The "human side" of open innovation: The role of employee diversity in firm-level openness
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The "human side" of open innovation : The role of employee diversity in firm-level openness. / Bogers, Marcel; Foss, Nicolai J.; Lyngsie, Jacob.
In: Research Policy, Vol. 47, No. 1, 2018, p. 218-231.Research output: Contribution to journal › Journal article › peer-review
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TY - JOUR
T1 - The "human side" of open innovation
T2 - The role of employee diversity in firm-level openness
AU - Bogers, Marcel
AU - Foss, Nicolai J.
AU - Lyngsie, Jacob
PY - 2018
Y1 - 2018
N2 - The use of external knowledge for innovation (i.e., inbound or outside-in open innovation) has received substantial attention in the innovation literature. However, the “human side” of open innovation is still poorly understood. We consider the role of employee characteristics with respect to predicting firm-level openness. Drawing on the human capital, learning and creativity literatures, we theorize that knowledge diversity of the firm’s employees is positively associated with employees’ ability to identify and absorb external knowledge, which aggregates to increased firm-level openness—that is, firms’ use of external knowledge in their pursuit of innovation. Based on a combination of three data sources, namely, two survey data sources and register data, we find support for our hypothesis that employees’ educational diversity is positively associated with firm-level openness. However, we find no direct association between employees’ work history diversity and firm-level openness but rather—as also hypothesized—a conditional relationship based on educational background, which implies that diverse work history only has a positive impact at higher levels of educational diversity. To reduce endogeneity concerns, we undertake a series of robustness checks.
AB - The use of external knowledge for innovation (i.e., inbound or outside-in open innovation) has received substantial attention in the innovation literature. However, the “human side” of open innovation is still poorly understood. We consider the role of employee characteristics with respect to predicting firm-level openness. Drawing on the human capital, learning and creativity literatures, we theorize that knowledge diversity of the firm’s employees is positively associated with employees’ ability to identify and absorb external knowledge, which aggregates to increased firm-level openness—that is, firms’ use of external knowledge in their pursuit of innovation. Based on a combination of three data sources, namely, two survey data sources and register data, we find support for our hypothesis that employees’ educational diversity is positively associated with firm-level openness. However, we find no direct association between employees’ work history diversity and firm-level openness but rather—as also hypothesized—a conditional relationship based on educational background, which implies that diverse work history only has a positive impact at higher levels of educational diversity. To reduce endogeneity concerns, we undertake a series of robustness checks.
KW - Diversity
KW - Education
KW - Employees
KW - Human capital
KW - Microfoundations
KW - Open innovation
U2 - 10.1016/j.respol.2017.10.012
DO - 10.1016/j.respol.2017.10.012
M3 - Journal article
VL - 47
SP - 218
EP - 231
JO - Research Policy
JF - Research Policy
SN - 0048-7333
IS - 1
ER -
ID: 185842376