SENSEGIVING IN NASCENT INNOVATIONS

How do innovators acquire formal organizational support for their early stage ideas? Innovations rarely fit well with an organization’s strategy, structure, resources or institutionalized patterns of thought (Chandy & Tellis, 2000; Dougherty & Hardy, 1996). High potential ideas are often weeded out at nascent stages because they challenge existing thought. Previous researchers have suggested that innovators succeed when they influence how audiences understand the meaning of their innovation (Dougherty & Heller, 1994; Hargadon & Douglas, 2001). Shaping how audiences understand the meaning of an innovation can be accomplished through several methods such as framing (Benford & Snow, 2000; Goffman, 1974) and general influence tactics such as assertiveness, ingratiation and coalitions (Kipnis, Schmidt & Wilkinson, 1980). Here we explore how innovators construct meaning by engaging in “sensegiving” (Gioia & Chittipedi, 1991) to move their innovation from ideation to adoption. To address our research question we...