Open Innovation Theory Research Articles

The Effects of Training on Employee Performance: A Case of Tanzania Police Headquarters

Human resources are considered valuable in any organization as they ensure every task is done smoothly. However, if these human resources are not well equipped with the right equipment, techniques and knowledge on how to perform their duties, they cannot be productive, and this is where training comes in as a solution to solving these problems. This study aims to show how training contributes to improved employee performance at Tanzania Police Headquarters. The study was guided by open innovation theory and organizational development theory. The study adopted a case design because it took a short time and was constructed as a single case study of the Tanzania Police Headquarters (TPF). Both probability and non-probability sampling methods were beneficial in helping the purpose underlying this study. The target population was the Tanzania Police Force (TPF) headquarters employees in Dar es Salaam city. The 125 sampled TPF employees were drawn from three nominated departments to offer information in the study using questionnaires, interviews, and literature reviews as instruments of data collection. Data was analyzed using social science statistical package. The findings revealed that in the study area, different types of training were provided to employees such as on job training, promotional training, refresher training, technological training and orientation training. Employees at TPF revealed that training has increased the morale of employees, reduced employee turnover, improved staff retention and improved job satisfaction as well as improved skills which have improved performance. Data findings indicated that the absence of training needs assessment, outdated curriculum, limited facilities; incompetent trainers and insufficient funds were barriers to conducting training. The study concluded that training has increased the morale of employees, reduced employee turnover, improved staff retention and improved job satisfaction as well as improved skills which has improved performance. It was recommended that TPF should establish strong strategic plans to support training and development to employees as well as reduce hindrances facing the proper utilization of training and all these can be considered when there is a strong policy for training and evaluation of training needs assessment.

How does supply chain collaboration improve innovation performance of SMEs? The roles of absorptive capacity and business environment

There is increasing awareness that customers and suppliers serve as key external information sources for the innovation of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). However, existing research on the influence of customer participation (CP) and supplier participation (SP) remains inconsistent. This study addresses this gap by investigating how CP and SP affect different types of innovation performance of SMEs in China. Furthermore, by addressing the gap regarding the unclear mechanisms of CP and SP in SMEs’ innovation performance, this study explores the mediating role of a firm's absorptive capacity on innovation performance and the conditions under which absorptive capacity will be more effective. Based on a sample of 1861 SMEs in China, the findings highlight that CP positively impacts product innovation performance, with absorptive capacity acting as a partial mediator. Additionally, both CP and SP influence process innovation performance directly or through absorptive capacity. Meanwhile, the business environment moderates the effect of absorptive capacity on product innovation performance. These findings contribute to the theory of open innovation and offer valuable insights for SME managers, entrepreneurs, and scholars in enhancing innovation outcomes.

Customer discourse power and green innovation in industrial chain enterprises: A theoretical and empirical approach.

Leading enterprises in the industry chain play a demonstrative role, and promoting green innovation among leading enterprises is a meaningful approach to unlocking industry chain dividends. According to an analysis of the game process between customers and leading firms that incorporates the open innovation theory, we find a nonlinear role for the consumer discourse power in the leading firms' innovation. Furthermore, using data from Chinese A-share listed companies between 2012 and 2021, we observe an inverted "U" relationship between customer discourse power and green innovation. Notably, this effect is more pronounced in leading non-technology-intensive enterprises, industries with a high degree of industrial innovation, or regions with a high marketization degree. Our analysis also reveals that leading enterprises' client leads to financial limitations that influence green innovation. Additionally, leading enterprises play a driving role in achieving "joint progress" in green innovation with local non-leading firms, and this effect exhibits spatial spillover.

Open Innovation Strategies and Organization Performance of the Telecommunication Industry in Kenya

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the relationship between open innovation strategies and organization performance of the telecommunication industry in Kenya. The study was guided by the following objectives: to examine the effect of innovations and innovation strategies on organizational performance; to establish the effect of open innovation strategies on organization performance; to assess the role of organization factors in moderating open innovation strategies; and to identify the open innovation strategies adopted in the telecommunication industry in Kenya. Methodology: The study relied on desktop research to address the existing gaps in the literature. Information for the research was obtained from published literature and information in the public domain. The information was critically reviewed, analyzed, synthesized, and conclusions were drawn. Findings: The findings of this study revealed that collaboration between firms in the telecommunication industry and various stakeholders through open innovation strategies influences the performance of the organizations in the industry. These findings suggest that organizations in the telecommunication industry in Kenya, which adopt open innovation strategies, can effectively innovate and compete in the industry, despite the dominant position of one organization. Unique Contribution to Theory, Practice and Policy: Utilizing the Open Innovation (OI) Theory and the Resource-Based View (RBV) Theory, the researcher explored the relationship between open innovation strategies and organization performance of the telecommunication industry in Kenya. The study deepened our understanding of RBV theory in explaining the dominance of one firm in the telecommunication industry. In addition, the study focused on how organizations are able to access talent and resources using the OI theory framework and therefore are able to innovate and compete. The various stakeholders including customers, suppliers and the Government of Kenya will benefit from this study by having additional insights into open innovation strategies and practices. A key recommendation is to the Communications Authority of Kenya, the regulatory body in the telecommunication industry in Kenya. The regulator should provide an enabling environment which facilitate innovations and collaboration using open innovation framework, benefitting all organizations and stakeholders in the industry.

THE IMPACT OF CORPORATE SOCIAL NETWORK ON INNOVATION PERFORMANCE - THE CHAIN MEDIATION EFFECT BASED ON KNOWLEDGE ACQUISITION AND ABSORPTIVE CAPACITY

Innovation is the lifeblood and inexhaustible driving force behind the development of an enterprise. With the continuous improvement of scientific and technological levels, the acceleration of technological change, and the changes in market demand, the complexity and uncertainty of innovation are increasing day by day. Enterprises have to acquire knowledge from outside, to obtain new impetus for enterprise development. The rich knowledge resources contained in corporate social networks provide a foundation for future innovation and development. This article takes Chinese enterprises as the research object and uses open innovation theory, social network theory, and knowledge management theory to construct a conceptual model of "social network-knowledge acquisition-absorptive capacity-innovation performance." Through empirical analysis of 549 valid questionnaires, it was found that networks do not all have a positive effect on enterprise innovation performance. This study shows that network size, network centrality, and network heterogeneity have a positive effect on innovation performance. The effect of network relationship strength on innovation performance is not significant. Knowledge acquisition and absorptive capacity play an important role in society. Network size, network centrality, and network heterogeneity have a chain-mediating role in their impact on corporate innovation performance.

Internationalising high–tech SMEs: Advancing a new perspective of open innovation

Choosing a foreign market entry strategy is known to be essential for firm internationalisation yet there is very little focus on the role, purpose, and value of open innovation for internationalising high–tech SMEs. A review of the international business, international entrepreneurship and international marketing literature combined with a bibliometric mapping of 2501 articles on firm internationalisation, suggests that research does not readily associate open innovation and the internationalisation of high–tech SMEs. This is regardless of open innovation's activities that can span over a firm's immediate geographical space. Thus, this study introduces new theoretical explanations and a midrange open innovation theory to advance open innovation as an alternative foreign market entry strategy especially for internationalising high–tech SMEs. This has theoretical and practical implications for academics, international business managers, and practitioners because it introduces an alternative internationalisation strategy for SMEs.

Knowledge sharing and innovation performance: The mediating role of open innovation

AbstractThe investigation into the performance of small and medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs) driven by open innovation has received relatively limited attention in academic research. Businesses can enhance their innovation efforts and develop new products or services by using open innovation strategies to tap into internal expertise or examine external facts. The authors examined the rationales and outcomes of open innovation in SMEs by drawing upon existing theories related to the resource‐based and knowledge‐based perspectives of firms. A conceptual model was proposed. The hypotheses were tested using Partial Least Squares (PLS). Data collected from 429 SMEs were analyzed using SmartPLS 4. The current research indicates that open innovation serves as a mediator between knowledge sharing and innovation performance, with knowledge sharing exerting a positive influence on open innovation and innovation performance. The findings of this study emphasize the increased opportunities presented by open innovation theory and practice, providing insights into the formulation of strategies for the future development of Chinese SMEs.

Technology portfolio perspective for analyzing open innovation: insights from Iranian high-tech SMEs

ABSTRACT Providing evidence from less studied ecosystems contributes to the evolution of the Open Innovation (OI) theory. While previous studies investigate the pros and cons of OI in the context of developed countries, this article addresses OI adoption among high-tech SMEs in an emerging country. A multiple case study is pursued within the advanced materials sector in Iran, a sector suitable for opening windows of opportunity to a country endowed with natural resources. Thus, we deeply studied four high-tech SMEs through interviews with key managers, followed by a qualitative content analysis of the transcripts and documents. The results show that besides frequent inbound OI practices, the firms adopt several outbound OI practices. Additionally, this paper found two distinct types of OI behaviour (Selective vs. Non-selective) in relation to the firms’ technology portfolio. Although SMEs that adopt OI in both core and non-core areas are exposed to the knowledge leakage risk, due to their smallness and lack of required resources they prefer to take advantage of external cooperation, at the same time they seek ways for handling leakage concerns through trust-building. This paper has practical implications for managers who think of extending their OI practices into the firms’ core technologies.

A patent portfolio value analysis based on intuitionistic fuzzy sets: An empirical analysis of artificial intelligence for healthcare

Evaluating patent assets from the perspective of a patent portfolio is an emerging research direction and also a concrete practical example of open innovation theory, which presents the main form of encouraging more innovation entities to participate and further innovate by disclosing technological innovation information. For a better understanding of the patent portfolio value system at the quantitative level, this paper attempts to explore the relationship between the patent portfolio and the open innovation environment of industrial clusters, thus proposing a dynamic patent value evaluation method. Therefore, through focusing on the field of artificial intelligence for healthcare, this paper implements the evaluation process based on collecting relevant patent data and building an intuitionistic fuzzy set evaluation system. The evaluation results provide a value ranking for the patent portfolio, which helps decision-makers to carry out industrial patent layout planning and implement patent licensing strategies orienting to open innovation.

The influence of open innovation on the synergistic innovation capability of Chinese manufacturing firms: the mediating role of tacit knowledge acquisition

PurposeChina has climbed from 22nd in the Global Innovation Index Rankings in 2017 to 11th in the 2022 due to the transition of its manufacturing firms from assemblers to system integrators. This paper examines how firms can enhance their innovation capability through inbound and outbound open innovation.Design/methodology/approachThis paper applies both open innovation and a knowledge-based view and proposes a conceptual framework that encompasses innovation capability and the significance of tacit knowledge acquisition. A questionnaire was designed to collect relevant data from 139 Chinese manufacturing firms in six regions to test this framework.FindingsThe authors found that inbound open innovation has a stronger impact than outbound open innovation on synergistic innovation capability. The acquisition of skill-based tacit knowledge has a slightly stronger intermediary role between open innovation (no matter inbound or outbound) and synergistic innovation capability than cognitive tacit knowledge does.Practical implicationsFirms should improve external tacit knowledge acquisition efforts to generate new knowledge, inspire the innovation passion of employees and implement ambidextrous open innovation.Originality/valueThis paper makes a good first step to analyze the effect of ambidextrous open innovation on the synergistic innovation capability of Chinese manufacturing firms. It verifies the role of skill-based and cognitive tacit knowledge acquisition and provides new reflections on open innovation strategy in emerging economies, thus enriching open innovation and knowledge-based theories.

How to promote open innovation in restricted situations? Digital transformation perspective

PurposeIn the context of innovation-driven development strategy, open innovation has become an important way for enterprises to gain competitive advantages on the path of innovation and development. However, with the increasing competition, enterprises' open innovation is restricted by some constraints. How to promote open innovation in the restricted situations has become an existing research gap. Based on the perspective of digital transformation, this paper discusses how to promote the open innovation of enterprises under the restricted situations and find its breakthrough path, and analyzes the moderating effect of innovation persistence and political relevance.Design/methodology/approachDue to the complexity and confidentiality of military–civilian integration enterprises, they have become typical innovation-restricted enterprises. In this study, it selects a-share listed companies in the field of military–civilian integration in China in 2016–2020 as the research sample, and uses the two-way fixed-effect model to analyze the proposed variables. Finally, the robustness of the results in this paper is verified by a series of robustness tests and endogeneity tests.FindingsThe results show that digital transformation facilitates open innovation in military–civil integration enterprises, and that innovation persistence and political relevance positively moderate the relationship between the two. Further, digital transformation can promote open innovation in military–civil integration enterprises by easing the financing constraints and reducing information asymmetry. Innovation persistence has a more pronounced positive moderating effect among civilian-to-military and SMEs, and digital transformation of firms in the South has a negative effect on open innovation, but innovation persistence and political relevance dampen this negative effect.Originality/valuePrevious studies on the restrictions of open innovation or its dark side are mostly case studies and qualitative research. In contrast, the superiority and novelty of this study is in the form of a typical innovation-restricted enterprises “civil-military integration enterprise” as the research sample, based on the perspective of digital transformation, through empirical analysis method to explore how to better implementation of open innovation in the restricted situations. The findings of the study can not only enrich the application of digital transformation and open innovation theory, but also provide practical guidance for military–civil integration innovation in restricted situations.

Open innovation networks: a driver for knowledge mobilisation in schools?

PurposeIn organisational and innovation research, the term “open innovation” refers to the inflow and outflow of knowledge to and from organisations: with open innovation theory suggesting active exchanges of knowledge with external actors leads to the development of exploitable new ideas. In the field of education, however, the exchange of knowledge with external parties represents a paradigm shift. In response, this article presents findings from research design to explore the nature and composition of school innovation networks, and the effects of such these networks on knowledge mobilisation.Design/methodology/approachThe study draws on data from a representative random sample of 411 German school leaders. Respondents were asked to detail their engagement in open and closed innovation activity and their school's external collaborations during the last 12 months. A latent class distal outcome model was developed to examine whether different types of collaboration associate with different knowledge mobilisation processes.FindingsThe study findings suggest that schools in Germany mainly use internal knowledge for innovation, with external knowledge exchange taking place on a very limited basis. Knowledge mobilisation varies depending on the innovation network. The authors use the findings to indicate new insights for how schools can further innovate learning and teaching in future.Originality/valueAlthough there is increasing discussion on Professional Learning Networks in schools, the discourse on knowledge mobilisation within educational networks is limited, making concept of open innovation so far completely absent from discourses on school improvement. This paper initiates the population of this new research space.

DEVELOPING AN OPEN INNOVATION MODEL:FOCUS ON INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY LENDING

The implementation of import substitution and ensuring technological sovereignty is not an easy task for the Russian economy, which correlates with intensification of innovation activity in all spheres of national economy. One of the major factors to ensure necessary dynamics in transforming the domestic economy is the availability of free exchange of innovative technologies among subjects of various sectors in the economy provided by the conception of open innovations. Current models of innovation systems, with prevailing state financing of R&D, are not effective enough, which creates prerequisites for involving credit organizations into this area in order to intensify R&D, especially in the areas essential for practical activities. The authors propose developing and adapting the open innovation model in relation to the participation of credit institutions. The purpose of the study is to substantiate the role of credit institutions as an ecosystem actor in the open innovation model. The research methodologyis based on the analysis of theoretical and practical works on open innovation theory in order to apply lending secured by the results of intellectual activity. The major results of the studyare based on (i) considering the open innovation model to properly include credit institutionsas an ecosystem actor, (ii) proposing possible solutions regarding the cooperation of actors in innovation processes, and (iii) selecting innovative projects for possible secured lending which will accelerate the processes of innovative development. The obtained results can be used for further development of this area and in practice of the subjects of innovation activity

The limits of open innovation: Failures, risks, and costs in open innovation practice and theory

The success of open innovation has been widely acknowledged in both industrial practice and academic research. However, we understand much less about the limits of open innovation. A better understanding of this downside is nevertheless very important as there are still many organizations that struggle when trying to implement an open innovation strategy. At the same time, some research has pointed to decreasing returns to openness, or more generally to the compex relationship between open innovation and (financial) performance. This is why we call for more attention to failures, risks, and costs — and even the “dark side” — in the context of open innovation. In this editorial, we will further introduce this perspective, describe the articles published in this special issue, and offer some suggestions for future research. Overall, we believe that a better understanding of the limits of openness will allow for a more balanced view, thereby further expanding the frontiers of open innovation practice and theory.

The role of top management meetings in enhancing product innovation and performance

Top management meetings enable the positive flow of knowledge and building of key relationships within the company and its suppliers. This study draws on open innovation and upper echelons theories to analyze the effects of top management meetings on open innovation instruments, product innovation and sales performance. We use partial least squares structural equation modeling and fuzzy‐set qualitative comparative analysis to perform the path analysis of the hypothesized effects of top management meetings using data of 1,523 firms across 11 European countries. The results support the hypotheses that declare that top management meetings with suppliers positively influence product innovation while the effects of top management team meetings on product innovation remain negative. Surprisingly, the hypothesis that top management meetings with suppliers positively affect firm sales performance was not confirmed. Additionally, our efforts support the critical role of buyer–supplier relationships for innovation activities, primarily for services rather than manufacturing industries.

Influence of Entrepreneurial Orientation on Open Innovation of Military-Civilian Integration Enterprises in China: The Mediating Effect of Organization Legitimacy

Most research on open innovation focuses on innovation performance. However, few people have explored the driving factor of open innovation. This study is based on the entrepreneurial perspective, combined with the new institutional theory, taking 243 A-share listed military-civilian integration companies in China from 2016–2020. A multiple linear regression method is used to discuss the influence of entrepreneurial orientation on the open innovation of military-civilian integration enterprises, and the mediating role of organizational legitimacy. The empirical research results show that: entrepreneurial orientation positively influences the open innovation of military-civilian integration enterprises; political relevance plays a mediating role in the influence of entrepreneurial orientation on open innovation; compared with the military-to-civilian enterprises, political relevance is more important to the civilian-to-military enterprises. The research findings can not only enrich the open innovation theory but also have an important guiding significance for the military-civilian integration technology innovation in China.

ОСОБЕННОСТИ ПРАКТИЧЕСКОЙ РЕАЛИЗАЦИИ ТЕОРИИ ОТКРЫТЫХ ИННОВАЦИЙ

The article discusses the processes associated with the practical development of the ideas of open innovation by organizations, manifesting themselves through a number of internal and, to a greater extent, external factors that increase the ability to internally integrate third-party innovations through the expansion of the resource base of an individual company. Such processes often become decisive in making management decisions on the application of the provisions of the theory of open innovation. The previous experience unequivocally forces us to highlight the asymmetry in the activities of large and small forms of management. This article aims to expand the literary understanding of the potential of open innovation in stimulating a system of motives and constraints in the dissemination of knowledge within the business community.

Innovation Crowdsourcing Mechanisms and Innovation Performance: An Empirical Study of a Business Intelligence Community

Purpose: This study aims to develop a research model to investigate how the structure and mechanisms of innovation crowdsourcing influence knowledge management and innovation performance, based on the perspectives of open innovation theory and the knowledge-based view (KBV) of the firm. Design/Methodology/Approach: The research model and associated hypotheses were tested using partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM), based on a dataset from the Microsoft Power BI community of business intelligence (BI) and analytics tools. Findings: The results show that both organisational and technical mechanisms of the community positively influence the community structure. The community structure has a positive impact on knowledge acquisition, knowledge transformation and the size and diversity of crowd participation. The mechanisms of innovation crowdsourcing and knowledge transformation in turn have a strong influence on innovation performance. Originality: This study is among the first to provide analytical insights into the mechanisms of innovation crowdsourcing and their underlying impact on innovation performance in the context of BI and analytics tools that exhibit a multiplicity and complexity of functions and capabilities. It therefore provides strategic guidance on how to effectively stimulate crowd intelligence and maximise the collaborative and synergistic effectiveness of innovation crowdsourcing communities, focusing on knowledge management practices and user innovation behaviour and performance.

Evolutionary Game Analysis on Impacts of Organization Distance on Open Innovation Mode Selection of High-Tech Industrial Clusters

Based on the evolutionary game theory, this study aimed to explore the decision-making behavior of the enterprise when it adopted the open innovation model from the perspective of organizational distance. The evolutionary game theory is an important method to study the enterprise’ decision-making under bounded rationality. It applies to describe the trend of decision-making based on the enterprises’ open innovation choices in industrial clusters. This paper employs open innovation and institutional theory, utilizes industrial clusters as the research object, and measures the geographical proximity of enterprises in high-tech industrial clusters employing organizational distance. Within the analytical framework of the duopoly model, the impact of organizational distance and patent licensing fees on the innovative performance of a high-tech industrial cluster is studied. The findings indicate that the export-oriented open innovation model is more appropriate for the innovation of high-tech industry clusters. There is a significant relationship between organizational distance and the R&D spillovers of businesses. Increased patent fees can encourage industry clusters to adopt an open innovation model with an outward orientation if they are located in close proximity to each other. Further research analyzed the effect of organizational distance on the selection of an open innovation mode employing an evolutionary game model and indicated that geographical proximity would encourage enterprises to adopt open innovation export strategies. The conclusion of this study has both theoretical and practical ramifications for the independent innovation of high-tech industry clusters.

Open Innovation Performance in SMEs: Strategic Insights from Patent Analytics

Prior research has identified a positive relationship between open innovation collaboration and innovation performance. This paper asks whether this positive relationship reported in the literature is partially driven by measurement error, e.g., misclassifications of firms’ intra-group transfers of knowledge as interactions external to the firms. Using a unique, self-compiled secondary dataset of 21,898 patent families from 44 German small- and medium-sized enterprises with 9,902 entities, we show that open innovation collaboration’s impact on innovation performance becomes insignificant when measurement distinguishes between patents from collaborations by firms within and firms beyond the same corporate trees. Boundary conditions and robustness checks yield stable results when tested against 12 patent quality-based measures of innovation performance. Our contributions motivate to revisit the assessment of open innovation performance to prevent biased results and suboptimal decision-making in implementing innovation and subsequent commercialization strategies across firms’ boundaries. We further show that complementing open innovation theory with patent quality measures enriches analytical options and allows additional insights. This adds to the broader understanding of open innovation theory, in particular open innovation outcomes.