Supporting Rewiring Through Open Innovation - Investigating the Antecedents of Social Capital

Recently, many companies have changed their innovation strategies from closed approaches to more open ones – a phenomenon often referred to as open innovation. In many cases, the opening of innovation processes has led to more successful innovation outcomes as well as to new ways of working in general.

At the same time, many scholars have investigated the advantages of open innovation strategies. According to researchers who advocate open approaches to innovation, organizations that open up innovation processes benefit from an exchange of knowledge and resources with different stakeholders outside the boundaries of the R&D department. These companies hence are able to leverage a broader and more diverse set of assets. In this context, many scholars have investigated the role of social relationships through which individuals and organizations exchange knowledge in boundary-crossing innovation processes. To study these social relationships, many scholars rely upon social capital theory. Social capital is defined in the literature as the sum of resources which are available to an individual stemming from a network of social relationships.

Notwithstanding the significant contribution extant studies on the role of social relationships in open innovation have made, they lack with respect to the antecedents of social capital in such settings. More specifically, there is need for research which examines what factors determine the structure of social networks in open innovation settings or the quality of the social relationships (e.g., trust) within networks.

To remedy this research gap, your thesis (German or English) looks at antecedents of social capital in open innovation settings. You will develop a conceptual model based on academical publications to describe which factors influence the development of social capital in open innovation settings. Depending on your type of thesis (Bachelor or Master/Diploma) you will validate and adapt your theoretical model by means of empirical data.