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Institute of Leadership and Change Management
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Center for Microfoundations of Change & Creativity

The work leading up to a great majority of innovative ideas ending up in the marketplace and groundbreaking solutions addressing organizational and social issues is grounded in the social interactions of individuals, such as managers, inventors, scientists or problem solvers. These kinds of social interactions shape ideas by changing their framing or altering their essence, polishing them, and making them appeal to key gatekeepers.

Contexts of application. Various are the settings in which social interactions affecting creativity or organizational change occur. For example, they can manifest in digital discussion forums for open innovation, hackathons, public debates, conferences and workshops. Moreover, such interactions can occur virtually, via zoom, email, social media, or a website, or be face-to-face, such as in meetings and advice sharing requests.

Aim. In this center, we focus on understanding the effects of social interactions on the fate of ideas that can impact the future of organizations. With this knowledge, we aim to assist managers, inventors, problem solvers, as well as policymakers and entrepreneurs in the processes of change and innovation.

Some of the methods employed: social network analysis, cognitive network analysis, frame analysis, metaphor analysis, narrative analysis, social exchange analysis. 

Institute of Leadership and Change Management

Contact person

Univ. Prof. Claudio Biscaro

Organizing Creativity – Transalpine Paper Development Workshop

1st Organizing Creativity – Transalpine Paper Development Workshop on 12-13 May 2023

Contributions to research

  • Biscaro, C., & Comacchio, A. (2018) Knowledge creation across worldviews: How metaphors impact and orient group creativity. Organization Science 29.1 (2018): 58-79.
  • Biscaro, C., Delmestri, G., & Raynard, M. (2019). Don’t Rock The Boat. Theorizing the Role of Social Exchanges in Issue Settlements. In Academy of Management Proceedings (Vol. 2019, No. 1, p. 18200). Briarcliff Manor, NY 10510: Academy of Management.
  • Biscaro, C. & Bruni, E. (forthcoming). Metaphors in the creative journey: Using metaphors in practice. In Örtenblad A. (Ed.), The Oxford Handbook of Metaphor in Organization Studies. Oxford University Press, Oxford, UK.
  • Oswick, C., Biscaro, C., Bruni, E., & Cornelissen, J. (2021). Reconceptualizing Conceptual Engineering. Academy of Management Review.
  • Biscaro, C., & Giupponi, C. (2014). Co-authorship and bibliographic coupling network effects on citations. PloS one, 9(6), e99502.

Practical projects / partners

Practical projects

  • Social and cognitive networks shaping creative interactions
  • Studying narratives leading up to innovative and non-innovative solutions
  • Addressing the problem of cruise ships in Venice
  • Studying the linguistic micro-foundations of legitimacy

Current Project partners

  • Tiwi: An Italian creative studio producing animated movies, videos, and other interactive content for the web and TV. Tiwi has to find ways to sustain its creativity throughout the projects and years.
  • New Zealand’s Department of Conservation: We have sustained the crowdsourcing effort promoted by New Zealand’s DoC to find ideas and solutions to protect the local fauna and flora.

If you want to become a future partner or know more about the research carried out in this center, please contact Claudio.biscaro(at)jku.at.  

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Johannes Kepler University Linz

Altenberger Straße 69

4040 Linz, Austria

Telephone +43 732 2468 0
Fax +43 732 2468 4929
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