Exploring Tacit Knowledge Sharing in Open Innovation

A growing number of firms are turning to open innovation as a competitive strategy. Tacit knowledge is strongly implicated in innovation as it guides the thinking that leads to the generation and realisation of novel ideas. This thesis explores tacit knowledge sharing in open innovation. It uses a convergent mixed-method research design that combines social network analysis and semi-structured interviews to assess tacit knowledge sharing relations in three open innovation partnerships. The thesis finds tacit knowledge features strongly in group work. Moreover, autonomous motivation is a reliable predictor of tacit knowledge-seeking behaviour. There is a strong alignment between tacit knowledge sharing and cognition-based trust ties. Because tacit knowledge resides in various internal and external communities of practice, knowledge brokers are crucial for connecting communities in open innovation. The thesis found that one can characterise open innovation partnerships in terms of brokerage patterns alone.