Robert K. Merton and Innovation-Related Topics: Three Theoretical Ideas

As in other disciplines, such as organization science, sociology, and economics, there are good reasons for scholars in innovation and entrepreneurship research to revisit the classics within and outside their own research fields. Robert K. Merton (1910–2003) is not usually explicitly connected to innovation research, but to fields such as the sociology of science and knowledge. However, his scholarly productions include texts relevant to innovation and entrepreneurship. In 1935, he published on invention and innovation in American industry, and in 1938, he put forward the idea of innovation as deviant behavior or nonconformist adaptive behavior (Merton 1938a). In 1945, he began writing about the concept of serendipity, which he later discussed several times. This paper discusses how theoretical insights from Merton may inspire entrepreneurship, creativity, and innovation research. The discussion is framed around Merton’s innovation-related ideas and their relevance today, based on 20–25 Merton publications from 1934 to 2004 drawn from his larger scholarly production. The paper extracts three main examples of Merton’s theoretical ideas and insights. The first is his interest in simultaneous independent discoveries (Merton 1961a; 1961b), which has later been seen as a zeitgeist perspective on (scientific) creativity. The second is his view of innovation as deviant behavior and an adaptive response (Merton 1938), which is relevant to, among others, discussion of the dark side of innovation. The third is his interest in the idea of serendipity in scientific discovery (Merton 1945; 1948a), which is relevant today in relation to entrepreneurial opportunity and accidental innovation.