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Research summary: When faced with a new technological paradigm, incumbent firms can opt for internal development and/or external sourcing to obtain the necessary new knowledge. We explain how the effectiveness of external knowledge sourcing depends on the properties of internal knowledge production. We apply a social network lens to delineate interpersonal, intra-firm knowledge networks and capture the emergence of two important firm-level properties: the incumbent's internal potential for knowledge recombination and the level of knowledge coordination costs. We rely on firm-level internal knowledge networks to dynamically track the emergence of these properties across 106 global pharmaceutical companies over a 25-year time period. We find that a firm's success in developing knowledge in a new technological paradigm using external knowledge sourcing is contingent on these internal knowledge properties. Managerial summary: Incumbent firms in high-tech industries often face competence-destroying technological change. In their effort to adapt and develop new knowledge in a novel paradigm, incumbent firms have several corporate strategy options available to them: internal knowledge development and a wide array of external knowledge sourcing strategies, including alliances and acquisitions. In this study, we make an effort to address a critical question: How effective is external knowledge sourcing under different internal knowledge generation regimes? We find that external sourcing strategies are less effective when firms can already internally generate new knowledge or if they have high internal coordination costs. Therefore, when considering external sourcing, managers must carefully weigh the benefits of it vis-à-vis its commensurate costs as the benefits of external sourcing may be overstated.

Purpose Building on the resource- and knowledge-based views, this paper aims to explore how coopetition affects radical innovation and the roles of knowledge structure and external knowledge integration in the relationship between coopetition and radical innovation. Design/methodology/approach This study proposes a research model to examine the mediating role of external knowledge integration on the coopetition-radical innovation link, where the mediation is moderated by the firm’s knowledge structure (including component knowledge and architectural knowledge). The authors use regression and bootstrapping to test the proposed model with survey data from 241 Chinese technology firms. Findings This study finds that coopetition positively affects radical innovation and the effect is fully mediated by external knowledge integration. Additionally, component knowledge negatively moderates the coopetition-external knowledge integration link and architectural knowledge positively moderates this relationship. Further, the mediating effect of external knowledge integration is also moderated by component knowledge and architectural knowledge. Practical implications Firms should engage in coopetition to promote radical innovation. Further, it is necessary for firms to appropriately manage coopetition according to their internal knowledge structure. Originality/value This study explains why scholars have different ideas about the relationship between coopetition and radical innovation by exploring the mediating role of external knowledge integration and the moderating effect of knowledge structure. Firms possess increased possibilities for knowledge leakage and partner opportunism with high levels of component knowledge, which will reduce the positive effect coopetition on external knowledge integration; thus, they are less likely to realize radical innovation. Instead, firms possess increased opportunities for resource sharing with high levels of architectural knowledge, thus improving the positive effect coopetition on external knowledge integration and they are more likely to achieve radical innovation.

Purpose Openness to external knowledge has recently gained popularity as a means for firms to complement and leverage internal knowledge in the pursuit of innovation outcomes. However, conflicting evidence exists regarding the role of openness in external knowledge acquisition. This paper aims to propose that openness to external knowledge has a nonlinear effect on innovation performance and that this nonlinear relationship is contingent on an ambidextrous knowledge search strategy. Design/methodology/approach Based on original large-scale survey of 246 interfirm collaborations in the high-technology industry, it is found that the impact of openness to external knowledge on innovation performance exhibits an inverted-U shape and that this relationship is affected by an ambidextrous knowledge search strategy. Findings The results indicate that an ambidextrous knowledge strategy that addresses the depth and breadth of external knowledge significantly influences a firm’s ability to derive benefits from increased openness to external knowledge. Empirically, the authors provide an original contribution to high-technology firms by exploring how and why an ambidextrous knowledge strategy can be a critical catalyst spurring innovation performance. Research limitations/implications The research scope is limited to a single industry. Further research could extend the theoretical framework to multiple industries, which may increase the likelihood of innovation theory development. Practical implications The results suggest that firms opening up the boundaries of their innovation activity to engage in external knowledge are able to leverage their in-house innovation to enhance their innovation performance. The authors advocate that in innovation management domains, greater emphasis is needed on how openness to external knowledge has more positive impacts not only on innovation performance but also on innovation implemented management. Originality/value This study is among the first to investigate the ambidextrous knowledge search effect on the external knowledge of high-technology firms. This paper contributes to the theoretical and practical literature concerning openness innovation and knowledge management by reflecting on the ambidextrous knowledge search strategy.

It has become a common way for enterprises to use external knowledge to reduce the development bottleneck caused by internal resource constraints. How does external knowledge develop inside enterprises and then promote the innovation performance? Drawing upon resource-based view and dynamic capability theory, this study proposes a chain mediation model of how firms’ opportunity identification and R&D, as two distinctive microfoundations of dynamic capabilities, mediate the relationship between external knowledge acquisition and firms’ innovation performance. Through the questionnaire survey of Chinese high-tech enterprises, the results show that both external market knowledge acquisition and external technological knowledge acquisition influence the level of opportunity identification and internal R&D activities, so that the internal knowledge base of the enterprise can be updated or reconstructed, and the innovation performance can be improved. This further confirms that enterprises transform external knowledge with the role of dynamic capabilities, which enriches the research on open innovation from the perspective of dynamic capabilities. Plain Language Summary How external knowledge acquisition contribute to innovation performance The single-use of resource-based view makes it difficult to explain how external knowledge acquisition enhances innovation performance. Drawing upon resource-based view and dynamic capability theory, this study proposes a chain mediation model of how firms’ opportunity identification and internal R&D, as two distinctive microfoundations of dynamic capabilities, mediate the relationship between external knowledge acquisition and firms’ innovation performance. Through the questionnaire survey of Chinese high-tech enterprises, the hierarchical regression results show that both external market knowledge acquisition and external technological knowledge acquisition influence the level of opportunity identification and internal R&D activities, so that the internal knowledge base of the enterprise can be updated or reconstructed, and the innovation performance can be improved. This further confirms that enterprises transform external knowledge with the role of dynamic capabilities, which enriches the research on open innovation from the perspective of dynamic capabilities.

The paper investigates the relationship between organizational ambidexterity and firm performance in knowledge-intensive firms. In particular, using a quantitative methodology involving a structural equation model, the research investigates whether external knowledge sourcing enhances the impact of ambidexterity on firm performance. The results show that organizational ambidexterity in knowledge-intensive firms does not, in fact, have a significant impact on firm performance, but it does have a positive and significant mediating effect considering external knowledge sourcing. The findings are presented along with interesting and significant implications for both theory and practice, largely stemming from the still much neglected relationship between organizational ambidexterity and external knowledge sourcing in the open innovation context.

This article aims to understand the relationships between small companies and external innovation agents and how they can help strengthening these organisations. A multiple case research method was adopted by the researchers and applied to small companies which presented innovative practices. The data collection included documents, records and interviews with managers/business owners. Such interviews were recorded and coded using the NVivo 10 software. The results showed relationships of trust, partnership and learning. The article contributes to the idea that small companies recognize the importance of external knowledge sources in their business and innovation strategies. Companies believe in these relationships in order to bring essential competencies to their business, and continuously renovate themselves through shared feedback. This in turn leads to the capture of financial and technological resources as well as market and competitive information that strengthens the business and allows it to overcome its limitations.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to fill a significant research gap in academic literature pertaining to open innovation (OI). To do so, this paper empirically tests the impact of organizational culture, employees’ knowledge, attitudes and rewards as antecedents and mediators of OI adoption in organizations, facilitating a more thorough understanding by using an empirical multi-level approach. Design/methodology/approach This paper analyzes the results of the “Identification of Industrial Needs for Open Innovation Education in Europe” survey through a quantitative analysis using logistic regression models. This survey includes 528 employees working in 28 different industrial sectors in 37 countries, most of which are in Europe. Findings The results suggest a positive impact of organizational characteristics on the adoption of OI (i.e. including the adoption of outside-in and inside-out OI activities in participating organizations), showing that the openness of an organization’s culture increases its likelihood of adopting an OI paradigm. More importantly, the results highlight the positive mediating effect of employees’ knowledge and rewards on this relationship. Research limitations/implications The data set that was the basis of this paper was generated in European countries, the results of the analysis are limited and appropriate for this region and may vary when applied to other regions of the world. Practical implications The proposed multi-level approach offers new insight into organizational knowledge. It enables the improvement of OI and knowledge management practices in organizations by assisting practitioners and academics in recognizing the relationship between organizational culture; employees’ knowledge, attitudes and rewards; and the adoption of the OI paradigm. Social implications This paper offers a possible explanation on why open-border cultures are more likely to have a successful OI adoption, by relating it to factors that advance in the presence of an open-border culture, such as active participation of OI relative departments in knowledge sourcing and knowledge exchange, and rewarding employees for OI activities. Originality/value This paper presents a new framework which links organizational culture to OI, moving on from merely examining culture in terms of its positive or negative impact on OI adoption. It contributes to research on the OI paradigm and knowledge management by highlighting the significance of antecedents and mediators from a multi-level perspective using multiple units of analysis. Most previous studies focus on a single unit of analysis.

PurposeThis paper aims to analyze the extent to which the influence of external knowledge search activities on firms’ incremental innovation capability, and the moderating roles of the relatedness between the partners’ technological bases and a firm’s network embeddedness in the innovation network.Design/methodology/approachIn this empirical research, the authors collected a sample of patents in the UAV industry over the period of 2004–2018. Then the authors examined the direct role of external knowledge search on firms’ incremental innovation capability and the joint moderating effects of technological proximity and network embeddedness.FindingsWe found that external knowledge search in innovation networks positively affects firms’ incremental innovation capability. Moreover, we discovered that high technological proximity to other peers positively strengthens the impact of firms’ external knowledge search on their incremental innovation capability. Finally, the findings suggested that the relationship between a firm’s external knowledge search activities and its incremental innovation capability is stronger for high technological proximity coupled with high network centrality or poor structural holes in innovation networks.Originality/valueThis study adds value to open innovation literature by pointing out a positive relationship between external knowledge search and firm incremental innovation capability. Furthermore, this study reinforces the key joint contingent roles of technological proximity and network embeddedness. This study provides a valuable theoretical framework of incremental innovation capability determinants by connecting the different perspectives.

Type of the article: Research Article AbstractThe primary objective of this study is to examine how public support moderates the effect of external knowledge sourcing on firms’ innovation performance. It contributes to the literature on external knowledge acquisition, as the moderating effect of public support on external knowledge sourcing for innovation has rarely been investigated. This study uses postal survey data from 423 manufacturing firms in Thailand, collected between March and August 2021, with key respondents including senior managers and firm owners. The Negative Binomial Regression is used for data analysis, as the dependent variable – the number of registered intellectual property rights – is a count variable with a non-normal distribution. The key findings reveal that public support has a positive direct effect on firms’ innovations. However, its interaction with external knowledge sourcing is negative to innovation performance. Thus, contrary to expectation, public support negatively moderates the relationship between external knowledge sourcing and innovation, suggesting that receiving more support weakens the effect of external knowledge sourcing on innovation performance. Moreover, public support does not positively moderate the inverted U-curve relationship between external knowledge sourcing and innovation by augmenting the optimal efficiency of firms’ knowledge sourcing activities. Instead, firms that receive more support tend to achieve optimal efficiency in knowledge sourcing faster than those that receive less. Therefore, rather than complementing external knowledge sourcing, public support appears to serve as a substitute for it: receiving public support reduces firms’ need to seek external knowledge to strengthen their innovative capabilities.

PurposeCurrent open innovation (OI) and external knowledge search (EKS) research primarily shows a positive linear relationship between EKS and innovation at an individual level. However, organizational scholarship argues that excessive EKS may harm innovation. This study combines the knowledge-based view (KBV) and attention-based view (ABV) to articulate a nonlinear theory of EKS and innovation at the individual level.Design/methodology/approachThe authors constructed a multi-sourced dataset covering 59,798 USA pharmaceutical patents spanning from 1975 to 2014 and employed negative binomial fixed-effect models to examine theoretical hypotheses.FindingsWe find a significant concave curvilinear relationship between EKS and innovation quantity as well as innovation quality at an individual level. An individual’s knowledge breadth and depth moderate the relationship between EKS and innovation, such that the threshold at which EKS has diminishing returns for individual innovation is higher for inventors with a broad range of knowledge and those with deeper expertise in the domain where they are innovating.Research limitations/implicationsManagers should guide inventors toward a moderate investment of time and effort in EKS and should caution against over searching. Besides, managers should recognize that an inventor’s capacity for EKS is determined in part by their breadth of knowledge across various domains as well as the depth of knowledge they have in the knowledge domain where they are innovating.Practical implicationsWe provide both parties with a clearer understanding of when EKS can begin to deteriorate an individual’s innovation performance why that deterioration occurs, and we also highlight two individual-level knowledge characteristics to take into consideration when deciding when to cease the EKS process.Social implicationsThis study provides a novel holistic understanding of OI and knowledge management for policymakers and organizations to nourish innovation dynamism and make the best of knowledge stocks in the community, which in turn will create endless power for sustainable social change and inclusive development.Originality/valueThis study contributes to OI theory by highlighting the non-linear nature of the relationship between EKS and innovation on an individual level. This represents a fundamental shift in theory on EKS and individual innovation by suggesting a major rethinking of how the two concepts relate, revealing the dark side of EKS in knowledge management if inventors engage in excessive EKS. Likewise, our study’s incorporation of the ABV informs KBV scholarship by highlighting the role of the limited attentional capacity of individuals in firm knowledge management.