THE ROLE OF SOCIAL MEDIA FOR RADICAL INNOVATION IN THE NEW DIGITAL AGE

Abstract

The beneficial value of leveraging external networks in the innovation process has sparked widespread attention by open innovation scholars. With the rise of novel digital technologies such as social media, the opportunity space for accessing a multitude of external knowledge outside the organisation has significantly expanded. For instance, social media is currently not only vital in monitoring the COVID-19 outbreak, but also in leveraging knowledge to find a treatment for coronavirus. Nevertheless, theory and empirical evidence on how user integration using novel technologies such as social media affects radical innovation remains scarce and inconclusive. Using data obtained from 269 senior managers in new product development departments, this study reveals that the use of social media tools for new product development positively impacts radical innovation. The positive relationship is further strengthened by higher levels of an organisation’s technology acceptance of social media. However, we also find that routinisation with social media technology weakens the positive relationship, suggesting that frequent social media users may be more vulnerable to the systemic challenges of social media tools. This study advances open innovation research and information systems literature, elevating the controversial and debated impact of customer integration and information technology for radical innovation into the digitisation era.