Exploring open innovation practice in firm-nonprofit engagements:a corporate social responsibility perspective

摘要

This paper examines the concept of open innovation within the context of corporate socialresponsibility. It demonstrates how the practice of open innovation unfolds in inter-organiza-tional collaborations that involve the voluntary or charitable sector, outlining the findings of anexplorative collective case study of eight voluntary dyadic partnerships between corporate andnonprofit organizations in the United Kingdom, which have resulted in innovation outcomes.Two generic approaches to open innovation were witnessed: firstly, a more exploratoryapproach to dyadic engagement activities that resulted in an emergent innovation process, andsecondly, a focused and pre-determined search activity to exploit the resources of the nonprofitpartner that demonstrated a more planned innovation process. Two distinct boundary-spanning roles were identified: in dyads exhibiting few organizational linkages, the role wasassociated with formal responsibilities from senior management to 'manage' innovationopportunities and outcomes. In dyads exhibiting high linkages, there was no such formality;the role was a 'conduit' to facilitate search and exploration to locate opportunities forinnovation through idea exchange. Overall, this research demonstrates the value of an openinnovation approach driven by the need to address societal and social issues (rather than thosepurely economic). Such practice broadens a firm's 'search' activities and delivers innovations inexchange for enhanced social legitimacy – acting innovation capital for future enterprisingactivities and market advantage.