Top Management Team Advice Seeking and Exploratory Innovation : The Moderating Role of TMT Heterogeneity

This study examines the top management team's internal and external advice seeking behavior in affecting exploratory innovation, i.e. innovation aimed at new markets or based on radically new technologies. Additionally, hypotheses are developed in which the impact of TMT advice seeking on exploratory innovation is moderated by the team's functional and background heterogeneity. For heterogeneous top management teams the potential for realizing exploratory innovation lies within the team rather than as a result of external advice seeking. The use of internal advice however, is positively moderated by the TMT heterogeneity and can further boost the exploratory innovation of the firm