Political behavior in collaborative innovation spaces: outlining triggers, behaviors and shaping mechanisms

Journal article, 2024

Innovation management research often underestimates the social and political nature of innovation processes, leading it to fail to fully explain why many innovative projects experience delays and/or failure. As many organizations engage in collaborative innovation processes involving multiple partners, we must also recognize that such environments are fertile ground for actors to utilize political behavior to pursue their agendas. While political behavior is often dismissed as destructive, it can be a necessary and essential part of pushing collaborative innovation processes forward. This study explores how political behavior can shape spaces for collaboration. We draw on four extensive qualitative studies of collaborative initiatives and outline a three-stage model of shaping collaborative innovation spaces. The model includes background triggers, political behaviors, and four shaping mechanisms. We discuss the influence of the model and the managerial implications of the political nature of collaborative spaces, contributing to the current debate on collaborative innovation spaces.