Internal and External Communication, Boundary Spanning, and Innovation Adoption: An Over-Time Comparison of Three Explanations of Internal and External Innovation Communication in a New Organizational Form

Abstract

This research report compares three differing explanations of the dynamic interrelationships between internal and external innovation-related communication in anew organizational form. In the functional specialization explanation, individualsare said to focus on the mix of internal and/or external communication dictatedby their formal positions. The communication stars explanation suggests that individuals maintain similar levels of communication in both networks. The cyclicalmodel posits a more dynamic pattern that shifts back and forth between internaland external communication, depending on the consequences of their prior communication behavior. The new organizational form examined for three years was theCancer Information Service, a geographically dispersed federal government healthinformation program. Our results indicated that there was a lagged effect for thecommunication stars explanation.