Boundary spanning and team innovativeness : the role of teams' technology portfolios

Abstract

“This paper analyzes how the link between teams' boundary spanning - the process of interacting with external actors, resources, and knowledge - and team innovativeness is contingent on their technology use. Using novel, detailed data on the technology use of teams in a representative sample of approximately 3,400 German firms, we derive six distinct technology portfolios at the team level, for example a comprehensive tech portfolio with advanced artificial intelligence (AI) applications, a minimalistic tech portfolio, or a focused tech portfolio concentrated on IT security. We find that the effectiveness of team boundary spanning in increasing team innovativeness strongly depends on a team's technology portfolio. While boundary spanning is more vital for team innovativeness with either minimalistic or comprehensive technology use, it is less relevant for focused-tech teams. Our results emphasize the critical role of a team's technology portfolio in the link between boundary-spanning activities and team innovativeness. We provide valuable insights for management practice: aligning boundary spanning with teams' technology use is key for improving innovativeness.“ (authors’ abstract; BIBB-Doku)