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A critical review of empirical research on open innovation adoption

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Abstract

The open innovation approach has been one of the most discussed topics in innovation management literature in the 2000s. Over the past few years, academic publications on open innovation have increased substantially. This paper attempts to summarize and review the state-of-the-art of empirical open innovation research and develop new opportunities for open innovation research in the future. In order to make the papers more comparable, a clear focus on large-scale quantitative-oriented studies was set. From a total of 282 documents, 30 studies were analyzed in detail along four key dimensions: Firstly, different methods of measuring open innovation adoption are compared. Then, the level of open innovation adoption is analyzed on a general basis. Thirdly, the level of adoption is compared at the level of the open innovation mode (inbound and outbound). Finally, the study results regarding the variables that influence open innovation adoption are compared and conclusions for future research directions are drawn.

Zusammenfassung

Open Innovation ist einer der meist diskutierten Ansätze in der Innovationsmanagementliteratur der 2000er Jahre. Speziell in den letzten Jahren sind wissenschaftliche Veröffentlichungen zu Open Innovation stark angestiegen. Der Artikel fasst empirische Veröffentlichungen zum Stand der Wissenschaft im Sinne eines State-of-the-Art-Reviews zusammen und entwickelt Ansätze für zukünftige empirische Forschung zum diesem Thema. Um die zu untersuchenden Studien vergleichbarer zu machen, wurden explizit quantitativ orientierte Studien ausgewählt. Von einer Gesamtzahl von 282 Dokumenten wurden schlussendlich 30 Studien in vier Dimensionen detailliert analysiert: Zunächst werden Messmethoden von Open Innovation Adoption verglichen. Weiters wird der allgemeine Level der Open Innovation Adoption analysiert und verglichen sowie das Adoption-Niveau auf Open Innovation Mode Level (Inbound und Outbound) analysiert. Abschließend werden das Adoptionsniveau beeinflussende Faktoren verglichen und es werden Schlussfolgerungen für zukünftige Forschung gezogen.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank the editor Prof. Thomas Reutterer and two anonymous reviewers for their insightful suggestions and comments on prior versions of this paper.

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  1. Institute for Production Management, WU Vienna, Nordbergstrasse 15, 1090, Vienna, Austria

    Alexander Schroll & Andreas Mild

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  1. Alexander Schroll
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  2. Andreas Mild
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Correspondence to Alexander Schroll.

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Schroll, A., Mild, A. A critical review of empirical research on open innovation adoption. J Betriebswirtsch 62, 85–118 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11301-012-0084-7

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