AbstractsBusiness Management & Administration

The open innovation approach has been one of the most discussed topics in innovation management literature in the 2000's. Existing literature on open innovation shows an evolving diffusion of open innovation in certain industries and contexts. Various case studies and theoretical work suggest that the open innovation adoption decision within a company could be triggered by internal and external factors. The goal of this dissertation is to provide comprehensive empirical evidence for the adoption of inbound and outbound open innovation activities in Europe. Furthermore, the thesis will provide empirical evidence for a set of open innovation drivers using primary data from European firms to link the adoption of open innovation with organizational capabilities, characteristics of the market environment, and human resource capabilities. The results will show the current level of open innovation adoption in Europe and its drivers. This could have managerial implications by showing influencing of organizational and human variable on the adoption of open innovation strategies. (author's abstract)