Strong ties, weak ties and islands: structural and cultural predictors of organizational innovation

How does the tendency of entrepreneurs to engage in innovation relate to their structural and cultural embeddedness? Using micro-data on entrepreneurial teams and the organizational innovations they attempt to develop, this article presents a predictive model of creative action to address this question. Capacity for creative action is seen to be a function of the ability of entrepreneurs to (i) obtain non-redundant information from their social networks; (ii) avoid pressures for conformity; and (iii) sustain trust in developing novel--and potentially profitable--innovations. Probit analyses of over 700 organizational startups suggest that these mechanisms exercise effects on innovation via the network ties and enculturation of entrepreneurs. Copyright 2002, Oxford University Press.