Extending the Job Design Perspective on Individual Innovation: Exploring the Effect of Group Reflexivity

Substantial advancement in innovation research has let us know about the role of different factors contributing to innovation at different levels of organization. But these researches focus on single level of analysis. For example, studies focusing primarily on characteristics of the individual job incumbent may overlook that those people's performance may simultaneously be influenced by characteristics of their work-group. This study focuses on how different factors in individual & team level affect individual innovation, as well as the interaction among those factors.

Individual innovation, work characteristics and group reflexivity:

Two activities typically seen as very essential for innovation is ideation and it’s implementation. Ideation is to develop new ideas and implementation is the practical implementation. The first objective of this study is to replicate past findings. In past researches it has been found that job control and task complexity benefits both ideation & implementation. So first two hypotheses becomes:

Hypothesis 1: Job control is positively related to individual ideation and implementation

Hypothesis 2: Task complexity is positively related to individual ideation and implementation

The second objective of this study is to explore the effect of group reflexivity on the individual. It is assumed that group reflexivity benefits not only group outcomes but also individual innovation activities. So the third hypothesis is:

Hypothesis 3: Group reflexivity is positively related to individual ideation and implementation

The third objective of this study is to determine the interaction of group reflexivity and work characteristics. The assumption is that the factors affecting individual innovation activities could be augmented through high group reflexivity.

Hypothesis 4: Group reflexivity moderates the positive relationship between job control on the one hand and ideation and implementation on the other. High levels of group reflexivity amplify the positive link between job control and individual innovation activities.

Hypothesis 5: Group reflexivity moderates the positive relationship between job complexity on the one hand and ideation and implementation on the other. High levels of group reflexivity enhance the positive link between job complexity and individual innovation activities

Method:

Sample & procedure

Employees from a software company of Poland were invited to participate. They were organized in stable groups. Each group was lead by a manager. Two questionnaires were provided. One to each individual employee to assess their