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Scholars from different disciplines have explored how individuals’ social networks shape their ability to generate creative ideas. In recent years, however, scholars have started to apply a social network lens to other critical phases of the journey of an idea from generation to completion. In particular, they have focused on novelty recognition – individuals’ ability to recognize novelty in their own ideas and in others’. Failing to recognize novelty can, in fact, have negative consequences for the destiny not only of the idea but also of the organization as a whole. We review and organize this emerging body of research with the twofold objective of providing a clear picture of the state of the art and stimulating further research in this direction. We briefly review extant literature on networks and idea generation. We then review literature on novelty recognition from a non-network perspective. Next, we present research in social networks that informs novelty recognition from the perspective of both the creator and the field. We conclude with a discussion of ideas for future research. Creativity is traditionally defined as the generation of outcomes that are judged to be novel and useful by appropriate observers, and is recognized as a source of competitive advantage for organizations all over the world (Amabile & Pratt, 2016; Florida & Goodnight, 2005; Morris & Leung, 2010; Zhou & Su, 2010). At the same time, although coveted, creativity remains elusive (Staw, 1995).

This study has theoretical, substantive, and methodological objectives following Brinberg and McGrath (1985). First, the resource-based view of the firm provides a context to support relationships determined from theory in Sociology, Finance and Entrepreneurshp. Using these interdisciplinary theories, the expected contributions of National Venture Capital Association (NVCA) member venture capital firm networks' human-based factors to the performance of initial public offerings are examined. Second, the substantive domain-venture capital-lacks articulation and quantification regarding the impact of venture capital firms on the start-up firms they support, which in this study is identified as IPO performance. Third, methodologically, the operationalization of organizational-related capital is proposed. The independent variables (human-based factors) include reputational capital, cumulative experience, social capital, and organizational-related capital. Organizational-related capital is a construct representing a firm's strategy that incorporates preferences specific to the venture capital industry, namely financing stage preference, industry relatedness, and geographic proximity. Venture capital firm networks are assessed at the syndicate and constellation levels (within and between industries) and bounded by membership in the National Venture Capital Association. Abnormal IPO stock price performance (the dependent variable) is assessed as the new issue's stock price benchmarked to the NASDAQ index and compounded over 21-day periods for up to 126 consecutive days after offering. Control variables were gleaned from economic-based theories found in the finance literature. Positive relationships were hypothesized between the independent variables and the dependent variable. Data constraints limited the number of observations examined, and the selection of IPOs investigated displayed little variance. Thus, explaining additional abnormal performance variance in IPOs backed by NVCA-member venture capital firms above and beyond that controlled for by economic-based theory was not fruitful. Although this study's findings were not statistically significant, many insights were generated that may positively influence future research in this area. The quest to better understand venture capital firms' contributions to entrepreneurial firms and the impact they have on publicly traded stocks remains meaningful. Ph. D.