Leadership Practices for Sustaining Innovation Ecosystems: A Qualitative Study of Knowledge-Based Organizations

Abstract

This qualitative study aimed to explore how leaders in knowledge-based organizations enact practices that sustain innovation ecosystems through knowledge mobilization, collaborative governance, experimentation, and interorganizational alignment. The study employed a qualitative descriptive design based on semi-structured interviews with 24 senior managers, founders, R&D directors, innovation managers, and ecosystem partnership leaders working in knowledge-based organizations in Tehran, Iran. Participants were selected through purposive sampling with maximum variation in organizational role, sector, professional experience, and involvement in innovation partnerships. Data collection continued until theoretical saturation was reached; saturation was identified after the twenty-first interview, and three additional interviews were conducted to confirm the stability of the categories. Interviews lasted between 45 and 75 minutes, were audio-recorded with informed consent, transcribed verbatim, and analyzed using thematic analysis. NVivo software was used to organize transcripts, support coding, compare patterns across participants, and develop higher-order categories. Credibility was enhanced through member checking, peer debriefing, analytic memoing, and maintaining an audit trail. The analysis generated five main categories of leadership practices: ecosystem orchestration and boundary-spanning alignment, knowledge mobilization and absorptive learning, ambidextrous empowerment and disciplined experimentation, trust-based governance and resource resilience, and institutional navigation with long-term ecosystem orientation. Participants described sustainable innovation ecosystems as leadership-dependent relational systems in which leaders connect actors, translate knowledge across boundaries, protect experimentation from premature judgment, balance autonomy with accountability, and maintain trust despite uncertainty, competition, and resource constraints. The findings suggest that sustaining innovation ecosystems in knowledge-based organizations requires leaders to move beyond internal managerial control toward orchestration, learning-centered coordination, and ecosystem-level value creation. Effective leaders act as translators, connectors, legitimizers, and guardians of collaborative innovation, enabling organizations to sustain innovation not only through technical expertise but also through relational, cognitive, and institutional capabilities.