The Role of Social Networks in Organizing Ideation, Creativity and Innovation: An Introduction

In the light of intensified competition, technological complexity and institutional instability, firms are increasingly inclined to actively seek competitive advantage through innovation. Consequently, the survival, profitability and growth of organizations are in most industries intimately related to their innovative capabilities, i.e. the capacity tocombine resources needed to generate novel and valuable products, processes, services, business models and organizational forms. These capabilities rely to a large extent on collective actions, stressing that innovation is a social activity where communication and interaction play important roles.