Learning Effects in Informal Consensus Building During the Innovation Process: Questionnaire Survey on Nemawashi

In the early stages of innovation, explaining the success of innovation logically and objectively is impossible because of the great technological and market uncertainty. Takeishi et al. analyzed successful Japanese innovation cases, which were driven not only by objective technological and economical rationality but also by the shared subjective reasons among stakeholders for legitimizing resource mobilization. This type of innovation is common in collectivist decision-making in Japanese companies and is considered deeply related to the Japanese informal consensus building method called Nemawashi. This study aims to elucidate Nemawashi from an innovation perspective. A questionnaire survey was conducted among employees of Japanese companies to determine the effectiveness of Nemawashi in the innovation process. The results of the questionnaire survey quantitatively reveal that Nemawashi not only is used effectively in legitimizing resource mobilization but also contributes to improving organizational learning capability, which is the theoretical contribution of this study. The organizational learning capabilities gained owing to Nemawashi include (1) the ability to utilize human networks, (2) the ability to carry out knowledge creation, and (3) the ability to gain empathy and trust.