The role of collaborative human resource management in supporting open innovation: A multi-level model

Abstract

With open innovation (OI) playing an important role in many organizations' innovation strategy, there is growing interest in the human aspects of OI. An important challenge for managing OI remains the motivation of individuals for knowledge sharing and sourcing (KSS). To address this issue, we argue that managers responsible for OI need to use collaborative human resource management (collaborative HRM) practices to create the conditions to develop relational leadership and an open innovation mindset (OI mindset) among employees. Since OI research is largely focused on the organizational level, the micro-foundations of OI, as well as the interdependencies across team and individual levels are not yet fully understood. There is no systematic approach for understanding the role of collaborative HRM and the process through which employees' KSS and use OI within their organizations. We build on social exchange theory to develop a multi-level model of collaborative HRM practices used through relational leadership and OI mindset to enable employees to KSS and improve OI performance.