SOCIAL NETWORKS, COGNITIVE STYLE, AND INNOVATIVE PERFORMANCE: A CONTINGENCY PERSPECTIVE

Integrating insights from cognitive psychology into current network theory on the social capital of brokering and closed networks, we argue that cognitive style is a critical contingency explaining the relation between social network position and innovative performance. Based on a “complementary fit ” argument, we posit that a social network rich in structural holes enhances the innovative performance of employees with an adaptive cognitive style; however, individuals with an innovative cognitive style are most innovative when embedded within a closed network of densely interconnected contacts. Using data on the individual cognitive styles and complete workplace social networks of all employees within a design and manufacturing firm, we show that our theorized contingency mechanism accounts for a large share of empirical variation in employee innovative performance over and above existing social network explanations. Extant research has shown that the workplace social network within which an employee is embed-ded deeply affects his or her ability to produce usefu