A Study of Organizational Citizenship Behaviours, Organizational Structures and Open Innovation

Abstract

With increasing technological advances, the need to create not only innovations but faster innovation has become a part of sustaining or gaining competitive advantage. Open innovation paradigm answers this need by utilizing larger resources and expertise that firms involved in the open innovation process offer. Given the recency of the concept of open innovation, the factors that influence the creation of open innovation are hazy. Most of the research on open innovation looks at the "hard" aspects of organizations, while the soft issues stand less researched. This conceptual paper draws attention to two such aspects of organization: organizational citizenship behaviour and organizational structure. This paper proposes that practicing organizational citizenship behaviours by the employees enhances the chances of creation of open innovation while not doing so can botch up the whole exercise particularly during the infancy stage. It is also proposed that informal organizational structures favour creation of innovation in the open innovation paradigm more than the rigid formal structures. It is further argued that besides proper citizenship behaviours and informal structures, firms need to achieve strategic resonance with suppliers and customers to create successful open innovation. Propositions are developed, managerial implications underscored and future research directions highlighted.