Facilitating Knowledge Creation in Innovation Activities with Boundary Media

Abstract

Innovation is an essential aspect of contemporary corporate administration. While the co-creation of innovation activities by stakeholders in diverse positions enables the exploration of new value, there are also difficulties, such as conflicts arising from differences in positions and expertise within the organization. Therefore, it is necessary to establish an approach to manage co-creation and create value as an organization. Several cases have reported the function of specific media facilitating collaboration across boundaries among diverse actors in corporate innovation activities, referring to the concept of Boundary Objects introduced in sociology. The mechanism of which media and how they function as boundary objects remain unclear. In this study, we defined Boundary Media as “media intentionally introduced to a group” and conducted an idea creation workshop simulating the early stages of innovation activities. This study aimed to examine how boundary media function as boundary objects in facilitating group knowledge creation. Our findings indicated that two types of boundary media were effective: sculptures that artfully depict keywords for idea creation and idea sketches that describe ideas. In particular, they were especially effective in idea creation for tangible products by evoking creativity through inspiration and facilitating knowledge sharing, thereby facilitating group knowledge creation.

Keywords: Boundary Media, Innovation, Communication, Organizational Creativity, Ideation Workshop

DOI: 10.54941/ahfe1003307