•Examines the innovation outcomes of open innovation practices (inbound and coupled) in UK service firms and the moderating effects of reconfiguration capabilities.•Inbound and coupled open ...innovation contribute to both radical and incremental innovation.•Coupled open innovation has stronger effects on radical innovation than inbound open innovation.•Strategic reconfiguration strengthens the positive effects of coupled open innovation on radical innovation.•Operational reconfiguration strengthens the positive effects of coupled open innovation on incremental innovation.
This paper examines the relationship between open innovation (OI) practices (inbound and coupled) and innovation performance in service firms. Specifically, it invokes a dynamic capabilities perspective to propose the differential moderating effects of two forms of reconfiguration capabilities, strategic reconfiguration capability (SRC) and operational reconfiguration capability (ORC), on the focal relationship. Based on a sample of service sector firms drawn from the UK Community Innovation Survey, our analysis shows the positive combinative effects of SRC and coupled OI on radical innovation outcomes and those of ORC and coupled OI on incremental innovation outcomes. The findings of differential moderating effects underscore the need to assess the boundary conditions within which OI positively impacts on innovation outcomes and offer insights to managers on the importance of strategic and operational reconfiguration capabilities for achieving better innovation outcomes from OI practices.
From an organizational perspective, open innovation (OI) capability assessments are becoming increasingly important. The authors propose that an organization's attitude toward interactive OI ...activities among OI stakeholders can reveal its degree of capability. This paper aims to focus on an organization's OI attitude measurement scales and develop a framework linked to the role perspectives and loci of OI activities occurring at the organizational level. This research will introduce a practical, theory-based indication of OI assessment by combining a deductive process that identifies organizational OI attitude constructs with an inductive framework development process. First, the authors conducted an extensive literature review of attitude measurement on the execution of OI. Then, they performed empirical data analysis using a large-scale structured attitude assessment survey from individuals in domestic and multi-national corporations (n = 134), which led to the development of questionnaire sets on attitude evaluation. This study contributes to developing an organizational OI attitude assessment scale. Furthermore, based on empirical data analysis, the research framework demonstrated the reliability and validity of the organizational OI attitude measurement scale. Specifically, the scale contains proven questionnaires assessing OI attitudes by interrogating individual actors' impact, behavior, and cognition regarding their organization's OI activities. The organization's three role perspectives (transfer, absorption, and brokerage) and two loci of activities in the OI ecosystem provide six distinct dimensions, suggesting areas of focus for a firm's strategic OI direction.
This paper investigates the adoption of Open Innovation in the bio-pharmaceutical industry, studying through which organisational modes it is put into practice and how these modes are interwoven with ...the different phases of drug discovery and development process. Two rounds of interviews with industry experts were carried out to develop a model describing the adoption of Open Innovation by bio-pharmaceutical companies. This framework was then applied to an extensive and longitudinal empirical basis, which includes data about the adoption of Open Innovation by the top 20 worldwide industry players, in the time period 2000–2007. The paper provides a thorough discussion of how bio-pharmaceutical firms have used different organisational modes (i.e. licensing agreements, non-equity alliance, purchase and supply of technical and scientific services) to enter into relationship with different types of partners (i.e. large pharmaceutical companies, product biotech firms, platform biotech firms and universities) with the aim to acquire (Inbound Open Innovation) or commercially exploit (Outbound Open Innovation) technologies and knowledge. The implications of the study for Open Innovation research and possible avenues for future investigation are discussed at length in the paper.
Firms in open innovation ecosystems expand organizational resources and allow for collaborations across organizations, which can promote the flow, aggregation, and integration of resources within ...business network ecosystems. Yet, particular gaps in the literature limit our understanding of how open innovation ecosystems contribute to firm product innovation. Therefore, this study explores the causal recipes of how open innovation ecosystem modes promote product innovation by using both grounded theory and fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA). First, by taking four innovative firms as case studies and applying grounded theory, we identify six specific open innovation ecosystem modes: “firm-university-institute cooperation,” “interfirm cooperation,” “firm-intermediary cooperation,” “firm-user cooperation,” “asset divestiture,” and “technology transfer.” Then, based on the data of 226 innovative firms, we employ fsQCA to explore the causal configurations of the open innovation ecosystem modes that consistently improve product innovation. The findings reveal that three particular combinations can explain the high level of product innovation: (1) interfirm cooperation, firm-intermediary cooperation, and technology transfer combined with asset divestiture; (2) interfirm cooperation, firm-intermediary cooperation, and technology transfer combined with firm-university-institute cooperation; and (3) interfirm cooperation, firm-intermediary cooperation, and firm-university-institute cooperation combined with firm-user cooperation. Overall, this work contributes to the theoretical literature on open innovation ecosystems and provides practical information for firms looking to achieve value creation.
Purpose
Studies concentrating on digitalization and interconnected capabilities have increased over the past several decades. Digitalization capability and open innovation are perceived as sources of ...sustained competitiveness across disciplines. This study investigated how digitalization capability and coopetition strategy affect the sustainable performance of firms by exploring the role of internal and external factors in influencing the adoption and success of open innovation in emerging markets.
Design/methodology/approach
To test the hypothesis, the authors conducted a structural equation model analysis on 509 firm datasets from the hub cities in China, an innovative battlefield where multilateral cooperation and competition are interwoven for globalization, clean development and the enhancement of economic growth.
Findings
The authors found that a firm's digitalization capability positively impacts outbound/inbound open innovation, coopetition strategy and sustainable performance. This study’s results support a series of mediating effects through outbound/inbound open innovation and coopetition strategy. Also, it provides a nuanced understanding of how digitalization capability and open innovation can affect sustainable performance in emerging markets.
Originality/value
The present study provides a nuanced understanding of how digitalization capability and in/out-bound open innovation can affect sustainable performance in emerging markets. The authors believe this model contributes to current knowledge by filling several research gaps, and this study’s findings offer valuable and practical implications for achieving open innovation and creating sustainable performance.
In contrast to the operational nature of business-to-consumer (B2C) enterprises, business-to-business (B2B) organizations emphasizes offering specialized products and services to their clients, which ...are businesses. Recognizing that B2B organizations are dealing with complex metadata in an ever-changing business context, artificial intelligence (AI) technologies possess the potential in assisting them analyse massive amounts of data, generating actionable insights, and formulating revolutionary ideas, potentially improving collaboration and innovation. As a result, this study adopts an empirical research approach to analyse the relationship among AI capabilities, open innovation, and business performance, with an emphasis on B2B companies, based on the theoretical foundations of social-technical system and contingency theories. This study investigated the relationship between AI capabilities and open innovation practices, as well as the effect they have on business performance, using survey data collected from 398 B2B multinational companies and structural equation modelling. The findings indicate that AI capabilities have a favourable effect on open innovation practices, which subsequently leads to an improvement in business performance. Notably, the impact of AI capabilities on business performance was found to be partially mediated. The examination of the moderating effect of environmental dynamism reveals that it exerts a significant influence on the relationship between AI capabilities and outbound open innovation. However, it does not have a significant moderating impact on the causal interaction of AI capabilities on both business performance and inbound open innovation. The ramifications of these findings are significant for managers and policymakers who are interested in fostering innovation and enhancing competitiveness within the B2B sector. The results underscore the crucial role of cultivating AI capabilities.
•AI capabilities have a favourable effect on open innovation practices.•The impact of AI capabilities on business performance was found to be partially mediated.•moderating effect of environmental dynamism exerts a significant influence on the relationship between AI capabilities and outbound open innovation.•moderating impact on the causal interaction of AI capabilities was not signficant.
Public sector innovation is an important issue in the agenda of policymakers and academics but there is a need for a change of perspective, one that promotes a more open model of innovating, which ...takes advantage of the possibilities offered by collaboration between citizens, entrepreneurs and civil society as well as of new emerging technologies. Living labs are environments that can support public open innovation processes.
This article makes a practical contribution to understand the role of living labs as intermediaries of public open innovation. The analysis focuses on the dynamics of these innovation intermediaries, their outcomes, and their main challenges. In particular, it adopts a qualitative approach (fourteen semi-structured interviews and one focus group were conducted) in order to analyze two living labs: Citilab in the city of Cornellà and the network of fab athenaeums (public fab labs) in the city of Barcelona, both in Spain. After a thorough analysis of the attributes of these living labs, the article concludes that 1) living labs provide the opportunity for public agencies to meet with private sector organizations and thus function as innovation intermediaries, 2) implementing an open innovation perspective is considered more important than obtaining specific innovation results, and 3) scalability and sustainability are the main problems living labs encounter as open innovation intermediaries.
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to develop and test an integrated model to examine the relationship between managerial ties and two types of open innovation (OI). It takes into account the ...mediating role of realized absorptive capacity and explains how a firm’s ability to recognize the value of new information, assimilate it and apply it to commercial ends can facilitate OI.
Design/methodology/approach
Data were collected from 259 middle and top managers working across different sectors in the United Arab Emirates.
Findings
Results obtained using structural equation modeling show that managerial ties facilitate both in-bound and out-bound OI. Results also establish the mediating role of realized absorptive capacity in these relationships.
Research limitations/implications
Use of cross-sectional data as was done in this study has been criticized for being inappropriate to test causal models. Besides the findings may not be generalizable to different industries/cultures/regions.
Practical implications
This study suggests that managerial ties act to support OI in firms thus giving the insight that managers should be appreciated to build ties with managers of other firms, universities and government officials. Doing so can help firms achieve better OI outcomes. Firms should arrange means of interaction of their managers with these external knowledge sources such as events and occasions where managers of different firms can interact with each other to foster strong ties among them.
Originality/value
The above findings contribute theoretically to OI and managerial ties literature while providing insights for practitioners on how to succeed or avoid failure in their OI initiatives. These insights are novel and are new to the OI and managerial ties theory.
Aim/Purpose: The main aim of this study was to investigate the impact of knowledge-based Human Resources Management (HRM) practices on inbound and outbound open innovation in Jordanian small and ...medium enterprises (SMEs).
Background: SMEs in Jordan lack tangible resources. This insufficiency can be remedied by using knowledge as a resource. According to the Knowledge-Based View (KBV) theory, which posits knowledge as the most valuable resource, SMEs can achieve open innovation by implementing knowledge-based HRM practices that enhance the utilization of knowledge and yield competitiveness.
Methodology: This study adopted the quantitative method employing descriptive and exploratory approaches. A total of 500 Jordanian manufacturing SMEs were selected from 2,310 manufacturing SMEs registered lists, according to the Jordan Social Security, by using random sampling. The study’s instrument was a questionnaire that was applied to these SMEs. There were 335 responses that were deemed useful for analysis after filtering out the replies with missing values; this corresponded to a response rate of 67%. The paper utilized structural equation modeling and cross-sectional design to test hypotheses in the proposed research model.
Contribution: This study advocates the assumption of the role of KBV in improving innovation practices. This study contributes to the existing strategic HRM research by extending the understanding of knowledge-based HRM practices in the context of SMEs. Thus, this study contributes to the understanding of innovation management by demonstrating the role of knowledge-based HRM practices in boosting inbound and outbound OI practices, thereby enhancing innovation as an essential component of firm competitiveness.
Findings: The findings revealed the positive impact of four knowledge-based HRM practices on inbound and outbound open innovation in Jordanian manufacturing SMEs. These practices were knowledge-based recruitment and selection, knowledge-based training and development, knowledge-based compensation and reward, as well as knowledge-based performance assessment.
Recommendations for Practitioners: This study is expected to help the stakeholders of SMEs to re-shape the traditional HRM practices into knowledge-based practices which improve managerial skills, innovation practices, and the level of the firm’s competitiveness.
Recommendation for Researchers: This study serves as a significant contribution to the research field of innovation practices by building a new association between knowledge-based HRM practices and inbound and outbound open innovation.
Impact on Society: The study emphasizes the vital role of knowledge-based HRM practices in enhancing the knowledge and social skills of the human capital in SMEs in Jordan, thus improving the country’s social and economic development.
Future Research: Future research could build on this study to include service SMEs. It could also employ a longitudinal study over the long run which would allow for a deeper analysis of the relationships of causality, offering a more comprehensive view of the effect of knowledge-based HRM on open innovation. Furthermore, future research could examine the sample of investigation before and after implementing the knowledge-based HRM practices to provide stronger evidence of their influence on inbound and outbound innovation.
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