The anatomy of open innovation failure: managerial-level evidence from romanian SMEs

Duc Anh Nguyen (), Elena Avram, Simona Grama-Vigouroux and Nidhi Priya
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Duc Anh Nguyen: UEVE - Université d'Évry-Val-d'Essonne, LITEM - Laboratoire en Innovation, Technologies, Economie et Management (EA 7363) - UEVE - Université d'Évry-Val-d'Essonne - Université Paris-Saclay - IMT-BS - Institut Mines-Télécom Business School - IMT - Institut Mines-Télécom [Paris]
Elena Avram: TUIASI - "Gheorghe Asachi" Technical University of Iasi
Simona Grama-Vigouroux: MAGELLAN - Laboratoire de Recherche Magellan - UJML - Université Jean Moulin - Lyon 3 - Université de Lyon - Institut d'Administration des Entreprises (IAE) - Lyon
Nidhi Priya: XLRI - Xavier School of Management

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Abstract: While open innovation (OI) can boost innovation performance, many SMEs struggle to implement it due to limited resources and structural constraints. Despite its importance, OI failure remains underexplored, particularly at the managerial level. This study, grounded in Upper Echelons Theory (UET), investigates how SME managers' personal factors contribute to OI failure, understood as the unsuccessful adoption and execution of OI practices. Based on an ongoing inductive qualitative study involving ten semi-structured interviews with Romanian SME leaders and secondary national data, our findings highlight three key dimensions: (1) antecedents linked to managerial traits, such as limited strategic planning, lack of commitment, and weak external collaboration capacity; (2) the failed execution of inbound and outbound OI practices; and (3) consequences including reduced innovation and competitiveness. This research advances OI and UET literature by highlighting the human side of OI failure and providing a framework to help SMEs address it.

Keywords: Open Innovation Failure; Upper Echelons Theory; Managerial Characteristics; SMEs; Open innovation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025-11-05
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Published in WOIC 2025 : 12th Edition World Open Innovation Conference. "Open Innovation in Times of Uncertainty", Innovation, Technology, Entrepreneurship & Marketing (ITEM) group Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e), Nov 2025, Bilbao, Spain

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:hal:journl:hal-05356795

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