CROSSING ORGANIZATIONAL BOUNDARIES FOR INNOVATION Probing Knowledge Transformation in the Context of Interorganizational Collaborative Strategy Process Development

OF DOCTORAL DISSERTATION AALTO UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY P.O. BOX 11000, FI-00076 AALTO Author Pauli Alin Name of the dissertation Crossing organizational boundaries: Probing knowledge transformation in the context of interorganizational collaborative strategy process development Manuscript submitted 5 February 2010 Manuscript revised 26 March 2010 Date of the defence 21 May 2010 Monograph Article dissertation (summary + original articles) Faculty Information and Natural Sciences Department Industrial Engineering and Management Field of research Business Process Networks in Digital Economy Opponent(s) Professor Deborah Dougherty and Professor Liisa Välikangas Supervisor Professor Riitta Smeds Instructor Professor Riitta Smeds Abstract Interorganizational networks are replacing traditional hierarchical firms as locus of competition and innovation. In this dissertation research I argue that understanding innovation in networks requires understanding how situated knowledge is transformed at organizational boundaries. I also argue that neither the literature on interorganizational networks nor the literature on situated knowledge addresses explicitly how knowledge is transformed at boundaries between organizations. To address this research gap, I draw from recent developments in practice theoretical knowledge management research and use a knowledge transformation theory framework to observe micro-level knowledge transformation processes at semantic and pragmatic organizational boundaries in the setting of interorganizational collaborative strategy process development. I find that knowledge transformation at the organizational boundary involves the sub-processes of initiation, negotiation, altering, creating new knowledge and validating knowledge. Based on qualitative case analysis, I describe these sub-processes in detail and propose a model of knowledge transformation at semantic and pragmatic organizational boundaries. The model first suggests that at semantic organizational boundaries, knowledge is clarified and altered, but new knowledge is not created. The model also suggests that at pragmatic organizational boundaries, new knowledge is created through synthesizing existing represented knowledge. The model extends research on knowledge transformation toward settings where multiple boundaries are crossed. Finally, this dissertation research suggests that research on interorganizational networks and innovation should pay closer attention to knowledge creation and transformation – not just transfer – at boundaries between organizations.