature a social animal”. These words, attributed to Socrates have created the foundations of our contemporary societies. The connection with other people and the relationships between them is what leads to acquiring new information and by synthesizing this information, people are able to reevaluate situations and create novel ideas that are often of aid to finding solutions for problems. Interpersonal ties can be separated in weak (acquaintances, colleagues, etc.) and strong ties (such as friends and close family) and can be seen as a function of the emotional closeness, the frequency and the longevity of the interaction (Granovetter, 1973). These separate ties with people allow the flow of information from one social or professional group to another and it is this collection of heterogeneous, nonredundant information that encourages creativity, the basis for problem-solving mindsets and out-of-the-box thinking. Creativity is defined by Perry-Smith and Shalley (2003) as a character trait and approach (specifically at work) that leads to new and suitable ideas, solutions or processes. Necessary in today’s constantly changing environment, creative thinking is the source of innovative products and services. It also, however, adds to the finer aspects of life, whether that is fashion, designer furniture, film or television. There exists thus, in the arts and sciences world but also in the daily life, the need to keep being creative and innovative when many ideas have already been materialized; the need to create something novel and unexpected that fulfills the desires of the consumer. This is when social relationships become even more important. Through one’s relationship with others, one can synthesize different ideas in a unique and innovative manner creating a new solution, a new design, or a new cinematic idea. 1! By collecting, reorganizing and implementing novel and seemingly unrelated ideas with older ones that have already been realized, organizational members can invent ways of looking at problems differently. Combining separate at first fields of knowledge by her interactions with people one can acquire new perspectives that help her in designing new products, processes or solve problems. Weak and strong ties provide different types of information that are necessary in the creative process. Weak ties tend to transmit information that is nonredundant because they are more likely to be connected to different social circles than the actor, while the ego’s strong ties are very probably linked between them and thus be a source of redundant information (Granovetter, 1973). For this reason, weak ties, with their offer of diverse information and perspectives, are considered more beneficial to creativity than strong ties (Perry- Smith & Shalley, 2003). However, strong ties also affect creativity positively but in a different way; they create an environment of trust which is necessary when taking risk which happens when one is innovating (Dokko, Kane & Tortoriello, 2014) while also helps with the transfer and understanding of more complex knowledge (Tortoriello, Reagans & McEvily, 2012). This leads us to think that both weak and strong ties will have a positive effect on creativity. Often, however, the intraorganizational network is not a sufficient pool of knowledge and thus the boundaries of the organization must be crossed in order to acquire the necessary information, knowledge and skills. Also known as boundary spanning, it creates a bridge over a structural hole between two separate network clusters (Long, Cunningham, Braithwaite, 2013).
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