Firm's innovation culture and external collaboration : mapping the state of research

Objective: The objective of the article is to systematically review the existing research on the linkages between the firm's innovation culture and external collaboration. Research Design & Methods: This study employed a systematic literature review approach. For the review, we adapted the systematic review protocol advanced by Tranfield et al. (2003) and Snyder (2019). The review covers articles published between 2000 and 2022 and indexed in the Scopus and Web of Science databases. Findings: The results show that the research in the area is still relatively limited but the interest in the field is growing. The review indicates that the research that has been done so far is not homogeneous and addresses various aspects of the relationships between the firm's innovation culture and collaboration with research organisations, customers, competitors, suppliers, clusters, retailers, distributors, and government institutions. Implications & Recommendations: Although researchers have shed light on the topic, there is a need for an in-depth understanding of the relationship between the firm's innovation culture and external cooperation. The article provides implications for scholars by offering, among others, insights into future research directions including more research on large firms to compare whether the obtained results also apply to the size of firms and more longitudinal studies to increase the number of repeated observations in the field. Moreover, the study suggests the need for practitioners and policymakers to promote the strengthening of the firm's innovation culture and to reduce the potential mismatch of expectations between the innovation culture of the firm and collaboration with external partners. Contribution & Value Added: The article extends the current knowledge on the drivers of firms' innovation activities by providing further findings on the connections between firms' innovation performance and knowledge diffusion. The study contributes to the field by providing a systematic review that specifically gives attention to the relationship between the firm's innovation culture and external collaboration.