Open-Innovation in Healthcare: an analysis of motivations, learning, and program outcomes

Abstract

The goal of this study is to examine open-innovation programs run in two different healthcare settings. Open innovation is the process of engaging external sources of knowledge and capabilities in the pursuit of developing new products, services, and processes. The concept has been a source of active research, but there remains a need to better understand how it is approached in non-profit organizations who lack the financial motivations of for-profit firms. This study analyzed the open innovation programs of two non-profit healthcare organizations to obtain greater insight into the structure of the programs being run, the motivations for participating, and the role that the external sources of knowledge play in affecting innovation outcomes. A grounded theory methodology was used to analyze interview transcripts from 7 staff at each organization. In total, over 250 first-order codes were created and then grouped and sorted into 83 basic themes, 31 organizing themes, and six global themes. Findings show that the healthcare organizations engaged in the same set of innovation activities as for-profit firms, but did so with different levels of activity and for different reasons. On the surface, the two programs appear similar, but in practice are quite different. The locus of innovation and direction of knowledge flows differ significantly. These differences may impact changes in absorptive capacity and innovation outcomes, but further study will be required to confirm those findings.