In this hybrid research seminar on Thursday October 2nd, 2025 at 12:00 pm- by Paola Criscuolo— will present his research titled "This Invention is Mine! How Ownership Misalignments Shape Employee Engagement in Innovation after Rejections."
Abstract:
How are employees’ responses to rejection of their innovative ideas affected by the allocation of formal ownership rights? This study introduces the construct of ownership misalignments—discrepancies between employees anticipated and actual ownership rights—as a novel mechanism influencing sustained innovation engagement. We differentiate between two forms: unexpected ownership losses, in which employees expect to retain ownership but lose it, and unexpected ownership gains, in which employees do not expect to retain ownership but are granted it. Drawing on organizational fairness theory and research on invention ownership regimes, we propose that unexpected ownership losses amplify the negative effect of rejections on subsequent invention submissions, whereas unexpected ownership gains attenuate it. We further argue that these effects of ownership misalignments are more pronounced for employees in R&D roles than in non-R&D roles. We test our predictions using a proprietary longitudinal dataset of employee invention disclosures at a technology-intensive Fortune 500 firm operating across countries with institutional variation in intellectual property rights. By identifying ownership misalignments as a context-dependent mechanism shaping responses to rejections of invention ideas, this study contributes to theories of employee innovation, idea ownership, and organizational justice.
The zoom link to join the seminar online can be found here. This event is open to the public. All who are interested to this topic are very welcome to join the seminar. After the presentation there will be time for questions and discussion.
For any queries related to our UNU-MERIT Seminar Series, please contact Lizeth Melissa Molina Alvarez and Karthika Baby Sujatha by sending an email to seminars@merit.unu.edu.
