What factors drive open innovation in China's public sector? A case study of official document exchange via microblogging (ODEM) in Haining

Abstract

Government transparency and information disclosure have received increasing attention from both academics and practitioners with the development of information technologies (ITs) and the Internet. Moreover, the popularity of social media applications has provided governments, especially governments in China and other developing countries, with new opportunities and challenges associated with the administrative shift toward open innovation. The official document exchange via microblogging (ODEM) of the Haining Bureau of Justice is a practical case of government open innovation in the social media context. Based on the ODEM case, this study uses the technology-organization-environment (TOE) framework to explore the factors that drive open innovation in China. We find that the support of top managers, the access and competence of IT personnel, and the regional economic and social environments are key determinants of the emergence of open innovation in the public sector.