Testing the Schumpeterian hypotheses on an open innovation framework

The purpose of this paper is to explore the unclear relationship between industry structure and open innovation.

The focus of the study is on firms that received external help to develop their products or that helped third parties in developing their products. The hypotheses were tested on a large panel of more than 7,000 firms using generalized estimating equations.

The results show that open innovation adoption is positively related to technology complexity and market uncertainty while it is negatively related to market concentration. Larger firms are more likely to adopt open innovation strategies.

The research makes an important contribution to the literature by examining on a large sample of firms the moderating effects of industry concentration, industry research and development intensity and the technology life cycle stage on the adoption of open innovation.