Over the past 10 years, academics and practitioners have paid considerable attention to the open innovation paradigm. The open innovation model involves porous organisational boundaries and greater interaction with the partner firms. Greater interaction results in greater acquisition and exploitation of technology, and important strategic innovations providing firms with a competitive advantage, and several other benefits. Research has dwelt on several aspects of open innovation and examined the factors that support or stifle open innovation. The focus has however mainly been on studying open innovation at the firm level. The individual-level factors affecting open innovation have thus received less attention. This paper examines the role of an individual-level determinant of open innovation: organisational citizenship behaviours (OCBs).
Organisational citizenship behaviours shown by the employees can play a crucial role in the success of open innovation projects. OCBs are known to have a major beneficial impact on organisational operations and effectiveness, and can enhance the ability of an organisation to adjust to environmental changes. As embarking on the open innovation paradigm involves adapting to new external environment changes and conditions, OCBs are likely to facilitate open innovation.
The findings of this study show that OCBs positively predict open innovation. By exploring an individual-level determinant of open innovation, the study is expected to serve as a precursor and shift the focus of future research to individual-level determinants of open innovation. In addition, most of the previous open innovation research has focussed on the U.S. Therefore, examining open innovation in a non-Western context is important as it can help in clearly identifying the prerequisites and limits of open innovation. The findings reported in this paper add to the body of knowledge by providing empirical evidence about open innovation in the Asian context. It widens the scope of the open innovation debate with this new evidence. The findings are beneficial for practitioners as well, who could promote the relevant OCBs in their organisations to facilitate open innovation.
