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Two Perspectives on Intellectual Capital and Innovation in Teams: Collective Intelligence and Cognitive Diversity

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Driving the Economy through Innovation and Entrepreneurship

Abstract

Teams are increasingly the locus of creativity and innovation in organizational settings, and understanding what affects their performance is critical to organizational performance. We draw on research from two different perspectives on intellectual capital to theorize about the enablers and disablers of innovation in teams. The first perspective draws on collective intelligence in human groups, and the second is related to team composition, specifically cognitive diversity. Borrowing from these two perspectives, we generate theory to integrate our understanding of how collective intelligence and cognitive diversity contribute toward (or detract from) the team’s potential to produce innovative solutions and products.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Tepper School of Business, Carnegie Mellon University, 5000 Forbes Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA, 15213, USA

    Ishani Aggarwal & Anita Woolley

Authors
  1. Ishani Aggarwal
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  2. Anita Woolley
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Ishani Aggarwal .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. , Department of Management Studies, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, 560 012, Karnataka, India

    Chiranjit Mukhopadhyay

  2. , Department of Management Studies, Indian Institute of Science, Gulmohar Marg, Mathikere, Bangalore, 560012, Karnataka, India

    K B Akhilesh

  3. , Department of Management Studies, Indian Institute of Science, Gulmohar Marg, Near-Centre For Neroscience,Mathikere, Bangalore, 560012, Karnataka, India

    R. Srinivasan

  4. , Department of Management Studies, Indian Institute of Science, Gulmohar Marg, Near-Centre For Neroscience,Mathikere, Bangalore, 560012, Karnataka, India

    Anjula Gurtoo

  5. , Department of Management Studies, Indian Institute of Science, Gulmohar Marg, Mathikere,, Bangalore, 560012, Karnataka, India

    Parthasarathy Ramachandran

  6. , Department of Management Studies, Indian Institute of Science, Gulmohar Marg, Mathikere, Bangalore, 560012, Karnataka, India

    Parameshwar P Iyer

  7. , Department of Management Studies, Indian Institute of Science, Gulmohar Marg, Mathikere, Bangalore, 560012, Karnataka, India

    M Mathirajan

  8. , Department of Management Studies, Indian Institute of Science, Gulmohar Marg, Mathikere, Bangalore, 560012, Karnataka, India

    M H Bala Subrahmanya

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Aggarwal, I., Woolley, A. (2013). Two Perspectives on Intellectual Capital and Innovation in Teams: Collective Intelligence and Cognitive Diversity. In: Mukhopadhyay, C., et al. Driving the Economy through Innovation and Entrepreneurship. Springer, India. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-81-322-0746-7_37

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