The role of boundary spanning in organizational innovation: A meta-analysis approaches

To acquire innovations produced by universities and higher education institutions, organizations can use the strategy of boundary-spanning to meet their needs. The results of the previous research also indicate the effect of boundary spanning on organizational innovation. Based on this, it is possible to develop innovation in the industry by using boundary spanning. On the other hand, from 2015 to 2023, several researches have been conducted and published regarding the positive impact of boundary spanning on organizational innovation in different countries. By analyzing and summarizing the findings of previous studies by making sure of the relationship between the two considered variables and by making sure of the accuracy of the current findings, it is possible to provide solutions to improve the boundary spanning between industry and university as well as to improve the effect of boundary spanning on organizational innovation. Therefore, the primary question of the research is to what extent does the boundary spanning affect organizational innovation?

THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK:

As a description of boundary spanning in the field of organizational innovations, Tashman expanded the communication boundaries that are conceptual and linguistic differences in a laboratory environment, between the laboratory and other parts of the organization, and between different organizations. To increase the level of interaction and participation between industry and university and to take advantage of the innovations created in universities and higher education institutions, there is a need to develop the relationship between industry and university and acquire knowledge resources through the frontier strategy. In bridging and establishing inter-institutional communication and connecting separate groups, these people face boundaries and should cross these boundaries and obstacles and communicate with organizations outside the borders. Accordingly, boundary spanning helps the universities share scientific and technical information, and the industry acquire and understand academic innovations. Generally, boundary spanning is an effective strategy for developing the university-industry relationship to cultivate, share, and apply organizational innovations. Industries and companies are less willing to invest in research and development due to the high cost of complex laboratory equipment, the difficulty of access to international research and development centers, the risks associated with innovation, and the investment limitations. Hence, they are interested in getting the latest innovations in knowledge through higher education institutions. For industry-university collaboration to thrive, companies must learn to operate outside their organizational boundaries and develop their capabilities to interact and collaborate with partners with different characteristics.

In terms of its purpose, the current research is an applied study, and by its meta-analysis method, it is considered a quantitative study. In this research, the investigated community was the research studies published in English about the role of boundary spanning in organizational innovation from 2015 to 2023. In the first stage, 189 studies regarding the relationship between boundary-spanning and organizational innovation were selected from various databases. Then, 33 duplicate articles indexed in different databases were identified and removed. The number of 156 articles was identified for title and abstract review. By examining the titles and abstracts of all identified articles, 129 articles were excluded from the article review process due to lack of relevance to the research topic and lack of inclusion criteria. Therefore, 27 articles were selected for full review. By examining the remaining articles more closely and studying their results, 18 were picked for meta-analysis.

The findings showed that the average effect of boundary-spanning (random mixed effects) on organizational innovation equals 0.347. Considering that this effect size (0.347) is within the confidence range, it should be said that boundary spanning affects innovation. The obtained point estimate (0.347), based on Cohen's criterion, indicates an effect in the upper medium range. In general, boundary-spanning moderately affected organizational innovation.

CONCLUSIONS & SUGGESTIONS:

In general, innovation is a competitive advantage for organizations and industries, and innovative organizations can compete with other competitors and maintain the survival of their organization. Companies and organizations will be removed from the competition scene if they cannot achieve innovation to meet the new needs of society and the market. One of the ways to achieve innovation is the interaction of industry and university in the form of boundary-spanning activities. In this way, industries can obtain new academic knowledge innovations to develop new products and services to satisfy the market needs. Boundary-spanning operations can facilitate disseminating the innovation produced in universities for industry use. Therefore, it is suggested that to acquire and develop innovations produced in universities and scientific institutions, organizations and industries should turn to boundary-spanning and use boundary-spanning strategies in developing cooperation with universities.