Implementing Open Innovation Beyond the Pilot Stage: Barriers and Organizational Interventions

Abstract

Open Innovation has been demonstrated to be an effective strategy to enhance the efficiency of a firm's innovation process. In this paper, we focus on broadcast search (also called tournament-based crowdsourcing), a method in the later stages of an innovation project directed to solve technical problems in form of an open call. Based on a design science approach and a longitudinal study of six companies engaged in piloting of open innovation, we identify barriers and sources of resistance that hinder its implementation in firms. Our paper contributes to open innovation research by analyzing crowdsourcing on the level of pilot projects, hence providing a workflow perspective that considers the creation of dedicated processes and operations of crowdsourcing. This project level analysis of crowdsourcing enables the identification of specific challenges managers face when implementing crowdsourcing within an established R&D organization. Following a design science approach, we also derive suggestions for organizational interventions to overcome these barriers. We find that dedicated promotor roles strongly contribute to a successful implementation of crowdsourcing, turning pilot projects into an organizational routine.

Keywords: Crowdsourcing, Tournament-based Crowdsourcing, Broadcast Search, Open Innovation, Promotor, Barriers to Innovation, Implementation, Adoption of Innovation

JEL Classification: M11, M13, M31