Achieving collaborative innovation by controlling or leveraging network complexities through complexity leadership

Abstract

Recent innovation research in the public sector demonstrates the advantages of collaborative innovation, but also recognizes the complex character of collaborative innovation processes. These complexities might both stimulate and hinder collaborative innovation. Through a qualitative comparative analysis of empirical data from 19 public–private innovation partnerships (PPIs) in five European Countries, we show how particular types of complexity leadership (i.e., generative leadership and administrative leadership) act on these complexities in PPIs to produce highly innovative services. The results show that small partnerships use generative leadership in the presence of network complexities, and administrative leadership in the absence of network complexities to produce highly innovative services. However, large partnerships only use generative leadership, while abandoning administrative leadership, to produce highly innovative services. These findings bring about theoretical and practical insights as to how various forms of complexity leadership might be employed in varying contexts of partnership complexity.