Abstract
We synthesize and provide a critical overview of the set of quantitative papers on open innovation which have had an influence on analyses of open innovation in a corporate strategy context. We categorize the literature into (a) firms’ external search and knowledge sourcing activities, (b) absorptive capacity, and (c) appropriability. We discuss the firm and individual level contributions to each of these literature streams, identifying those contributions specific to knowledge about open innovation and unresolved issues which represent future research opportunities. In addition, we try to draw some lessons in terms of future challenges for open innovation research in relation to the growth and influence of this domain. Specifically, we discuss some specific problems related to the robustness, validity, reliability, and causal identification of open innovation research, and how these might be overcome through a new research approach. We conclude by proposing a checklist for future quantitative empirical studies of open innovation.
Similar content being viewed by others
Notes
Business Source Ultimate made available by EBSCO, includes 4,300 academic business-relevant journals (mainly within social sciences). See https://www.ebsco.com/products/research-databases/business-source-ultimate (accessed September 13, 2023).
We thank an anonymous reviewer for making this point.
Keld Laursen served as co-editor of Research Policy 2014–2018, and Ammon Salter has served as co-editor since 2019.
References
Aguinis, H., Archibold, E. E., & Rice, D. B. (2022). Let’s fix our own problem: Quelling the irresponsible research perfect storm. Journal of Management Studies, 59(6), 1628–1642. https://doi.org/10.1111/joms.12814
Alexy, O., Criscuolo, P., & Salter, A. (2009). Does ip strategy have to cripple open innovation? Sloan Management Review, 51, 71–77.
Alexy, O., George, G., & Salter, A. J. (2013). Cui bono? The selective revealing of knowledge and its implications for innovative activity. Academy of Management Review, 38(2), 270–291. https://doi.org/10.5465/amr.2011.0193
Allen, T. J. (1977). Managing the flow of technology: Technology transfer and the dissemination of technological information within the R&D organization. MIT Press.
Appleyard, M. M., & Chesbrough, H. W. (2017). The dynamics of open strategy: From adoption to reversion. Long Range Planning, 50(3), 310–321. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lrp.2016.07.004
Arora, A. (1995). Licensing tacit knowledge: Intellectual property rights and the market for know-how. Economics of Innovation and New Technology, 4(1), 41–60. https://doi.org/10.1080/10438599500000013
Arora, A., Athreye, S., & Huang, C. (2016). The paradox of openness revisited: Collaborative innovation and patenting by UK innovators. Research Policy, 45(7), 1352–1361. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.respol.2016.03.019
Arora, A., Fosfuri, A., & Rønde, T. (2013). Managing licensing in a market for technology. Management Science, 59(5), 1092–1106.
Arundel, A. (2001). The relative effectiveness of patents and secrecy for appropriation. Research Policy, 30(4), 611–624. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0048-7333(00)00100-1
Berchicci, L. (2013). Towards an open R&D system: Internal R&D investment, external knowledge acquisition and innovative performance. Research Policy, 42(1), 117–127.
Bertrand, O., & Mol, M. J. (2013). The antecedents and innovation effects of domestic and offshore R&D outsourcing: The contingent impact of cognitive distance and absorptive capacity. Strategic Management Journal, 34(6), 751–760.
Bogers, M., Foss, N. J., & Lyngsie, J. (2018). The “human side” of open innovation: The role of employee diversity in firm-level openness. Research Policy, 47(1), 218–231. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.respol.2017.10.012
Bogers, M., Zobel, A.-K., Afuah, A., Almirall, E., Brunswicker, S., Dahlander, L., et al. (2017). The open innovation research landscape: Established perspectives and emerging themes across different levels of analysis. Industry and Innovation, 24(1), 8–40. https://doi.org/10.1080/13662716.2016.1240068
Cappelli, R., Corsino, M., Laursen, K., & Torrisi, S. (2023). Technological competition and patent strategy: Protecting innovation, preempting rivals and defending the freedom to operate. Research Policy, 52(6), 104785. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.respol.2023.104785
Cassiman, B., & Valentini, G. (2016). Open innovation: Are inbound and outbound knowledge flows really complementary? Strategic Management Journal, 37(6), 1034–1046. https://doi.org/10.1002/smj.2375
Cassiman, B., & Veugelers, R. (2002). Spillovers and R&D cooperation: Some empirical evidence. American Economic Review, 92(4), 1169–1184. https://doi.org/10.1257/00028280260344704
Chesbrough, H. (2003a). Open innovation. Harvard University Press.
Chesbrough, H. (2003b). The era of open innovation. Sloan Management Review, 44(3), 35–41.
Chesbrough, H. (2006). Open business models: How to thrive in the new innovation landscape. Harvard Business School Press.
Chesbrough, H. W., & Garman, A. R. (2009). How open innovation can help you cope in lean times. Harvard Business Review, 87(12), 68–76. 128.
Chesbrough, H., Lettl, C., & Ritter, T. (2018). Value creation and value capture in open innovation. Journal of Product Innovation Management, 35(6), 930–938. https://doi.org/10.1111/jpim.12471
Coff, R. (1999). When competitive advantage doesn’t lead to performance: The resource-based view and stakeholder bargaining power. Organization Science, 10(2), 119–133. https://doi.org/10.1287/orsc.10.2.119
Cohen, W. M., & Levinthal, D. A. (1990). Absorptive capacity: A new perspective of learning and innovation. Administrative Science Quarterly, 35(1), 128–152.
Colombo, M. G., Foss, N. J., Lyngsie, J., & Rossi Lamastra, C. (2021). What drives the delegation of innovation decisions? The roles of firm innovation strategy and the nature of external knowledge. Research Policy, 50(1), 104134. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.respol.2020.104134
Cricelli, L., Mauriello, R., & Strazzullo, S. (2023). Preventing open innovation failures: A managerial framework. Technovation, 127, 102833. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.technovation.2023.102833
Dahlander, L., & Gann, D. (2010). How open is innovation? Research Policy, 39(6), 699–709.
Dahlander, L., Gann, D. M., & Wallin, M. W. (2021). How open is innovation? A retrospective and ideas forward. Research Policy, 50(4), 104218. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.respol.2021.104218
Dahlander, L., O’Mahony, S., & Gann, D. M. (2016). One foot in, one foot out: How does individuals’ external search breadth affect innovation outcomes? Strategic Management Journal, 37(2), 280–302. https://doi.org/10.1002/smj.2342
Du, J., Leten, B., & Vanhaverbeke, W. (2014). Managing open innovation projects with science-based and market-based partners. Research Policy, 43(5), 828–840. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.respol.2013.12.008
Escribano, A., Fosfuri, A., & Tribó, J. A. (2009). Managing external knowledge flows: The moderating role of absorptive capacity. Research Policy, 38(1), 96–105.
Felin, T., & Zenger, T. R. (2020). Open innovation: A theory-based view. Strategic Management Review, 1(2), 223–232. https://doi.org/10.1561/111.00000011
Foege, J. N., Lauritzen, G. D., Tietze, F., & Salge, T. O. (2019). Reconceptualizing the paradox of openness: How solvers navigate sharing-protecting tensions in crowdsourcing. Research Policy, 48(6), 1323–1339. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.respol.2019.01.013
Foss, N. J., Laursen, K., & Pedersen, T. (2011). Linking customer interaction and innovation: The mediating role of new organizational practices. Organization Science, 22(4), 980–999. https://doi.org/10.1287/orsc.1100.0584
Freeman, C. (1968). Chemical process plant: Innovation and the world market. National Institute Economic Review, 45(August), 29–51.
Garriga, H., von Krogh, G., & Spaeth, S. (2013). How constraints and knowledge impact open innovation. Strategic Management Journal, 34(9), 1134–1144. https://doi.org/10.1002/smj.2049
Grimpe, C., & Sofka, W. (2009). Search patterns and absorptive capacity: Low- and high-technology sectors in European countries. Research Policy, 38(3), 495–506.
Harhoff, D., Henkel, J., & von Hippel, E. (2003). Profiting from voluntary information spillovers: How users benefit by freely revealing their innovations. Research Policy, 32(10), 1753–1769. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0048-7333(03)00061-1
Heimann, B., & Nickerson, J. (2004). Empirical evidence regarding the tension between knowledge sharing and knowledge expropriation in collaborations. Managerial and Decision Economics, 25, 401–420. https://doi.org/10.1002/mde.1198
Helfat, C. E., & Quinn, J. B. (2006). Open innovation: The new imperative for creating and profiting from technology. Academy of Management Perspectives, 20(2), 86–88. https://doi.org/10.5465/amp.2006.20591014
Henkel, J., Schöberl, S., & Alexy, O. (2014). The emergence of openness: How and why firms adopt selective revealing in open innovation. Research Policy, 43(5), 879–890. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.respol.2013.08.014
Hill, A. D., Johnson, S. G., Greco, L. M., O’Boyle, E. H., & Walter, S. L. (2021). Endogeneity: A review and agenda for the methodology-practice divide affecting micro and macro research. Journal of Management, 47(1), 105–143. https://doi.org/10.1177/0149206320960533
Hoang, H., & Rothaermel, F. T. (2010). Leveraging internal and external experience: Exploration, exploitation, and R&D project performance. Strategic Management Journal, 31(7), 734–758.
Holgersson, M., Wallin, M., Chesbrough, H., & Dahlander, L. (2023). Closing open innovation. Strategic Management Review, forthcoming
Hung, K. P., & Chou, C. (2013). The impact of open innovation on firm performance: The moderating effects of internal R&D and environmental turbulence. Technovation, 33(10–11), 368–380. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.technovation.2013.06.006
Hurmelinna-Laukkanen, P., & Yang, J. (2022). Distinguishing between appropriability and appropriation: A systematic review and a renewed conceptual framing. Research Policy, 51(1), 104417. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.respol.2021.104417
Jeppesen, L. B., & Lakhani, K. R. (2010). Marginality and problem-solving effectiveness in broadcast search. Organization Science, 21(5), 1016–1033.
Kale, P., & Singh, H. (2009). Managing strategic alliances: What do we know now, and where do we go from here? Academy of Management Perspectives, 23(3), 45–62.
Katz, R., & Allen, T. (1982). Investigating the not invented here (nih) syndrome: A look at the performance, tenure, and communication patterns of 50 R&D projects. R&D Management, 12(1), 7–19.
Köhler, C., Sofka, W., & Grimpe, C. (2012). Selective search, sectoral patterns, and the impact on product innovation performance. Research Policy, 41(8), 1344–1356. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.respol.2012.03.020
Lakemond, N., Bengtsson, L., Laursen, K., & Tell, F. (2016). Match and manage: The use of knowledge matching and project management to integrate knowledge in collaborative inbound open innovation. Industrial and Corporate Change, 25(2), 333–352. https://doi.org/10.1093/icc/dtw004
Laursen, K., & Salter, A. J. (2006). Open for innovation: The role of openness in explaining innovative performance among UK manufacturing firms. Strategic Management Journal, 27(2), 131–150. https://doi.org/10.1002/smj.507
Laursen, K., & Salter, A. J. (2014). The paradox of openness: Appropriability, external search and collaboration. Research Policy, 43(5), 867–878. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.respol.2013.10.004
Laursen, K., & Salter, A. (2020). Who captures value from open innovation—the firm or its employees? Strategic Management Review, 1(2), 255–276. https://doi.org/10.1561/111.00000009
Laursen, K., Salter, A., & Somaya, D. (2023). Complementarities and tensions between appropriability and open innovation: An overview of prior research and future opportunities. In H. Chesbrough, A. Radziwon, J. West, & W. Vanhaverbeke (Eds.), Handbook of open innovation. Oxford University Press.
Leiponen, A., & Helfat, C. E. (2010). Innovation opportunities, knowledge sources, and the benefits of breadth. Strategic Management Journal, 31(2), 224–236.
Levinthal, D. A., & March, J. G. (1993). The myopia of learning. Strategic Management Journal, 14, 95–112.
Linder, S. B. (1961). An essay on trade and transformation. Stockholm: Almquist and Wiksell.
Lippman, S. A., & Rumelt, R. P. (2003). A bargaining perspective on resource advantage. Strategic Management Journal, 24(11), 1069–1086. https://doi.org/10.1002/smj.345
Love, J. H., Roper, S., & Vahter, P. (2014). Learning from openness: The dynamics of breadth in external innovation linkages. Strategic Management Journal, 35(11), 1703–1716. https://doi.org/10.1002/smj.2170
Lu, Q., & Chesbrough, H. (2022). Measuring open innovation practices through topic modelling: Revisiting their impact on firm financial performance. Technovation, 114, 102434. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.technovation.2021.102434
Lundvall, B. -Å. (1988). Innovation as an interactive process—from user-producer interaction to national systems of innovation. In G. Dosi, C. Freeman, R. Nelson, G. Silverberg, & L. L. G. Soete (Eds.), Technical change and economic theory (pp. 349–367). Pinter Publishers.
Mindruta, D. (2013). Value creation in university-firm research collaborations: A matching approach. Strategic Management Journal, 34(6), 644–665. https://doi.org/10.1002/smj.2036
Mindruta, D., Moeen, M., & Agarwal, R. (2015). A two-sided matching approach for partner selection and assessing complementarities in partners’ attributes in inter-firm alliances. Strategic Management Journal. https://doi.org/10.1002/smj.2448
Moreira, S., Markus, A., & Laursen, K. (2018). Knowledge diversity and coordination: The effect of intrafirm inventor task networks on absorption speed. Strategic Management Journal, 39(9), 2517–2546. https://doi.org/10.1002/smj.2914
Ocasio, W. (1997). Towards an attention-based view of the firm. Strategic Management Journal, 18(Summer Special Issue), 187–206.
Perkmann, M., & West, J. (2015). Open science and open innovation: Sourcing technology from universities. In A. N. Link, D. S. Siegel, & M. Wright (Eds.), The Chicago handbook of university technology transfer and academic entrepreneurship. Chicago University of Chicago Press.
Rosenberg, N. (1982). Learning by using inside the black box: Technology and economics. Cambridge University Press.
Rothaermel, F., & Alexandre, M. (2009). Ambidexterity in technology sourcing: The moderating role of absorptive capacity. Organization Science, 20(4), 759–780.
Salge, T. O., Farchi, T., Barrett, M. I., & Dopson, S. (2013). When does search openness really matter? A contingency study of health-care innovation projects. Journal of Product Innovation Management, 30(4), 659–676. https://doi.org/10.1111/jpim.12015
Salter, A., Ter Wal, A. L. J., Criscuolo, P., & Alexy, O. (2015). Open for ideation: Individual-level openness and idea generation in R&D. Journal of Product Innovation Management, 32(4), 488–504. https://doi.org/10.1111/jpim.12214
Schumpeter, J. A. (1912/1934). The theory of economic development: An inquiry into profits, capital, credit, interest and the business cycle (R. Opie, Trans.). London: Oxford University Press.
Schumpeter, J. A. (1942). Capitalism, socialism and democracy (Paperback edition). Routledge.
Simeth, M., & Mohammadi, A. (2022). Losing talent by partnering up? The impact of R&D collaboration on employee mobility. Research Policy, 51(7), 104551. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.respol.2022.104551
Simon, H. A. (1947). Administrative behavior: A study of decision-making process in administrative organization. Macmillan.
Srinivasan, R., Choo, A., Narayanan, S., Sarkar, S., & Tenhiälä, A. (2021). Knowledge sources, innovation objectives, and their impact on innovation performance: Quasi-replication of leiponen and helfat (2010). Strategic Management Journal, 42(11), 2104–2136. https://doi.org/10.1002/smj.3287
Ter Wal, A. L. J., Criscuolo, P., & Salter, A. (2017). Making a marriage of materials: The role of gatekeepers and shepherds in the absorption of external knowledge and innovation performance. [Article]. Research Policy, 46(5), 1039–1054. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.respol.2017.03.003
Tether, B., & Tajar, A. (2008). Beyond industry-university links: Sourcing knowledge for innovation from consultants, private research organisations and the public science-base. Research Policy, 37(6/7), 1079–1095.
von Hippel, E. (1976). Dominant role of users in scientific instrument innovation process. Research Policy, 5(3), 212–239.
Wadhwa, A., Freitas, I. M. B., & Sarkar, M. B. (2017). The paradox of openness and value protection strategies: Effect of extramural R&D on innovative performance. Organization Science, 28(5), 873–893. https://doi.org/10.1287/orsc.2017.1145
West, J., & Bogers, M. (2014). Leveraging external sources of innovation: A review of research on open innovation. Journal of Product Innovation Management, 31(4), 814–831. https://doi.org/10.1111/jpim.12125
Zobel, A. K. (2017). Benefiting from open innovation: A multidimensional model of absorptive capacity. [Article]. Journal of Product Innovation Management, 34(3), 269–288. https://doi.org/10.1111/jpim.12361
Zobel, A.-K., Balsmeier, B., & Chesbrough, H. (2016). Does patenting help or hinder open innovation? Evidence from new entrants in the solar industry. Industrial and Corporate Change, 25(2), 307–331. https://doi.org/10.1093/icc/dtw005
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Conflict of interest
On behalf of all authors, the corresponding author states that there is no conflict of interest.
Additional information
Publisher's Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.
About this article
Cite this article
Laursen, K., Salter, A. What we know about open innovation, unresolved issues, and a checklist for future research. J. Ind. Bus. Econ. 50, 743–764 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40812-023-00283-z
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40812-023-00283-z
Keywords
- Open innovation
- Critical overview
- External search
- Absorptive capacity
- Appropriability
- The future of open innovation research