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ABSTRACT
This study investigates how individuals working in the innovation field communicatively define the nature of their work and make assessments of others’ innovative ability. Drawing on signaling theory, this work explores what communicative signals are valued within an ambiguous professional context. Interviews with 36 innovation workers revealed that individuals perceive this emerging occupational role as comprised of skills and traits that vary in how easily they are communicatively expressed, and in turn what forms of communication allow these dimensions to be evaluated. These findings inform the development of a grounded model for communicatively assessing innovative ability. This work extends our theoretical understanding of how signals of professionalism are actively, and communicatively expressed and assessed in new occupational settings.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.
Notes on contributors
William Roth Smith is a doctoral candidate in the Department of Communication Studies in the Moody College of Communication at the University of Texas at Austin. His research interests include communication among emergent citizen-led disaster response, informal organizing for collective action, and innovation as an occupational role.
Jeffrey W. Treem is an associate professor in the Department of Communication Studies in the Moody College of Communication at the University of Texas at Austin.
Brad Love is an associate professor in the Stan Richards School of Advertising and Public Relations in the Moody College of Communication at the University of Texas at Austin.
Notes
1 Although one interviewee stated that creativity “killed innovation,” the other respondents who mentioned creativity talked about the skill as necessary for innovation.