How to select employees to participate in interactive innovation: analysis of the relationship between personality, social networks and innovation behavior

Abstract

PurposeEmployees play an essential role in interactive innovation activities in Open Innovation Communities (OICs). Nevertheless, the factors influencing employees' innovation behavior in OICs have not been studied in depth. This study selects personality traits and social network characteristics to explain why and how these two factors affect employees' innovation behavior in OICs.Design/methodology/approachThree regression models were constructed to test the relationship between personality traits, social network characteristics, and interactive innovation behaviors. The authors examined how employees' personality traits (Big Five personality traits) influence employees' innovative behavior (initiating and supporting innovation) directly in OICs and explored whether social network characteristics (social group) mediate the relationship between employees' personality traits and employees' innovation behavior.FindingsUsing empirical data on 162 employees from Salesforce's IdeaExchange, the authors found that extraversion and openness to experience have significant positive effects on employees' interactive innovation behaviors, while conscientiousness has a significant negative effect on employees' interactive innovation behaviors in OICs. Furthermore, the mediation effect test results indicated that social network characteristics have a mediating effect on the relationship between extraversion and innovative behavior, and between openness and innovative behavior.Originality/valueThis study analyzes how personality traits influence innovation behavior in an open innovation environment, thus enriching research related to the factors influencing interactive innovation behavior. Meanwhile, the study integrates personality, social network, and innovative behavior research streams and clearly explains the relationship between the three variables. The research findings assist firms in selecting suitable employees to participate in interactive innovation behaviors in OICs.

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“…Accordingly, TL mitigates the positive effects of agreeableness and openness to experience on individuals' innovative abilities. This result helps to explain the inconsistencies in previous research (Jiang et al, 2022;Nguyen et al, 2023;Steel et al, 2011), where the authors failed to consider contextual factors. Therefore, this study suggests that future research should consider TL as a potential contextual factor that can significantly impact the relationship between personality traits and innovativeness.…”

“…Firstly, this research provides deeper insight into how different personality traits affect individual innovativeness. Previous research has found inconsistent results regarding the relationship between personalities and innovativeness (Nguyen et al, 2023;Jiang et al, 2022;Ali, 2019) across different settings (e.g. leaders in SMEs and salespersons).…”

“…Conversely, other researchers have asserted that extraversion, agreeableness and conscientiousness are not significant predictors of innovativeness (Nguyen et al, 2023;Jiang et al, 2022;Steel et al, 2011). A potential explanation for this is that previous research has been conducted on samples that have diverse demographic characteristics, such as students (Ali, 2019), leaders in small and medium enterprises (SMEs) (Nguyen et al, 2023) and salespeople (Jiang et al, 2022). Therefore, there is a need to investigate how personality traits affect individual innovativeness among employees with various occupations, who have been suggested to be key to the success of organizational innovation (Jiang et al, 2022).…”

“…Most studies have suggested that extraversion, conscientiousness, agreeableness and openness have a positive influence on employees' innovativeness (Marcati et al, 2008;Ali, 2019;Weele, 2013). Conversely, other researchers have asserted that extraversion, agreeableness and conscientiousness are not significant predictors of innovativeness (Nguyen et al, 2023;Jiang et al, 2022;Steel et al, 2011). A potential explanation for this is that previous research has been conducted on samples that have diverse demographic characteristics, such as students (Ali, 2019), leaders in small and medium enterprises (SMEs) (Nguyen et al, 2023) and salespeople (Jiang et al, 2022).…”

“…A potential explanation for this is that previous research has been conducted on samples that have diverse demographic characteristics, such as students (Ali, 2019), leaders in small and medium enterprises (SMEs) (Nguyen et al , 2023) and salespeople (Jiang et al , 2022). Therefore, there is a need to investigate how personality traits affect individual innovativeness among employees with various occupations, who have been suggested to be key to the success of organizational innovation (Jiang et al , 2022). Therefore, by using the Big-Five traits model to research a sample of random participants in different industries and positions, this study will provide a comprehensive understanding of the relationship between personality traits and innovativeness.…”