Extant research has found superior performance of firms located in clusters. However, it is unclear whether this is based on mere proximity or other unobserved factors. We extend this literature by developing a framework to examine in what way institutions promote open innovation processes between clustered firms. Specifically, we develop a set of hypotheses to investigate to what extent structural and relational elements in a cluster organization affect the open innovation culture. Our model integrates effects of agglomeration, networks, information asymmetries and trust on open innovation culture. We focus on the underlying organizational norms established in clustered firms in relation to open innovation. Specifically, we measure open innovation culture in terms of not-invented- and not-sold-here syndromes, which is facilitated by the integration of trust and reduced by information asymmetry within the cluster region. We test this framework using novel and unique data from member and non-member firms of a cluster initiative in a German high-tech cluster. Our findings from moderation analysis show that a regulatory body in the cluster significantly influences the emergence of both inbound and outbound open innovation activities by member firms in the cluster initiative through increased effects of trust and information asymmetries. Thereby, our paper contributes to literatures of open innovation, including networks of small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs), and cluster policy.

Introduction

Open innovation has developed as an important research domain and industrial practice to describe “a distributed innovation process based on purposively managed knowledge flows across organizational boundaries” (Chesbrough and Bogers, 2014, p. 17). The literature on open innovation has described many facets of the phenomenon, such as the key concepts and mechanisms that underlie the open innovation process (Dahlander and Gann, 2010; Randhawa et al., 2016; West and Bogers, 2014). However, despite the enormous progress, there is still a large focus on the organization—often large organizations—per se as the level of analysis with relatively little attention to other levels of analysis (Bogers et al., 2017; West et al., 2014). In particular, while Chesbrough and Bogers (2014) specifically identify some higher levels of analysis, such as networks and regions, as important research opportunities, they also describe a strong need to better understand intraorganizational attributes of open innovation. In this paper, we address these gaps considering how specific individual, relational and network level characteristics jointly promote open innovation between clustered firms. Thereby, we contribute to the literatures of open innovation and (regulation in) clusters as we show how some of the underlying concepts jointly determine how such boundary-crossing innovation processes can be shaped.