Open innovation and its effects on economic and sustainability innovation performance

The increasing complexity of products and services, rapidly changing market demands, or growing pressure from various societal groups are trends that require companies to enact new practices to remain competitive. The external search for information and its integration in the context of open innovat...

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Main Authors: Romana Rauter, Dietfried Globocnik, Elke Perl-Vorbach, Rupert J. Baumgartner
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Elsevier 2019-10-01
Series:Journal of Innovation & Knowledge
Online Access:http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2444569X18300325
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author Romana Rauter
Dietfried Globocnik
Elke Perl-Vorbach
Rupert J. Baumgartner
author_facet Romana Rauter
Dietfried Globocnik
Elke Perl-Vorbach
Rupert J. Baumgartner
author_sort Romana Rauter
collection DOAJ
description The increasing complexity of products and services, rapidly changing market demands, or growing pressure from various societal groups are trends that require companies to enact new practices to remain competitive. The external search for information and its integration in the context of open innovation is one practice that can lead to increased success. However, the full range of potential open innovation partners has not yet been sufficiently explored, and their effects on innovation performance remain unclear. In this research, we investigated the roles different open innovation partners played in improving economic innovation performance and sustainability innovation performance. Furthermore, we asked whether striving to meet economic and sustainability innovation goals represents a conflict. Drawing on a cross-sectional sample of industrial firms and applying a benchmark approach to identify the relevant performance drivers, we found that, in addition to well-known partners such as universities and customers, increased collaboration with NGOs and intermediaries is beneficial for firms. Moreover, economic innovation performance positively correlates with sustainability innovation performance. This implies that economic and sustainability innovation goals can be reached simultaneously. Thereby, this paper contributes to the open innovation literature by revealing which collaboration partners fit best to strengthen innovation performance, and by clarifying the relationship between economic and sustainability innovation performance. JEL classification: O31, Keywords: Open innovation, Sustainability innovation performance, Economic innovation performance, Benchmark
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spelling doaj.art-7ed287445e18439ba27028af0a1b72382022-12-21T19:40:36ZengElsevierJournal of Innovation & Knowledge2444-569X2019-10-0144226233Open innovation and its effects on economic and sustainability innovation performanceRomana Rauter0Dietfried Globocnik1Elke Perl-Vorbach2Rupert J. Baumgartner3Institute of Systems Sciences, Innovation and Sustainability Research, University of Graz, Merangasse 18/1, A-8010 Graz, Austria; Corresponding author.Department of Innovation Management and Entrepreneurship, Alpen-Adria-Universität Klagenfurt, Universitaetsstrasse 65-67, A-9020 Klagenfurt, AustriaResearch & Technology House, Graz University of Technology, Mandellstrasse 9/II, A-8010 Graz, AustriaInstitute of Systems Sciences, Innovation and Sustainability Research, University of Graz, Merangasse 18/1, A-8010 Graz, AustriaThe increasing complexity of products and services, rapidly changing market demands, or growing pressure from various societal groups are trends that require companies to enact new practices to remain competitive. The external search for information and its integration in the context of open innovation is one practice that can lead to increased success. However, the full range of potential open innovation partners has not yet been sufficiently explored, and their effects on innovation performance remain unclear. In this research, we investigated the roles different open innovation partners played in improving economic innovation performance and sustainability innovation performance. Furthermore, we asked whether striving to meet economic and sustainability innovation goals represents a conflict. Drawing on a cross-sectional sample of industrial firms and applying a benchmark approach to identify the relevant performance drivers, we found that, in addition to well-known partners such as universities and customers, increased collaboration with NGOs and intermediaries is beneficial for firms. Moreover, economic innovation performance positively correlates with sustainability innovation performance. This implies that economic and sustainability innovation goals can be reached simultaneously. Thereby, this paper contributes to the open innovation literature by revealing which collaboration partners fit best to strengthen innovation performance, and by clarifying the relationship between economic and sustainability innovation performance. JEL classification: O31, Keywords: Open innovation, Sustainability innovation performance, Economic innovation performance, Benchmarkhttp://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2444569X18300325
spellingShingle Romana Rauter
Dietfried Globocnik
Elke Perl-Vorbach
Rupert J. Baumgartner
Open innovation and its effects on economic and sustainability innovation performance
Journal of Innovation & Knowledge
title Open innovation and its effects on economic and sustainability innovation performance
title_full Open innovation and its effects on economic and sustainability innovation performance
title_fullStr Open innovation and its effects on economic and sustainability innovation performance
title_full_unstemmed Open innovation and its effects on economic and sustainability innovation performance
title_short Open innovation and its effects on economic and sustainability innovation performance
title_sort open innovation and its effects on economic and sustainability innovation performance
url http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2444569X18300325
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AT rupertjbaumgartner openinnovationanditseffectsoneconomicandsustainabilityinnovationperformance