Study On The Relationship Between Interdisciplinary Team Heterogeneity AndOriginal Innovation Performance

Original innovation has become a key driver to enhance the independent innovation capability and the innovation-oriented construction of our country. Practice shows that the interdisciplinary cooperation is an important way to realize original innovation. In the interdisciplinary team cooperation process, it is needed to consider the strategy choices:what disciplines can work together? And how do we cooperate? How do the teams cooperate to enhance the original innovation capability rather than hinder innovation? How does the cooperation between different disciplines, different organizations and different teams affect original innovation performance? And how does the external environment such as leadership style adjust the effect of heterogeneity on innovation performance in the process of cooperation? These are urgent and difficult problems in the process of original innovation for colleges and universities.Based on the resource-based view theory, heterogeneity theory and original innovation theories, this paper uses confirmatory factor analysis and Poisson regression analysis statistical method. The sample data of 255 team are adopted to explore the relationship between the heterogeneity of interdisciplinary teams and original innovation performance of university research teams, how the transformational leadership influence the relationship between them is determined, furthermore, the relationship among the research types, types of colleges and universities, the amount of subsidy and the original performance is identified. The conclusions are as follows:(1) Concept and dimensions of heterogeneity.In this study, the heterogeneity of interdisciplinary teams is defined as follows:in the process of original innovation in colleges and universities, two or more interdisciplinary research collaboration teams, knowledge restructuring of different disciplines, cognitive thinking movement of different members, the interaction based on discipline logic structure, social cognition and interpersonal relationship form the difference, diversity and distribution equilibrium of the team resources endowment and the innovation ability. This study divides interdisciplinary team heterogeneity into three dimensions:discipline heterogeneity, cognitive heterogeneity and organizational heterogeneity.(2) Hypotheses of the relationship between original performance and team heterogeneity is partially supported.First, in the aspect of overall performance of original innovation:the discipline heterogeneity, cognitive heterogeneity and organizational heterogeneity have significant effects on the overall performance of the original innovation team. Among them, cognitive heterogeneity has the greatest impact on the overall performance of the original innovation, followed by the discipline heterogeneity, and then the organizational heterogeneity has the least impact. This shows that interdisciplinary cooperation is not only affected by the heterogeneity of explicit knowledge, more importantly, the innovation performance is affected by the potential and tacit cognitive heterogeneity. Therefore, we think the positive effect produced by the resource-based view theory, creativity theory, and team cohesion theory has a greater impact than the negative effect produced by the team conflict based on social cognitive theory and information processing theory.Second, in the aspect of initial performance:organizational heterogeneity is not an important influence factor; both the discipline heterogeneity and cognitive heterogeneity determine the initial performance of the original innovation. In the process of original innovation in universities, the cooperation between different disciplines should be promoted, and at the same time, it is also needed to pay special attention to the mutual exchange, collision and fusion between the team members.Third, in the aspect of novelty performance:there is no significant relationship between the heterogeneity dimensions and the novelty performance of original innovation. Therefore, in the process of original innovation performance evaluation, the qualitative performance dimension can eliminate the novelty performance evaluation, and the initial performance can represent the qualitative performance of original innovation.Last, in the aspect of measurement performance:there is no significantly positive effect between discipline heterogeneity and measurement performance, namely there is no significant relation among the discipline heterogeneity, high-level paper publishing of basic research, National Natural Science Prize, Nobel Prize international top prize, and applied basic research and applied research of invention patents, technical secret-level and international prize and the progress in science and technology achievement index. And the impact of cognitive heterogeneity and organizational heterogeneity on the measurement performance is significant.To sum up, no matter what dimension measurement is, the impact of cognitive heterogeneity on the performance is the most prominent. Therefore, the deep-level cognitive diversity is likely to be the fundamental fact to inspire the creativity.(3) Research hypothesis In the regulation of transformational leadership style is partly verified.First, the negative regulation impact of transformational leadership style on discipline heterogeneity and initiative performance, novelty performance and measurement performance. Namely, under the guidance of high transformational leadership, the cooperation between heterogeneous disciplinary teams reduces the initiative performance, novelty performance and measurement performance. This conclusion warns us that too much emphasis on the role of transformational leadership may lead to emphasize the intellectual stimulation, which is not necessarily good for innovation performance.Second, transformational leadership is positively adjusting the relationship among cognitive heterogeneity and original innovation performance, the initiative performance. Namely, in the context of high transformational leadership style, cognitive heterogeneity promotes the overall performance of original innovation and initiative performance, and it has no impact on the novelty performance. This suggests that the leadership can reduce the negative impact of heterogeneity on team creativity, promote the collision and communication of positive thinking, ideas and knowledge and improve the creativity motivation of team members.Third, there is no regulation impact of transformational leadership on organizational heterogeneity and original innovation performance, indicating the impact of organizational heterogeneity on original innovation performance is not affected by leadership style. Therefore, we believe that in the interdisciplinary collaboration, we cannot pay too much attention to the impact of the leadership on the cooperation between different organizations.In combination with the regulation impact of transformational leadership style on discipline heterogeneity, original innovation performance, cognitive function and original innovation performance, we can conclude that transformational leadership style plays a negative regulatory role in the heterogeneity of static disciplines, and plays a positive regulating role in the dynamic individual’s cognitive heterogeneity. Therefore, transformational leadership style needs to play more roles in group members rather than the specific issues such as the cooperation among different scientific disciplines. It is specially needed to pay attention to the regulation function of transformational leadership style on team members’ cognition, which is the deepening of leadership theory and a very good application of the leadership theory in colleges and universities in the process of original innovation. The impact of transformational leadership style will produce different regulation function with different heterogeneities.(4) The relationship of research types, universities and funds with original innovation performance was determined.The performance of original innovation won’t produce a significant impact on, the types of colleges and universities, the funds; however, it will be prominently affected by research types of applied basic research. Therefore, in the process of interdisciplinary cooperation in colleges and universities, it is needed to put the focus of scientific research from Pasteur’s Quadrant.From the perspective of China’s original innovation, this paper has completed the research process of the core subject from "team heterogeneity and original innovation performance" to theory. Although the validation of theoretical model by this study obtained many results, these results revealed some management implications of the original innovation of heterogeneous team; highlighted the important impact of cognitive heterogeneity on original innovation; created a new evaluation system of the original innovation performance; and widened the application range of leadership theory. The research conclusion has a certain practical guiding significance for the strategic decision among interdisciplinary collaboration of original innovation in colleges and universities and interdisciplinary cooperation. The management of heterogeneity teams in colleges and universities need to play the role of the advantages brought by the heterogeneity, and avoid the damaging effects brought by the heterogeneity.