Patterns of information flow during the innovation process Available to Purchase

There is a comprehensive and growing body of empirical evidence, gathered through retrospective studies of innovation attempts, which demonstrates clearly that good communications, with the consequent efficient flow of information both within the innovating organization and between the organization and its environment, is a prime requisite for innovative success. The relative importance of literature and other formal sources of information utilized during innovation, in relation to informal interpersonal sources will be mentioned only briefly since this topic has been discussed at some length elsewhere. This paper represents an attempt to analyse some of the available empirical data which relate to the information seeking habits of innovators in their search for scientific and technological information. It traces the patterns of search through the various phases of the innovation process, discusses the different information seeking habits of scientists and technologists, describe the effect of firm size on the pattern of information search and highlights the necessity of matching the degree of complexity of a message to the level of sophistication of its recipient. Finally it discusses the significance of these findings to those whose task is the management of innovation.