Firm Openness and Managerial Innovation: Rebalancing Deliberate Actions and Institutional Pressures

Abstract

The two main perspectives regarding the drivers of managerial innovation (MI)-institutional and rational-are often presented as contrasts in previous literature. This article seeks to bridge the two perspectives in an effort to analyze the external antecedents of MI in an open innovation framework. Using the French Organizational Change and Computerization survey, this analysis reveals that MI is influenced not only by active external search strategies but also by coercive pressures and a quest for legitimacy. The results also indicate a substitution effect between external search activity and absorptive capacity in relation to MI. That is, openness is beneficial for managerial innovation in manufacturing firms but internal obstacles still dominate.