A holistic approach to measuring open innovation: contribution to theory development
Teplov, Roman (2018-05-24)
Väitöskirja
Teplov, Roman
24.05.2018
Lappeenranta University of Technology
Acta Universitatis Lappeenrantaensis
Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:ISBN:978-952-335-232-2
https://urn.fi/URN:ISBN:978-952-335-232-2
Tiivistelmä
Since its introduction more than 10 years ago, open innovation (OI) has become a popular topic in the academic literature and has been accepted by many practitioners. The paradigm incorporates recent tendencies in economic and business life. However, critics have noted conceptual issues. Despite its presence in academia, OI in its current state must be regarded as a phenomenon rather than a theory. A lack of unified measurement scales has precluded the holistic measurement of OI adoption by companies, resulting in fragmented studies. Due to different conceptualisations and measurements of OI, the results of such studies are difficult to benchmark, which in turn hinders the generalization and emergence of solid OI theory.
This dissertation addresses the identified research gap: the absence of a standard approach for assessing OI adoption within companies. The research adopts multiple theoretical lenses and combines concepts from different domains of knowledge, most notably from innovation and strategic management. The research also combines two levels of analysis: organisational and intra-organisational (i.e. individual). The research was accomplished in several iterations that alternated theory-testing stages with theory building. The study is quantitative and based on primary data collected between 2014 and 2015 from companies representing 38 European countries.
This dissertation describes the development and testing of a new approach for assessing OI adoption within firms. The results indicate that while OI activities can be viewed as a necessary but insufficient indicator of OI adoption, related organisational capabilities (OC) and individual competencies offer higher precision in recognising companies that adopt OI strategically from each other. The classifications of OI activities, OC and individual competencies developed and tested in this dissertation contribute to the academic literature and equip both researchers and policy-makers with a new measurement tool. Practitioners will benefit from better understandings of the roles these factors play in successful OI implementation and the relationships between OI and company innovation performance.
This dissertation addresses the identified research gap: the absence of a standard approach for assessing OI adoption within companies. The research adopts multiple theoretical lenses and combines concepts from different domains of knowledge, most notably from innovation and strategic management. The research also combines two levels of analysis: organisational and intra-organisational (i.e. individual). The research was accomplished in several iterations that alternated theory-testing stages with theory building. The study is quantitative and based on primary data collected between 2014 and 2015 from companies representing 38 European countries.
This dissertation describes the development and testing of a new approach for assessing OI adoption within firms. The results indicate that while OI activities can be viewed as a necessary but insufficient indicator of OI adoption, related organisational capabilities (OC) and individual competencies offer higher precision in recognising companies that adopt OI strategically from each other. The classifications of OI activities, OC and individual competencies developed and tested in this dissertation contribute to the academic literature and equip both researchers and policy-makers with a new measurement tool. Practitioners will benefit from better understandings of the roles these factors play in successful OI implementation and the relationships between OI and company innovation performance.
Kokoelmat
- Väitöskirjat [1036]