Abstract
PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine how organisational activities that formally provide employees with work autonomy explain the performance of open innovation (OI).Design/methodology/approachThe study reports the results of mediation analyses conducted on the basis of survey data from 307 firms.FindingsThe economic benefits of both inbound and outbound OI are fully captured only if firms provide employees with time, freedom and independence. The results show that employee autonomy fully mediates the relationship between openness and innovation sales, while the adoption of inbound OI is positively associated with the introduction of new products.Practical implicationsThe opening of innovation induces managers to provide employees with discretion, as OI requires high levels of flexibility and experimentation.Originality/valueThe paper addresses theoretically and empirically the role of job design in the implementation of OI, while also distinguishing between the effects of inbound and outbound practices on innovation performance.
Highlights
Strategies emphasising open approaches to innovation have topped executive agendas in the past decade, though many companies struggle with implementation (Cassiman and Valentini, 2016)
The results show that employee autonomy fully mediates the relationship between openness and innovation sales, while the adoption of inbound open innovation (OI) is positively associated with the introduction of new products
The trade-offs between autonomy and control have long been debated in innovation research (Bailyn, 1985), as well as in practice, following the “free-time” models adopted by companies such as 3M and Google (Bonn, 2001; Finkle, 2012). These trade-offs are likely exacerbated in the context of OI, which demands significant flexibility and experimentation (Gianiodis et al, 2014), and careful coordination (Huston and Sakkab, 2006). Our study addresses this issue by posing the question: how do internal organisational activities that promote employee autonomy relate to the performance outcomes of inbound and outbound OI?
Summary
Strategies emphasising open approaches to innovation have topped executive agendas in the past decade, though many companies struggle with implementation (Cassiman and Valentini, 2016). The trend towards more porous firm boundaries is known as “open innovation” (OI) and refers to the execution of a wide range of practices related to external knowledge acquisition and commercialisation, which are characterised according to their directionality – inbound and outbound (Chesbrough, 2003). This approach has become popular (West et al, 2014), since it is recognised as a means of achieving increased innovative performance The full terms of this licence may be seen at http://creativecommons.org/licences/by/4.0/legalcode
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