Inbound open innovation and radical innovation capability: The moderating role of organizational inertia

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the impact of inbound open innovation and organizational inertia on radical innovation capability (RIC). It also seeks to explore whether the existence of organizational inertia has a moderating effect and influence on the relationship between inbound open innovation and RIC.

In this empirical research, the authors collected sample of patents in smart phone industry over the 2000-2016 period. Then, the authors examined the direct roles of inbound open innovation and organizational inertia, and the moderating role of organizational inertia by using hierarchical regression analysis.

Results found that cognitive inertia (CI) has a positive influence on firms’ RIC, but network inertia (NI) has a negative influence on RIC. CI also has a significant moderating effect on the relationship between inbound open innovation and RIC, but NI only has a significant moderating effect on the relationship between open search breadth and RIC. Inbound open innovation directly affects RIC.

The authors collected the patent data of this study within the single industry and excluded other types of industries. And it may limit the generalization of the findings.

The paper includes implications for adopting an appropriate open search strategy and developing a better understanding of organizational inertia on firms’ radical innovation behavior. The findings suggest future directions to technology intensive industries for improving their RIC.

This study contributes to the relationship between organizational inertia and RIC within the framework of inbound open innovation.