Research on open innovation (OI) has increased in recent years, showing its potential in various areas of knowledge. Its relation to small and medium-sized enterprises has attracted the attention of academics. This article aims to evaluate the intellectual structure of the scientific study of OI, and its close relationship with various scientific fields, through a bibliometric analysis of this academic field using the Scopus database and the application of the VOSviewer software. The methodology comprises a rigorous systematic and transparent process divided into four phases: (i) the establishment of search criteria for the research field, through a literature review for its selection; (ii) the selection of the database, the establishment of the search equation and extraction of information; (iii) the application of inclusion and exclusion criteria for the selected documents and an explanation of the usefulness of the software; and (iv) the analysis of the results through the approaches of scientific output performance and bibliometric mapping. The results show an increasing trend of IO publications in SMEs, consolidated in 396 articles with contributions from 65 countries and 947 authors. The intellectual structure shows seven themes related to firm performance, R&D networks, business management, business models, capabilities and knowledge transfer. This study contributes to the field by providing an overview of IO in SME contexts. It also provides insightful information to policymakers for developing policies for firm economic growth.

The aim of the study is to identify the factors that influence innovation activities associated with business management, known in the academic world as organizational innovation. Data was gathered by administering a survey on the managers or owners of hotels in the province of Santa Elena, Ecuador. Three components of organizational innovation were analyzed: methods of organizing job positions, work organization practices and management of external relations; all of which were tested with both internal variables (individual and structural characteristics) and variables external to the firms.

The professional success of graduates is closely linked to the value of university performance, perhaps much more so than other indicators. This study analyses the predictive and explanatory capacity of a model on the career success of university alumni in a developing country (Ecuador), which serves as empirical evidence on the subject; we examine the moderating effect of gender on the relationships between constructs in the model. We use a Hierarchical Component Model (HCM) of Partial Least Squares Structural Equations (PLS-SEM) and a permutation-based multigroup analysis for moderation. The used database comprises 444 records from a self-administered survey of graduates of the State Technical University of Quevedo (UTEQ)—Ecuador. On the findings, the model proposed has good explanatory and predictive power for career success. Objective success has a lower incidence of professional success (22% of the variance explained) than subjective success (78% of the variance explained). In none of the latent variable correlations in the model were gender differences between men and women found to be statistically significant. Finally, we also cover the study’s theoretical and practical implications.

Rice cultivation is the main economic livelihood for many families around the world. This activity represents several challenges for farmers and community members for rural sustainability, a cross-cutting element of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the United Nations (UN). In response, the Polytechnic University (ESPOL), fulfilling its mission of linking with society, implemented a community program where students and professors interact and collaborate with rice farmers in the rural community of Paipayales, located in the Santa Lucia canton, Guayas province. This article explores the impact of university-community projects through the Participatory Action Research (PAR) approach in order to evaluate them as a tool for contributing towards rural sustainability in communities. As a result, it was determined that the main problems faced by most of the farmers of the “Dios con Nosotros” Association are the availability of water in the wells and the commercialization of paddy rice. Considering these problems, the wells were geolocated and a board was designed for proper water management; at the same time, water quality was studied and recommendations were presented according to the problems encountered. Two proposals were also presented to create a rice husker and a rice separator to increase their profit margin by selling rice directly to retailers and wholesalers. As relevant conclusions, the importance of implementing links and relationships between the university community and society was highlighted, guaranteeing the value of working in transdisciplinary teams and achieving a comprehensive intervention that would lead to significant improvements in the community.