The role of employee autonomy for open innovation performance

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine how organisational activities that formally provide employees with work autonomy explain the performance of open innovation (OI). Design/methodology/approach The study reports the results of mediation analyses conducted on the basis of survey data from 307 firms. Findings The economic benefits of both inbound and outbound OI are fully captured only if firms provide employees with time, freedom and independence. The results show that employee autonomy fully mediates the relationship between openness and innovation sales, while the adoption of inbound OI is positively associated with the introduction of new products. Practical implications The opening of innovation induces managers to provide employees with discretion, as OI requires high levels of flexibility and experimentation. Originality/value The paper addresses theoretically and empirically the role of job design in the implementation of OI, while also distinguishing between the effects of inbound and outbound practices on innovation performance.