Purpose: Building on theories of inter-organizational knowledge flows and social network, we explored how two types of collaboration network embeddedness (NE) (i.e. structural embeddedness (SE) and relational embeddedness (RE)) drive firms' inbound and outbound open innovation (OI) practices from a knowledge flow perspective, and further examined these relationships are to what extent contingent on network inertia (NI).Design/methodology/approach: In this empirical research, the authors collected a sample of patents in the unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) industry over the period of 2000–2018. Then the authors examined the direct roles of SE and RE in collaboration networks on firms' inbound and outbound OI practices from a knowledge flow perspective, and the moderating role of NI by using negative binomial regression.Findings: Empirical results from our study of 96 firms showed that both bridging structural holes position in collaboration networks (i.e. SE) and having stronger tie strength (i.e. RE) would positively affects firms' inbound OI practices, whereas only having stronger tie strength in collaboration networks (i.e. RE) would facilitate outbound OI practices. In addition, NI strengthens the relationships between SE and firm OI practice, but weakens the positive roles of RE on firm OI practice.Originality/value: This empirical research provides new insights into whether and how firms can grasp the benefits of collaboration NE to conduct OI activities by exploring NI contingencies. It further sheds lights on the scope of the NE–OI issue from a knowledge flow perspective by extending its research context to UAV industry.

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to analyze the impact of inbound open innovation and organizational inertia on radical innovation capability (RIC). It also seeks to explore whether the existence of organizational inertia has a moderating effect and influence on the relationship between inbound open innovation and RIC.Design/methodology/approach: In this empirical research, the authors collected sample of patents in smart phone industry over the 2000-2016 period. Then, the authors examined the direct roles of inbound open innovation and organizational inertia, and the moderating role of organizational inertia by using hierarchical regression analysis.Findings: Results found that cognitive inertia (CI) has a positive influence on firms’ RIC, but network inertia (NI) has a negative influence on RIC. CI also has a significant moderating effect on the relationship between inbound open innovation and RIC, but NI only has a significant moderating effect on the relationship between open search breadth and RIC. Inbound open innovation directly affects RIC.Research limitations/implications: The authors collected the patent data of this study within the single industry and excluded other types of industries. And it may limit the generalization of the findings.Practical implications: The paper includes implications for adopting an appropriate open search strategy and developing a better understanding of organizational inertia on firms’ radical innovation behavior. The findings suggest future directions to technology intensive industries for improving their RIC.Originality/value: This study contributes to the relationship between organizational inertia and RIC within the framework of inbound open innovation.

Purpose: Crowdsourcing communities enable companies to post challenges that are completed by solvers (workers); their success depends on engagement, requiring both creativity and effort. This study explores solver engagement in online crowdsourcing communities, advancing the theory of trait engagement by investigating the mediating roles of: (a) task-related self-efficacy in linking conscientiousness, neuroticism and extraversion, with solver engagement, and (b) task complexity in influencing the mediation.Design/methodology/approach: 215 valid responses were obtained from solvers engaged in the popular Chinese crowdsourcing community, Epwk.com, using an online questionnaire. PLS was then used to analyze the data.Findings: Results show that self-efficacy mediates the relationships for conscientiousness, neuroticism and extraversion, with solver engagement. Moderated mediation analysis revealed that self-efficacy mediates the relationships for: (a) conscientiousness and extraversion, for only solvers with high task complexity; and (b) neuroticism, for only solvers with low task complexity.Originality/value: The authors’ findings underscore the importance of accounting for solvers' situational contexts when examining the relationships between personality, self-efficacy and solver engagement in online crowdsourcing communities.

Despite extensive research into external knowledge search (EKS), comprehensive empirical reviews of its antecedents, consequences, and boundary conditions remain scarce. This study proposes an integrative framework to investigate the organizational and environmental factors, performance outcomes related to EKS, and boundary conditions for their relationships. A comprehensive meta-analysis of the antecedents and consequences of EKS is conducted, based on 361,856 observations from 276 studies, to investigate several moderators on the relationships between EKS and its antecedents or consequences. By empirically confirming this, our examination confirms inconsistencies in existing research regarding the relationship between EKS, its antecedents, and consequences, by highlighting the moderating role played by EKS operationalization and research context (i.e., national culture, industrial affiliation, and level of analysis). The study's findings extend the current understanding of the nomological network of EKS, offering a strong foundation for the future direction of EKS.