Enhancing open innovation: managing not invented here syndrome in collaborative projects

Abstract

Despite having consensus on the negative relationship between individuals’ biased attitude towards externally generated ideas and the applicability of inbound open innovation (OI) as a strategy, we find a gap in the literature regarding how individual unwillingness – not-invented-here syndrome (NIHS) – actually affects the innovation performance achieved through collaboration and what management tools are available to counter it. This study addresses these two questions by testing the relationship between NIHS and innovation performance and the impact of innovation climate as a way to reduce this negative attitude. Based on quantitative survey data collected from 250 firms across France, Italy, Spain, and Sweden, we confirm that innovation climate is a useful management tool for managing NIHS by opening individuals towards external ideas, ultimately helping firms to improve their innovation performance through collaboration. Most interestingly, we also find that the impact of NIHS on inbound open innovation performance achieved through a collaborative project is mediated through external social capital rather than having a direct impact. Since external social capital serves as a link between two collaborating firms, it’s weakening caused by NIHS, subsequently leads to reduced project performance achieved through the inbound OI strategy.