How Do Human Resource Practices Strengthen Open Innovation? An Exploratory Analysis

Abstract

How do human resource practices strengthen open innovation (OI) activities? This inductive study of six cases leads to propositions exploring this question, which has not been empirically investigated yet. We investigate the relation between human resource practices and an employee’s willingness to embrace OI in six cases that include the perspectives of chief executive officers (CEOs), human resource managers, and experts from Belgium, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom regarding human resource practices in both small and large companies actively pursuing OI. The findings reveal that when implementing OI, it is people’s thinking and attitudes towards this approach to innovation that can strengthen OI activities. Human resource practices can influence peoples’ behaviours and attitudes towards OI by strategically selecting candidates, by rewarding employees, and by establishing a strategically focused climate in which employees are stimulated and feel comfortable being open, talking to others about their ideas, etc. Training practices were found to be negligible. The findings further reveal a number of human resource challenges that need to be overcome when organizing for OI.