IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/inm/ororsc/v29y2018i6p1056-1073.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Slack Time and Innovation

Author

Listed:
  • Ajay Agrawal

    (Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario M5S 3E6, Canada;)

  • Christian Catalini

    (Sloan School of Management, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02142;)

  • Avi Goldfarb

    (Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario M5S 3E6, Canada;)

  • Hong Luo

    (Harvard Business School, Boston, Massachusetts 02163)

Abstract

The relationship between slack resources and innovation is complex, with the literature linking slack to both breakthrough innovations and resource misallocation. We reconcile these conflicting views by focusing on a novel mechanism: the role slack time plays in the endogenous allocation of time and effort to innovative projects. We develop a theoretical model that distinguishes between periods of high- (work weeks) versus low- (break weeks) opportunity costs of time. Low-opportunity cost time during break weeks may induce (1) lower quality ideas to be developed (a selection effect); (2) more effort to be applied for any given idea quality (an effort effect); and (3) an increase in the use of teams because scheduling is less constrained (a coordination effect). As a result, the effect of an increase in slack time on innovative outcomes is ambiguous, because the selection effect may induce more low-quality ideas, whereas the effort and coordination effect may lead to more high-quality, complex ideas. We test this framework using data on college breaks and on 165,410 Kickstarter projects across the United States. Consistent with our predictions, during university breaks, more projects are posted in the focal regions, and the increase is largest for projects of either very high or very low quality. Furthermore, projects posted during breaks are more complex, and involve larger teams with diverse skills. We discuss the implications for the design of policies on slack time.

Suggested Citation

  • Ajay Agrawal & Christian Catalini & Avi Goldfarb & Hong Luo, 2018. "Slack Time and Innovation," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 29(6), pages 1056-1073, December.
  • Handle: RePEc:inm:ororsc:v:29:y:2018:i:6:p:1056-1073
    DOI: 10.1287/orsc.2018.1215
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1287/orsc.2018.1215
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1287/orsc.2018.1215?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Thomas Åstebro & Jing Chen & Peter Thompson, 2011. "Stars and Misfits: Self-Employment and Labor Market Frictions," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 57(11), pages 1999-2017, November.
    2. Gordon E Greenley & Mehmet Oktemgil, 1998. "A Comparison of Slack Resources in High and Low Performing British Companies," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 35(3), pages 377-398, May.
    3. Susan Athey & Scott Stern, 2002. "The Impact of Information Technology on Emergency Health Care Outcomes," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 33(3), pages 399-432, Autumn.
    4. Hengchen Dai & Katherine L. Milkman & Jason Riis, 2014. "The Fresh Start Effect: Temporal Landmarks Motivate Aspirational Behavior," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 60(10), pages 2563-2582, October.
    5. Joop Hartog & Mirjam Van Praag & Justin Van Der Sluis, 2010. "If You Are So Smart, Why Aren't You an Entrepreneur? Returns to Cognitive and Social Ability: Entrepreneurs Versus Employees," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 19(4), pages 947-989, December.
    6. Harvey Leibenstein, 1969. "Organizational or Frictional Equilibria, X-Efficiency, and the Rate of Innovation," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 83(4), pages 600-623.
    7. Ramana Nanda & Matthew Rhodes-Kropf, 2016. "Financing Entrepreneurial Experimentation," Innovation Policy and the Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 16(1), pages 1-23.
    8. Gordon Burtch & Anindya Ghose & Sunil Wattal, 2015. "The Hidden Cost of Accommodating Crowdfunder Privacy Preferences: A Randomized Field Experiment," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 61(5), pages 949-962, May.
    9. Ethan Mollick & Ramana Nanda, 2016. "Wisdom or Madness? Comparing Crowds with Expert Evaluation in Funding the Arts," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 62(6), pages 1533-1553, June.
    10. Justin Tan & Mike W. Peng, 2003. "Organizational slack and firm performance during economic transitions: two studies from an emerging economy," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 24(13), pages 1249-1263, December.
    11. Åstebro, Thomas & Thompson, Peter, 2011. "Entrepreneurs, Jacks of all trades or Hobos?," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 40(5), pages 637-649, June.
    12. Jensen, Michael C, 1986. "Agency Costs of Free Cash Flow, Corporate Finance, and Takeovers," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 76(2), pages 323-329, May.
    13. Roy Thurik, 2014. "Entrepreneurship and the business cycle," IZA World of Labor, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA), pages 1-90, October.
    14. Ajay Agrawal & Christian Catalini & Avi Goldfarb, 2015. "Crowdfunding: Geography, Social Networks, and the Timing of Investment Decisions," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 24(2), pages 253-274, June.
    15. Michael C. Jensen, 1994. "Self‐Interest, Altruism, Incentives, And Agency Theory," Journal of Applied Corporate Finance, Morgan Stanley, vol. 7(2), pages 40-45, June.
    16. William R. Kerr & Ramana Nanda & Matthew Rhodes-Kropf, 2014. "Entrepreneurship as Experimentation," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 28(3), pages 25-48, Summer.
    17. William Ocasio, 1997. "Towards An Attention‐Based View Of The Firm," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 18(S1), pages 187-206, July.
    18. Kamin, J. Y. & Ronen, J., 1978. "The smoothing of income numbers: Some empirical evidence on systematic differences among management-controlled and owner-controlled firms," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 3(2), pages 141-157, June.
    19. Mollick, Ethan, 2014. "The dynamics of crowdfunding: An exploratory study," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 29(1), pages 1-16.
    20. Ajay Agrawal & Christian Catalini & Avi Goldfarb, 2014. "Some Simple Economics of Crowdfunding," Innovation Policy and the Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 14(1), pages 63-97.
    21. Gordon Burtch & Anindya Ghose & Sunil Wattal, 2013. "An Empirical Examination of the Antecedents and Consequences of Contribution Patterns in Crowd-Funded Markets," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 24(3), pages 499-519, September.
    22. Yuri Mishina & Timothy G. Pollock & Joseph F. Porac, 2004. "Are more resources always better for growth? Resource stickiness in market and product expansion," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 25(12), pages 1179-1197, December.
    23. Gabriel Natividad, 2013. "Financial Slack, Strategy, and Competition in Movie Distribution," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 24(3), pages 846-864, June.
    24. Jay R. Galbraith, 1974. "Organization Design: An Information Processing View," Interfaces, INFORMS, vol. 4(3), pages 28-36, May.
    25. Levinthal, Daniel & March, James G., 1981. "A model of adaptive organizational search," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 2(4), pages 307-333, December.
    26. Fama, Eugene F, 1980. "Agency Problems and the Theory of the Firm," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 88(2), pages 288-307, April.
    27. Matthew S. Kraatz & Edward J. Zajac, 2001. "How Organizational Resources Affect Strategic Change and Performance in Turbulent Environments: Theory and Evidence," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 12(5), pages 632-657, October.
    28. Juanjuan Zhang & Peng Liu, 2012. "Rational Herding in Microloan Markets," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 58(5), pages 892-912, May.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Wang, Yinghuan & Wang, Baolin & Yan, Yan, 2022. "Does network externality affect your project? Evidences from reward-based technology crowdfunding," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 180(C).
    2. Wright, Nataliya Langburd & Nagle, Frank & Greenstein, Shane, 2023. "Open source software and global entrepreneurship," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 52(9).
    3. Abbas, Sadia & Adapa, Sujana & Sheridan, Alison & Azeem, Muhammad Masood, 2022. "Informal competition and firm level innovation in South Asia: The moderating role of innovation time off and R&D intensity," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 181(C).
    4. Gianluigi Giustiziero, 2021. "Is the division of labor limited by the extent of the market? Opportunity cost theory with evidence from the real estate brokerage industry," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 42(7), pages 1344-1378, July.
    5. Philip Wollborn & David Dornekott & Ulrike Holder, 2023. "Entrepreneurial efforts and opportunity costs: evidence from twitch streamers," International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal, Springer, vol. 19(3), pages 1209-1238, September.
    6. Xiahua Wei & Ming Fan & Weijia You & Yong Tan, 2021. "An Empirical Study of the Dynamic and Differential Effects of Prefunding," Production and Operations Management, Production and Operations Management Society, vol. 30(5), pages 1331-1349, May.
    7. Mulhuijzen, Max & de Jong, Jeroen P.J., 2023. "The rich or the poor? Personal resources, do-it-yourself, and innovation in the household sector," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 52(3).
    8. Desmond (Ho-Fu) Lo & Francisco Brahm & Wouter Dessein & Chieko Minami, 2022. "Managing with Style? Microevidence on the Allocation of Managerial Attention," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 68(11), pages 8261-8285, November.
    9. Yu, Sandy & Fleming, Lee, 2022. "Regional crowdfunding and high tech entrepreneurship," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 51(9).
    10. Zhiyi Wang & Lusi Yang & Jungpil Hahn, 2023. "Winner Takes All? The Blockbuster Effect on Crowdfunding Platforms," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 34(3), pages 935-960, September.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Philipp B. Cornelius & Bilal Gokpinar, 2020. "The Role of Customer Investor Involvement in Crowdfunding Success," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 66(1), pages 452-472, January.
    2. Ciprian Stan & Mike Peng & Garry Bruton, 2014. "Slack and the performance of state-owned enterprises," Asia Pacific Journal of Management, Springer, vol. 31(2), pages 473-495, June.
    3. Thomas Clauss & Thomas Niemand & Sascha Kraus & Patrick Schnetzer & Alexander Brem, 2019. "Increasing Crowdfunding Success Through Social Media: The Importance Of Reach And Utilisation In Reward-Based Crowdfunding," International Journal of Innovation Management (ijim), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 24(03), pages 1-30, May.
    4. Aurélien Petit & Peter Wirtz, 2022. "Experts in the crowd and their influence on herding in reward-based crowdfunding of cultural projects," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 58(1), pages 419-449, January.
    5. Hossain Mokter & Oparaocha Gospel Onyema, 2017. "Crowdfunding: Motives, Definitions, Typology and Ethical Challenges," Entrepreneurship Research Journal, De Gruyter, vol. 7(2), pages 1-14, April.
    6. Andreas Hoegen & Dennis M. Steininger & Daniel Veit, 2018. "How do investors decide? An interdisciplinary review of decision-making in crowdfunding," Electronic Markets, Springer;IIM University of St. Gallen, vol. 28(3), pages 339-365, August.
    7. Boudreau, Kevin J. & Jeppesen, Lars Bo & Reichstein, Toke & Rullani, Francesco, 2021. "Crowdfunding as Donations to Entrepreneurial Firms," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 50(7).
    8. Sulu Zhu & Pengqun Gao & Zhen Tang & Ming Tian, 2022. "The Research Venation Analysis and Future Prospects of Organizational Slack," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(19), pages 1-23, October.
    9. Bradley, Steven W. & Wiklund, Johan & Shepherd, Dean A., 2011. "Swinging a double-edged sword: The effect of slack on entrepreneurial management and growth," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 26(5), pages 537-554, September.
    10. Yan Lin & Wai Fong Boh, 2020. "How different Are crowdfunders? Examining archetypes of crowdfunders," Journal of the Association for Information Science & Technology, Association for Information Science & Technology, vol. 71(11), pages 1357-1370, November.
    11. Mingchun Chen & Zhiying Liu & Chaoliang Ma & Xiuyuan Gong, 2021. "A distinctive early bird price in reward-based crowdfunding," Electronic Commerce Research, Springer, vol. 21(2), pages 347-370, June.
    12. Renwick, Matthew J. & Mossialos, Elias, 2017. "Crowdfunding our health: Economic risks and benefits," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 191(C), pages 48-56.
    13. Friedemann Polzin & Helen Toxopeus & Erik Stam, 2018. "The wisdom of the crowd in funding: information heterogeneity and social networks of crowdfunders," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 50(2), pages 251-273, February.
    14. Sardar Muhammad Usman & Farasat Ali Shah Bukhari & Muhammad Usman & Daniel Badulescu & Muhammad Safdar Sial, 2019. "Does the Role of Media and Founder’s Past Success Mitigate the Problem of Information Asymmetry? Evidence from a UK Crowdfunding Platform," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(3), pages 1-24, January.
    15. Xu, Yang & Zhou, Qiang & Wang, Xu, 2023. "Joint price and quality optimization strategy in crowdfunding campaign," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 263(C).
    16. Paolo Roma & Esther Gal-Or & Rachel R. Chen, 2018. "Reward-Based Crowdfunding Campaigns: Informational Value and Access to Venture Capital," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 29(3), pages 679-697, September.
    17. Tanja Jovanović, 2019. "Crowdfunding: What Do We Know So Far?," International Journal of Innovation and Technology Management (IJITM), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 16(01), pages 1-25, February.
    18. Sofia Bapna, 2019. "Complementarity of Signals in Early-Stage Equity Investment Decisions: Evidence from a Randomized Field Experiment," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 65(2), pages 933-952, February.
    19. Nikolaus Lipusch & Dominik Dellermann & Ulrich Bretschneider & Philipp Ebel & Jan Marco Leimeister, 2020. "Designing for Crowdfunding Co-creation," Business & Information Systems Engineering: The International Journal of WIRTSCHAFTSINFORMATIK, Springer;Gesellschaft für Informatik e.V. (GI), vol. 62(6), pages 483-499, December.
    20. Borello, Giuliana & De Crescenzo, Veronica & Pichler, Flavio, 2019. "Factors for success in European crowdinvesting," Journal of Economics and Business, Elsevier, vol. 106(C).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    crowdfunding; entrepreneurship; slack time; low-opportunity cost time; teamwork; internet;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J22 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Time Allocation and Labor Supply
    • L26 - Industrial Organization - - Firm Objectives, Organization, and Behavior - - - Entrepreneurship
    • O31 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Innovation and Invention: Processes and Incentives

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:inm:ororsc:v:29:y:2018:i:6:p:1056-1073. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Chris Asher (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/inforea.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.