Outbound Open Innovation Research Articles

Can digital platform empowers inbound and outbound open innovation? From the perspective of the innovation ecosystem

Can digital platform empowers inbound and outbound open innovation? From the perspective of the innovation ecosystem

PENGARUH CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP, STRATEGIC SUPPLIER, INFORMATION SHARING & POSTPONEMENT TERHADAP ORGANIZATIONAL PERFORMANCE YANG DIMEDIASI INBOUND DAN OUTBOUND INNOVATION

Technological advancements and the growth of e-commerce have increased the complexity of supply chain management, making it more vulnerable to disruptions. The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted this vulnerability, leading organizations to reassess traditional risk management approaches and emphasize collaborative partnerships to enhance supply chain value. This study aims to evaluate the impact of Customer Relationship (CR), Quality of Information Sharing (QIS), Strategic Supplier Partnership (SSP), Postponement (P), Top Management Knowledge Value (TMKV), and Knowledge Sharing Practice (KSP) on Organizational Performance (OP), with Inbound and Outbound Open Innovation (IOI and OOI) as mediating variables. Data was collected from 164 professionals in Jakarta using the Purposive Sampling method through online questionnaires on Google Forms. Data analysis was conducted using the Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) method. The results of the study show that all independent variables positively affect organizational performance, although not all of these effects are significant. This indicates that effective integration between Supply Chain Management strategies and Open Innovation can improve organizational performance. TMKV has a significant positive impact on KSP, KSP also has a significant positive impact on IOI, IOI has a significant positive impact on OP, and KSP mediated by IOI is proven to have a significant positive effect in supporting OP, while OOI mediation is not proven. This study is not intended to generalize a theory due to the limitations in sample size, industry, and geographical area.

Knowledge exchanges for collaborative innovation and organizational effectiveness: insights from Indian enterprises

PurposeThis study aims to delve into the relationship between open innovation and organizational effectiveness, expanding upon previous research that primarily focused on the impact of open innovation on firm performance.Design/methodology/approachBased on data collected from top- and middle-level managers across diverse sectors in India, the authors examined the intricate dynamics of open innovation and its effects on organizational effectiveness. The authors took two approaches to examine the data; using structural equation modeling and using the fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) approach.FindingsThis empirical evidence underscores the potential advantages of adopting open innovation practices within organizations. The contribution extends to both theoretical and practical domains.Research limitations/implicationsTheoretically, this research enriches the literature on open innovation and organizational effectiveness by providing empirical substantiation for their interconnection.Practical implicationsFrom a practical perspective, the findings offer actionable insights for practitioners and organizational leaders, suggesting that embracing open innovation can significantly enhance organizational effectiveness, ultimately fostering improved performance and competitiveness. The findings also have implications for external stakeholders aiming to engage with innovation-driven organizations for purposes of commercialization and knowledge exchange.Originality/valueThis study advocates for incorporating inbound and outbound open innovation practices within strategic decision-making processes to achieve organizational effectiveness.

The impact of potential and realized absorptive capacity on open innovation: the moderating role of knowledge-oriented leadership

PurposeThis study aims to analyze the effects of the components of absorptive capacity (ACAP) – potential absorptive capacity (PACAP) and realized absorptive capacity (RACAP) on inbound and outbound open innovation (OI). In addition, this study investigates the moderating role that knowledge-oriented leadership (KOL) plays in the relationship between ACAP and OI.Design/methodology/approachThis research adopts a quantitative approach, using structural equation modeling, in a sample of 218 companies in the Brazilian manufacturing sector, using a random sampling technique and self-administered questionnaire.FindingsThe results indicate that while PACAP positively influences inbound and outbound OI, RACAP has a significant relationship only with outbound OI. In addition, KOL moderates the significant relationships between PACAP and RACAP and OI, indicating that the development of a leadership that fosters learning and interaction between employees and sectors of the organization impacts the innovation results of companies in the manufacturing sector.Practical implicationsThis study also shows that managers must have an active role in the construction of an organizational context that supports learning through initiatives that encourage the process of trial and error, teamwork and cooperation between employees.Originality/valueThis research advances previous studies by relating the two components of ACAP (PACAP and RACAP) with the two OI models (inbound and outbound), in addition to analyzing the moderating role that KOL plays in this relationship between ACAP and OI.

Outbound open innovation effectiveness measurement between big organizations and startups using Fuzzy MCDM

PurposeThis research aims to identify the key factors affecting Outbound Open Innovation between Startups and Big organizations using the multiple criteria decision-making analysis (MCDM) approach. The MCDM technique ranks the four key factors identified from the literature study that can help to improve collaboration opportunities with Startups.Design/methodology/approachIdentification of key factors affecting Outbound Open Innovation between Startups and big organizations based on extant literature. A questionnaire is prepared based on these four identified key factors to gather views of the startup's employees, from the designer level to the startup's founder. MCDM techniques are used to evaluate the questionnaire. The ensemble technique is used to rank the key factors coming from three different MCDM methods.FindingsThe findings from the MCDM approach and Ensemble techniques give insight to the big organizations to facilitate outbound Open Innovation effectively. It also provides insight into the requirements of the startups and the kind of support they seek from the big organizations. The ranking can help the big organization close the gaps and make an informed decision to increase the effectiveness of the collaborations and boost innovation.Originality/valueThis is a unique research work where the MCDM approach is used to identify the ranking of key factors affecting outbound open innovation between startups and big organizations. The MCDM technique is followed by the ensemble method to rationalize the findings. Technology Relevance ranks highest, followed by Innovation Ecosystem, Organization commitment and Knowledge Sharing.

How to Benefit From Open Innovation? The Moderating Effect of Open Culture and Open Organization

How to benefit from open innovation (OI) sustainably is a real concern of enterprises. Therefore, the scholars' focus on OI research has gradually shifted to the implementation of OI. Based on the structural contingency theory, structural adaptation theory, and the investigation of 426 enterprises, this study tries to discuss the moderating effect of open culture (OC) and open organization (OO) in the process of inbound open innovation (IOI) and outbound open innovation (OOI) affecting enterprise growth (EG). The results show that both IOI and OOI are positively related to the EG, and their interaction item is also positively related to EG. Besides, OC and OO are positively associated with EG. What is more, both OC and OO can enhance the positive correlation between OOI and EG. However, the moderating effect of OC and OO between IOI and EG is not significant. Furthermore, compared with the IOI, the OOI may need the fitness of OC and OO, so that enterprises can benefit from the open innovation better and sustainably. This article develops the measurement scale of OC and OO in combination with the OI context, expands the research results of organizational culture and organizational structure in the OI context, enriches the research results in the fields of OI, OC, OO, and EG, and provides practical enlightenment on organizational construction for enterprises to benefit from open innovation.

Does Open Innovation Promote Innovation Efficiency in Chinese Universities?

The growing Chinese universities are implementing open innovation (OI). However, the function of OI in the innovation activities is still unclear. This article elaborates on how outbound OI (OOI) and inbound OI (IOI), which includes four types of partners [i.e., domestic research institutions, domestic higher education, domestic enterprises, and foreign institutions], influence the innovation efficiency of invention patents (IPA) and scientific papers (FPA) in the context of Chinese universities. Based on a panel dataset from 2009 to 2018 in China, we find that OOI significantly facilitates innovation efficiency of universities. IOI with DHE and FI can promote innovation efficiency in IPA and FPA, respectively. Moreover, we also investigate the moderating role of absorptive capacity in the relationship between OI and innovation efficiency. The results show some heterogeneity in the different types of OI. The study enriches the influencing factors of innovation efficiency in relation to OI and expands the research subject of OI topic. Furthermore, this article supplements the knowledge regarding the boundary conditions under which the effect of OI is strengthened or weakened.

CEO Overconfidence and open innovation in Chinese biopharmaceutical industry: does top management team social capital matter?

ABSTRACT Open innovation beyond organisational boundaries has become a key factor in improving enterprise performance and maintaining sustained competitive advantage. However, most research on the antecedents of open innovation has focused on external environment or organisational-level factors, and the exploration of the micro-level has not yet been sufficiently understood. Following the Upper Echelon Theory and Social Capital Theory, this study explores when CEO overconfidence influences the adoption of different open innovation modes. We developed a model by considering top management team (TMT) social capital as a moderating role from the CEO-TMT interaction perspective. Using a longitudinal data set of listed enterprises in the Chinese biopharmaceutical industry from 2013 to 2017, we find that CEO overconfidence promotes the adoption of the two open innovation modes (inbound and outbound). TMT social capital negatively moderates the effect of CEO overconfidence on outbound open innovation. However, the moderating effect is not significant between CEO overconfidence and inbound open innovation. Meanwhile, we conduct further analysis based on enterprise ownership. The findings provide new insights into the micro-foundation of open innovation.

Artificial intelligence capabilities, open innovation, and business performance – Empirical insights from multinational B2B companies

In contrast to the operational nature of business-to-consumer (B2C) enterprises, business-to-business (B2B) organizations emphasizes offering specialized products and services to their clients, which are businesses. Recognizing that B2B organizations are dealing with complex metadata in an ever-changing business context, artificial intelligence (AI) technologies possess the potential in assisting them analyse massive amounts of data, generating actionable insights, and formulating revolutionary ideas, potentially improving collaboration and innovation. As a result, this study adopts an empirical research approach to analyse the relationship among AI capabilities, open innovation, and business performance, with an emphasis on B2B companies, based on the theoretical foundations of social-technical system and contingency theories. This study investigated the relationship between AI capabilities and open innovation practices, as well as the effect they have on business performance, using survey data collected from 398 B2B multinational companies and structural equation modelling. The findings indicate that AI capabilities have a favourable effect on open innovation practices, which subsequently leads to an improvement in business performance. Notably, the impact of AI capabilities on business performance was found to be partially mediated. The examination of the moderating effect of environmental dynamism reveals that it exerts a significant influence on the relationship between AI capabilities and outbound open innovation. However, it does not have a significant moderating impact on the causal interaction of AI capabilities on both business performance and inbound open innovation. The ramifications of these findings are significant for managers and policymakers who are interested in fostering innovation and enhancing competitiveness within the B2B sector. The results underscore the crucial role of cultivating AI capabilities.

Antecedents and outcomes of open innovation over the past 20 years: A framework and meta‐analysis

AbstractThe open innovation paradigm emphasizes that firms can improve their innovation performance by collaborating with other firms. However, there is no consensus in the open innovation literature regarding what drives firms' implementation of inbound and outbound open innovation and how the two types of open innovation influence innovation and firm performance. The present meta‐analysis synthesizes previous research to advance our understanding of open innovation by reexamining its antecedents and its moderating effects on innovation and firm performance. Using data from 157 articles, our results show that appropriation strategy, formal organizational structure, learning culture and top manager competence drive inbound open innovation, while innovation strategy, appropriation strategy, learning culture, and top manager competence drive outbound open innovation. In addition, we find that absorptive capacity positively moderates the positive impact of inbound and outbound open innovation on innovation performance. However, industry type (i.e., high‐ and low‐tech) is not found to moderate the effect of open innovation on innovation or firm performance, suggesting that both high‐ and low‐tech firms can equally reap benefits from open innovation. Furthermore, this study also partially supports the moderating effects of firm size and cultural value (individualism vs. collectivism) on the open innovation—performance relationship. These findings collectively suggest that the effects of inbound and outbound open innovation on performance are subject to contextual factors. Although this meta‐analysis does not allow us to generate new theories in the open innovation literature, it offers valuable insights to both academics and practitioners regarding factors affecting the implementation of open innovation and its performance implications.

Reconnoitering the Nexus Between Organizational Culture and Open Innovation Systems

Postmodern organizations strive to cultivate open innovation systems to foster product innovation and commercialization. Cultural dynamics can be a massive obstacle in flourishing the inbound and outbound open innovation in many organizations. However, little is known about the effect of different types of culture on the open innovation dimensions. This research aimed to investigate the role of cultural subtleties in nurturing inbound and outbound open innovation in the organizations. A quantitative research design was employed, and data were collected from a random sample of 231 managers from the automotive industry. Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) was used to test the hypotheses using Smart PLS. The results indicated that hierarchy culture, associated with formal rules and regulations, negatively affects the inbound and outbound open innovation. The Market culture has a positive relationship with inbound and outbound open innovation while adhocracy culture could positively impact the inbound open innovation only. On the other hand, clan culture has a negative effect on the outbound open innovation. We concluded that the organizational culture focused on internal integrations is more suitable for outbound open innovation, and the type of organizational culture focused on external differentiation is more likely to support inbound 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 digital platform capabilities improve sustainable innovation performance of firms: The mediating role of open innovation

Despite growing research interests in digital platform-based innovation, the existing literature has largely focused on the role of digital platform capabilities in improving economic outcomes, with only limited understanding of whether and how digital platform capabilities affect sustainability-oriented innovations. With the data from a sample of 347 firms, this study first shows that digital platform integration capability and digital platform reconfiguration capability enhance sustainability-oriented innovation through open innovation. Using the polynomial regression with response surface analysis, this study further shows that sustainability-oriented innovation improves more when inbound open innovation and outbound open innovation increase in a balanced way but decreases when inbound and outbound innovation increase in an unbalanced way. The findings of this study contribute to a better understanding of why companies with digital platform capabilities perform better in sustainability-oriented innovation and provide new insights on how a firm can achieve better sustainability-oriented innovation to effectively address sustainability challenges.

How open innovation drives intellectual capital to superior organizational resilience: evidence from China's ICT sector

PurposeOpen innovation is regarded as the driven factor for organizational resilience, but open innovation's role and effect mechanism in leveraging organizational resilience has been limited explored. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationships between two types of open innovation and organizational resilience and the mediating effect of intellectual capital on open innovation and organizational resilience.Design/methodology/approachAfter a literature review, a research model including open innovation, intellectual capital and organizational resilience is proposed. Survey data are collected from information and communication technologies (ICT) sector in China and analyzed by using partial least squares–structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) and Bootstrapping procedure to present results of each hypothesis test.FindingsResults indicate that inbound open innovation has a significant and direct impact on organizational resilience, while outbound open innovation has not. In addition, all three dimensions of intellectual capital were significantly correlated with organizational resilience and had mediating roles in the indirect effect of inbound open innovation and organizational resilience. Nevertheless, only social capital played a mediating role in the relationship between outbound open innovation and organizational resilience.Originality/valueThe study explores the relationships among open innovation, intellectual capital and organizational resilience in a comprehensive model, which is the first known study to highlight that open innovation can enhance organizational resilience through intellectual capital, and provides valuable suggestions for improving organizational resilience.

Knowledge management capability and outbound open innovation: Unpacking the role of desorptive capacity

AbstractAs firms seek multiple pathways for growth and competitiveness, effectively commercialising internal technologies leads to outbound open innovation. Both absorptive capacity and desorptive capacity are knowledge management capabilities crucial for open innovation. While absorptive capacity is well explored by researchers, studies around desorptive capacity are scarce. This study addresses recent calls for a more in‐depth exploration of the role of desorptive capacity, which is still in its cradle stage. Firstly, a synthesis of the literature on desorptive capacity was conducted from related fields like open innovation, external knowledge exploitation, technology transfer, technology commercialisation, and so on. Then, based on the synthesis, a theoretical framework was formulated to explain the role of desorptive capacity in enabling firms to identify, transfer and commercialise their internal technology outside their firm boundaries. Testable propositions were formulated around the role, antecedents and consequences of desorptive capacity. The findings were discussed along with a comparison between absorptive and desorptive capacities. The implications for both theory and practice are listed. The paper concludes by enumerating the limitations of this study and offering future research directions.

Absorptive Capacity in Inbound and Outbound Open Innovation in Emerging Economy context

The knowledge society is characterized by competitive and complex business environments, a situation that forces companies to develop permanent innovation processes to generate competitive advantages that allow them to survive in a new business environment. In response to this premise, dynamic capabilities and specifically Absorptive Capacity (ACAP), is the most relevant capacity to obtain higher levels of organizational performance. In this context, this study analyzed whether ACAP influences the development of inbound and outbound open innovation. Through surveys directed at 252 managers of SMEs that offer technology services in an emerging economy, and using the PLS-SEM technique, it was evidenced that ACAP has a positive relationship with Inbound and Outbound Open Innovation. The results reveal that the application of innovation models requires the development of dynamic capabilities, mainly absorptive capacity, with four of its components: assimilation, acquisition, transformation and exploitation. Organizations must adopt strategies to correctly detect and absorb external knowledge in order to establish an adequate connection with internal knowledge and, in this way, take advantage of the benefits inherent to open innovation.

Open innovation in SMEs: a dynamic capabilities perspective

PurposeThis study aims to examine the relationships between organizational learning capabilities, open innovation and firm performance (FP) in the context of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the emerging economies.Design/methodology/approachData collected from 384 manufacturing SMEs operating across the seven emirates of the UAE were statistically analyzed using SmartPLS 3 to examine the hypotheses of this study.FindingsThe results show that organizational learning capabilities positively influences both inbound and outbound dimensions of open innovation (OI). Inbound open innovation (IP) practice positively impacted both market effectiveness and profitability, while outbound open innovation (OP) practice only affected profitability. Findings further confirmed the mediating role of IP practice on the relationships of organizational learning capabilities with market effectiveness and profitability. In contrast, OP practice did not mediate the relationships of organizational learning capabilities with market effectiveness and profitability.Originality/valueTo the best of the authors knowledge, this is among the first study contributing to the extant innovation literature in terms of investigations into the significant and complex interrelations of organizational learning capabilities, OI and FP in a single study, demonstrating various theoretical implications in the context of manufacturing SMEs in emerging countries. Overall, the findings of this study confirmed that the owners/managers of the UAE’s manufacturing SMEs need to be acquainted with the need of creating a working environment fostering organizational learning processes and capabilities to enhance IP and OP activities, thereby improving their market effectiveness and profitability.

Impact of innovation strategy, absorptive capacity, and open innovation on SME performance: A Chilean case study

Open innovation has an important impact on the innovative activity and competitiveness of SMEs. Moreover, it is a topic of interest for academics and practitioners. This study analyzes, in the context of SMEs, how absorptive capacity can favor incoming and outgoing open innovation practices, the mediating role that innovation strategy plays in this relationship, and the effect of open innovation practices on performance. Partial least squares (PLS-SEM) and empirical data obtained from interviews with 194 managers of Chilean manufacturing SMEs with between 10 and 250 employees were used. The results obtained make a relevant contribution to the literature in two aspects: (1) absorptive capacity has a significant and positive influence on firms' strategies and outbound innovation practices and (2) firm strategies play a complete mediating role between absorptive capacity and inbound open innovation practices and a complementary mediating role between absorptive capacity and outbound open innovation practices. Additionally, the results show that open innvoation improves SME performance. These results have important theoretical and practical implications for both policy makers and SME managers.

The Effect of Open Innovation on Manufacturing Firms’ Performance in China: The Moderating Role of Social Capital

Open innovation (OI) has great significance in innovation management. OI builds a bridge between firms and other organizations, which can help firms to quickly integrate into value chain innovation and discover the value stored in external resources, and thus can improve the performance of firms. The Chinese economy is accelerating its high-quality development. In this process, the importance of social capital is emphasized. However, less evidence is provided to discuss whether and how social capital from the resource perspective affects OI and firm performance. Therefore, we constructed a moderating model to deeply examine the mechanisms of the two models of the effects of inbound OI and outbound OI on firm performance and the impact of multidimensional social capital within it from the resource perspective. Our sample comprises 6899 observations of 1850 A-share listed manufacturing firms in China from 2016 to 2020. Considering the lag of resources into firm profitability, we decided to lag the firm performance by one year behind other indicators, so the sample data cover the period of 2016–2021. Then, we used Excel 2019 to complete the calculations of indicators and used multiple regression analysis of STATA17 to test the hypotheses. It is found that inbound and outbound OI have an inverted U-shaped relationship with firm performance. Institutional and technological social capital positively moderates the relationship between inbound and outbound OI and firm performance. Compared with the other two types of social capital, market social capital is the most widely owned among the sample firms, but its moderating effect is insignificant. The findings enrich and expand theoretical research on OI and firm performance and guide firms to implement OI, promoting their sustainable development.

Flipping the odds of AI-driven open innovation: The effectiveness of partner trustworthiness in counteracting interorganizational knowledge hiding

This paper aims to analyze the negative effect of knowledge hiding on the relationship between artificial intelligence (AI) capability and open innovation (inbound and outbound) when partner trustworthiness (benevolence, integrity, and ability) is high. Structural equations were used to test this three-way interaction with survey data from a sample of 229 firms, mainly from highly digitalized sectors. The findings indicate that interorganizational knowledge hiding affects only the relationship between AI capability and outbound open innovation and that partner ability is the only factor that will counteract this negative effect. Therefore, co-exploitation of AI-based solutions with external allies is the sole scenario to encourage knowledge hiding by increasing employees' perceptions of the likelihood of AI negatively impacting their personal interests at work. Moreover, when trustworthiness is at the forefront of the intraorganizational discussion, the findings downplay the significance of benevolence and integrity as traits that significantly reduce knowledge hiding. In contrast, at the interorganizational level, knowledge hiding is lessened only when employees perceive that co-exploitation with external partners represents an opportunity to learn and capture crucial AI knowledge.