Purpose

This study aims to examine the combinations of internal and external knowledge flows between research and development (R&D) incumbents and start-ups in the context of open innovation. While there is a growing body of knowledge that has examined how, in a knowledge economy, a firm’s knowledge and innovation activities are closely linked, there is no systematic review available of the key antecedents, perspectives, phenomenon and outcomes of knowledge spillovers.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors have conducted dual-stage research. First, the authors conducted a systematic review of literature (97 research articles) by following the theories–contexts–methods framework and the antecedent-phenomenon-outcomes logic. The authors identified the key theories, contexts, methods, antecedents, phenomenon and outcomes of knowledge spillovers between R&D-driven incumbents and start-ups in the open innovation context. In the second stage, the findings of stage one were leveraged to advance a nomological network that depicts the strength of the relationship between the observable constructs that emerged from the review.

Findings

The findings demonstrate how knowledge spillovers can help incumbent organisations and start-ups to achieve improved innovation capabilities, R&D capacity, competitive advantage and the creation of knowledge ecosystems leading to improved firm performance. This study has important implications for practitioners and managers – it provides managers with important antecedents of knowledge spillover (knowledge capacities and knowledge types), which directly impact the R&D intensity and digitalisation driving open innovation. The emerging network showed that the antecedents of knowledge spillovers have a direct relationship with the creation of a knowledge ecosystem orchestrated by incumbents and that there is a very strong influence of knowledge capacities and knowledge types on the selection of external knowledge partners/sources.

Practical implications

This study has important implications for practitioners and managers. In particular, it provides managers with important antecedents of knowledge spillover (knowledge capacities and knowledge types), which directly impact the R&D intensity and digitalisation driving open innovation. This will enable managers to take important decisions about what knowledge capacities are required to achieve innovation outcomes. The findings suggest that managers of incumbent firms should be cautious when deciding to invest in knowledge sourcing from external partners. This choice may be driven by the absorptive capacity of the incumbent firm, market competition, protection of intellectual property and public policy supporting innovation and entrepreneurship.

Originality/value

Identification of the key antecedents, phenomenon and outcomes of knowledge spillovers between R&D-driven incumbents and start-ups in the open innovation context. The findings from Stage 1 helped us to advance a nomological network in Stage 2, which identifies the strength and influence of the various observable constructs (identified from the review) on each other. No prior study, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, has advanced a nomological network in the context of knowledge spillovers between R&D-driven incumbents and start-ups in the open innovation context.

中文翻译：

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研发驱动的现有企业和初创企业在开放式创新中的知识溢出：系统评价和名词学网络

 目的

本研究旨在考察在开放式创新背景下研发 （R&D） 现有企业和初创企业之间的内部和外部知识流动组合。虽然有越来越多的知识体系研究了在知识经济中，公司的知识和创新活动是如何紧密相连的，但没有关于知识溢出的关键前因、观点、现象和结果的系统评价。

设计/方法/方法

作者进行了双阶段研究。首先，作者遵循理论-背景-方法框架和前因-现象-结果逻辑，对文献（97 篇研究文章）进行了系统评价。作者确定了在开放式创新背景下，研发驱动的现有企业和初创企业之间知识溢出的关键理论、背景、方法、前因、现象和结果。在第二阶段，第一阶段的研究结果被用来推进一个名词学网络，该网络描述了从审查中出现的可观察结构之间的关系强度。

 发现

研究结果表明，知识溢出如何帮助现有组织和初创企业实现创新的创新能力、研发能力、竞争优势和知识生态系统的创建，从而提高公司绩效。这项研究对从业者和管理者具有重要意义——它为管理者提供了知识溢出的重要前因（知识能力和知识类型），这直接影响研发强度和数字化推动开放式创新。新兴网络表明，知识溢出的前因与现有企业精心策划的知识生态系统的创建有直接关系，并且知识能力和知识类型对外部知识合作伙伴/来源的选择有非常大的影响。

 实际意义

这项研究对从业者和管理者具有重要意义。特别是，它为管理人员提供了知识溢出的重要前因（知识能力和知识类型），这直接影响研发强度和数字化推动开放式创新。这将使管理人员能够就实现创新成果需要哪些知识能力做出重要决策。研究结果表明，现有公司的管理者在决定投资于从外部合作伙伴获取知识时应谨慎。这种选择可能受到现有公司的吸收能力、市场竞争、知识产权保护以及支持创新和创业的公共政策的驱动。

 原创性/价值

在开放式创新背景下，确定研发驱动的现有企业和初创企业之间知识溢出的关键前因、现象和结果。第一阶段的发现帮助我们在第二阶段推进了一个名词学网络，它确定了各种可观察结构（从综述中确定）相互之间的强度和影响。据作者所知，在开放式创新背景下，研发驱动的现有企业和初创企业之间的知识溢出背景下，没有任何先前的研究推进了名词学网络。