Innovator resilience potential: A process perspective of individual resilience as influenced by innovation project termination

Published: Jan. 1, 2012, 11 a.m.

b'Innovation projects fail at an astonishing rate. Yet, the negative effects of innovation project failures on the team members of these projects have been largely neglected in research streams that deal with innovation project failures. After such setbacks, it is vital to maintain or even strengthen project members\\u2019 innovative capabilities for subsequent innovation projects. For this, the concept of resilience, i.e. project members\\u2019 potential to positively adjust (or even grow) after a setback such as an innovation project failure, is fundamental. We develop the second-order construct of innovator resilience potential, which consists of six components \\u2013 self-efficacy, outcome expectancy, optimism, hope, self-esteem, and risk propensity \\u2013 that are important for project members\\u2019 potential of innovative functioning in innovation projects subsequent to a failure. We illustrate our theoretical findings by means of a qualitative study of a terminated large-scale innovation project, and derive implications for research and management.'