Firm Openness and Managerial Innovation: Rebalancing Deliberate Actions and Institutional Pressures

Abstract

The two main perspectives regarding the drivers of managerial innovation (MI)-institutional and rationalare often presented as contrasts in previous literature. This article seeks to bridge the two perspectives in an effort to analyze the external antecedents of MI in an open innovation framework. Using the French Organizational Change and Computerization survey, this analysis reveals that MI is influenced not only by active external search strategies but also by coercive pressures and a quest for legitimacy. The results also indicate a substitution effect between external search activity and absorptive capacity in relation to MI. That is, openness is beneficial for managerial innovation in manufacturing firms but internal obstacles still dominate.

SMEs’ Open Innovation: Applying a Barrier Approach

“…Not surprisingly, we confirm this finding for SMEs from the digital and social economy sectors; innovation based on external knowledge always requires dedicated and skilled personnel to benefit from this knowledge. Absorptive capacity also appears critical to allowing firms to exploit external knowledge better, 79 and our results affirm this point too. Without distinguishing OI modes, Hjalmarsson et al 80 assert that the most salient barriers for digital firms are the lack of money and time.…”

Management innovation: the influence of institutional pressures and the impact on competitive advantage

“…, 2019; Qi et al. , 2021) including the adoption of management innovation which is introduced for “social and institutional reasons rather than purely rational ones” (Bocquet and Dubouloz, 2020, p. 47).…”

“…, 2003). Hence, from a resource-dependence perspective, these organisations may coerce dependent organisations to adopt favourable management structures, practices, processes or organisational models that best serve the powerful organisation's interests (Bocquet and Dubouloz, 2020; John et al. , 2001; Liu et al.…”

“…, 2003). Either way, organisations “imitate actions or managerial practices adopted by other users that appear better able to cope with economic difficulties and market constraints” (Bocquet and Dubouloz, 2020, p. 51). In this way, organisations minimise the costs of search and experimentation, and avoid the risk of being a first-mover (Teo et al.…”

“…the adoption of management innovation. Consequently, our enhanced understanding of management innovation is grounded in the new institutional sociology strand of institutional theory, which maintains that the prevalence or adoption of management innovation in organisations is driven by societal forces (Bocquet and Dubouloz, 2020), or more specifically, the coercive, mimetic and normative pressures which impact organisations and compel them and/or inspire them to engage in management innovation.…”