Uncovering Covert Innovation

Bootlegging, Illegitimacy, and Management's Attitude

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It is of central importance for companies to be innovative. To maximize their innovation potential, companies often rely on formal systems and processes for innovation management. It has been shown that such attempts have the side effect of inhibiting a number of valuable innovations. Some employees proceed informally and smuggle their innovations past formal barriers. Stephan Eicher analyses the interaction between bootleggers and their management. Using both qualitative and quantitative methods, he answers three primary research questions. What is the current state of research on bootlegging in R&D? How do bootleggers overcome illegitimacy upon disclosing their covert projects to decision-makers? How do different management styles and approaches affect the incidence of bootlegging? The results of this research paint a vivid picture of the relationship between covert innovation projects and the official management world of companies.