Deviance of inventor and technological innovation

2020 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 19K23191
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Research Activity Start-up
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Review Section: 0107:Economics, business administration, and related fields
• Research Institution: Yokohama National University
• Principal Investigator: Takada Naoki 横浜国立大学, 先端科学高等研究院, 特任教員(助教) (60846947)
• Project Period (FY): 2019-08-30 – 2021-03-31
• Keywords: イノベーション / 技術革新 / 発明 / 逸脱行動

Outline of Final Research Achievements

In order to clarify the relationship between deviant behavior and technological innovation in organizations, we worked on the development of the scale of deviant behavior, and analyzed its effect on patent quality. Deviant behavior here refers to constructive deviant behavior (disobeying the instructions of superiors for the sake of the organization) by inventors, as opposed to delinquent or antisocial behavior.
To develop a measure of deviant behavior, we need to capture two aspects: the isolation of the inventor in the organization and the prior freedom endowed by organizational design. From the analysis using the measure that partially incorporates these factors, it was found that moderate deviant behavior, that is, work that does not completely separate from the original task but partially transcends such task, may lead to the seeds of innovation.

Free Research Field

経営学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

本課題は，大規模組織におけるイノベーションの源泉というトピックに逸脱行動という新たな視点を持ち込むことによって，これまで十分に解消されてこなかった「勝手な発明」という現象を理論的に取り扱う先鞭を付けた．すなわち，
発明者による逸脱行動は，硬直的な大規模組織でイノベーションが発露するための重要な源泉であると安易に捉えられてきた．しかしながら，この言説は定量的な検証を踏まえたものではない．社会的な通説の検証によってイノベーション・マネジメントの神話を解きほぐすことは，人々の混乱を解消することに繋がるという意味で，社会的にも意義あるものと考えられる．