Open innovation and the quest for a theoretical core

Abstract

This paper lays a theoretical foundation from which it builds a typology of innovation search activities that can be used to characterize the openness of organisations. The typology is subsequently used as the conceptual lens when reviewing the extant literature in order to draw out recommendations for future research. This paper proposes that there are major issues with the extant literature and provides some recommendations for addressing these issues. This paper is of value to innovation scholars and those interested in building typologies as theoretical artefacts. More must be done to discover and to probe into why and how organisational elements interrelate and complement each other to impact the performance of organisations. Therefore, we suggest that scholars looking at innovation performance should consider combinations of search activities rather than the activities in isolation. Unfortunately existing studies tend to concentrate on either single activities or on the dichotomised choice between internal and external sources.