Search mechanisms and innovation: An analysis across multiple perspectives

In this paper, we introduce the themes addressed and the approaches used in this special issue to investigate the relationship between search mechanisms and innovation across multiple level of analysis. We start by briefly discussing the state of the art related to the complex relationship between search and innovation, revealing an important gap as the lack of attention about the great variety and diversity of search mechanisms agents may adopt when facing different degrees of innovativeness. Taking the lens of the multiple perspectives, we try to shed new light on this gap, and thus deploy a comprehensive understanding of this complex relationship. We briefly discuss how the articles in the collection each contribute to such an understanding across multiple perspectives. We conclude that, together, the various contributions specify that searching for innovation may require the enactment of complementary approaches. This special issue paves the way towards an important agenda for the future study of search mechanisms and innovation.