Combining promotional attributes

Lins’ statement is a further contribution to the notion that social capital is an important attribute for promoting innovation at Saxo Bank, since it is emphasized that the lack of social capital makes it harder to be impactful. Without having the network, the structural social capital, it is difficult to achieve

cognitive social capital: “structural social capital exerts its influence through its effects on cognitive social capital” (Karahanna & Preston, 2013, p. 15).

Concluding on this section, the findings showed that social capital was indeed an important factor for promoting innovation at Saxo Bank, as it was emphasized by the whole population sample. It was highlighted that knowing whom to go to would speed up the innovation process, thus suggesting that the structural dimension of social capital ensured efficiency in promoting innovation. Knowing the right people in the right way and the personal relationship between the innovation champion and

stakeholders was also stressed as a crucial factor for promoting innovation, affirming the importance of relational social capital. Lastly, the findings showed that the cognitive dimension of social capital also play an important role for promoting innovation at Saxo Bank, as it was underlined that it was important to understand the organization and its stakeholders, thereby being able to align goals and language. The findings therefore support Karahanna & Preston’s (2013) notion of structural social capital acting as a facilitator for cognitive and relational social capital. The structural social capital was highlighted as efficient for finding and knowing the right people, while the cognitive and relational dimensions were underscored as the vital factors for promoting and implementing innovation.

As suggested by Bech, all three components are important, and he further suggests that they are inseparable. He elaborates on this point by arguing that the youngest person in the IT department, no matter how much social capital he has, will not be able to promote innovation without the necessary authority, “because your impact in fertilizing the soil depends a lot on the status you have in the

organization” (Bech, 2015). This suggests that the combination of promotion attributes is important, but that edification and social capital will not get your innovation promotion attempt far without authority.

“it depends on the organization, but in this one it’s a blend of all three. The most probably…

slightly weighting towards… It’s an even blend, it’s very, very difficult to figure out which one is the most…” (Macartney, 2015)

As evident from Macartney’s statement, he argues that at Saxo Bank it is not possible to separate the three attributes from each other; they are all equally important for promoting innovation. Macartney suggests that it would be difficult to promote innovation without authority, but ends up giving “the slight edge” to social capital (Macartney, 2015). It can thus be analyzed that the combination of having a good internal network, having gone through the necessary edification, and having an appropriate amount of authority is essential for promoting innovation at Saxo Bank according to Macartney.

As opposed to Bech and Macartney, who highlighted the authority element, Henriksen argues:

“… you could say that the authority must of course be there at some point. You cannot simply remove it. But […] the combination of social capital and experience I would say is more powerful than the authority.” (Henriksen, 2015)

Henriksen argues that authority has the lowest priority of the three promotion attributes, but points out that some degree of authority is needed for promoting innovation, giving the example that if you work in customer service, it would most likely be very difficult to make an IT decision (Henriksen, 2015). This corresponds with the earlier finding that formal authority does not carry a lot of weight at Saxo Bank, but that informal authority is still important. Therefore, the combination of the experience that the innovation champion has gained through edification and the social capital that the innovation champion has is more powerful than the authority attribute according to Henriksen.

One innovation champion offered an interesting view on how the three promotion attributes are interconnected:

“Authority after all enables you to get started and take the time, and that you get allowed to do it. The social capital means that you get faster through with your stuff. And the experience means that you can make the final product.” (Hammer, 2015)

From the above statement, it can be analyzed that, according to Hammer, the three promotion attributes have distinct qualities that can support one another, therefore making them important both separately as well as collectively. He highlights the edification attribute by emphasizing that you need the professional qualification to be able to define the product, and that without this attribute, the authority and social capital elements become insignificant (Hammer, 2015). Thereby, the edification attribute enables you to specify the innovation and label it so that it corresponds with organizational goals, which is an important factor for obtaining an organizational response (Dutton & Ashford, 1993).

The authority attribute is important, because your formal authority is decisive for whether or not you can dedicate the time to promote innovation, while the informal authority is crucial for ensuring that you are heard (Dutton & Ashford, 1993; Peppard, 2001). Lastly, the attribute of social capital makes your promotion attempt more efficient, by providing you access to the right people in the right way (Preston, 2007; Karahanna & Preston, 2013).

Though not highlighted by the entire interview group, it can be concluded from this section that combining promotional attributes is an important part of how innovation champions promote innovation at Saxo Bank. Authority allows you to be heard, as well as take the time to promote innovation, while social capital ensures that you are heard by the right people. Finally, edification ensures that you can define the innovation and align it with organizational goals. While the four innovation champions had different opinions about which attribute or combination was the most important, it can be concluded that each attribute is important and that the combination of attributes is essential for promoting innovation at Saxo Bank. This finding paves the way for a more profound discussion in the next chapter.