Research On The Influence Mechanism Of Inter-organizational Cooperative Relationship On Cooperative Behavior And Cooperative Performance In Open Innovation Projects

In an environment of increasing global competition,innovation has become the fundamental guarantee for the survival and development of companies.In order to improve innovation efficiency as much as possible,more and more companies are trying to adopt an open innovation model which requires companies to cross organizational boundaries and use external knowledge to carry out innovative activities.However,how to manage open innovation model has become a new challenge for companies.Different from traditional internal innovation management,open innovation is a kind of external innovation cooperation based on its own innovation needs.Generally speaking,cooperative projects which are specific forms of open innovation include two major participants,one is the focal company that initiates the open innovation project,the other is the external cooperative partner that participates in the open innovation project.Therefore,understanding the cross-organizational relationship between the focal company and the cooperative partner is essential for open innovation management.Open innovation projects(OIPs)which is the specific implementation level of innovation activities contain many detailed information about the cooperation process.First,OIPs can accurately reflect the interorganizational cooperation relationship between the focal company and cooperative partner.Second,OIPs can comprehensively observe the interaction methods and main behaviors of the cooperating parties in the interorganizational relationship.In OIPs,interorganization partnership is an important characteristic variable for both partners.On the one hand,The cooperative relationship can reflect the cooperation status of the focal company and cooperative partner.On the other hand,The cooperative relationship is an important reference for them to form cooperative cognition and adopt cooperative behavior.Therefore,how inter-organizational partnership affects cooperation behavior and cooperation performance has become a practical research problem at the level of open innovation projects.Based on the above research questions,this research chooses OIPs as the research background.First,we have identified the cooperative relationship from the perspective of the focal company and cooperative partner.For the focal company,resource dependence is the objective manifestation in the interorganizaiton relationship.For the cooperative partner,perceived identity is the subjective perception of partners to judge the cooperative relationship.Second,We further distinguished the cooperative behaviors of the focal company and cooperative partner in OIPs.That is to say,the two parties have different key behaviors in OIPs.As the initiator and funder of open innovation projects,the focal company needs to adopt appropriate governance behaviors for open innovation projects in order to ensure the realization of cooperation goals.Meanwhile,cooperative partner,as participant and beneficiarier of open innovation projects,is required to share knowledge with the focal company,that is,to adopt knowledge sharing behaviors.The key behavior of the focal company is cooperative governance,and the key behavior of the cooperative partner is knowledge sharing.Therefore,this research mainly explores the mechanism between cooperative relationship and cooperative behaviors from the perspective of focal company and cooperative partner.Finally,this research examines the mechanism of cooperative communication in OIPs from the holistic perspective,and explores effective interaction methods for establishing interorganizational relationships.By adopting empirical research methods,this research has obtained the following main research conclusions:Study 1 explores the influence mechanism of cooperative dependence on governance mechanism and cooperation performance from the perspective of the focal company.The research results show that cooperative dependence can positively affect the relationship governance.But there is no significant relationship between dependence and contract control.At the same time,the analysis reveals that the governance mechanism has a positive influence on cooperative performance.Based on transaction cost theory and social exchange theory,no matter whether the focal company strengthens contract control or relationship governance,the cooperative performance will be significantly improved.In addition,knowledge transfer has a significant mediating role in the relationship between governance mechanism and cooperative performance.Study 2 explores the influence mechanism of perceived status on knowledge sharing behavior from the perspective of cooperative partner.Meanwhile,based on the self-determination theory,this research further examines the moderting role of task complexity in the relationship between perceived status and knowledge sharing behavior.The research results show that the percieved status of cooperative partner positively affect explicit and tacit knowledge sharing behavior.At the same time,Task complexity positively moderates the effect of the status of cooperative partners on explicit and tacit knowledge sharing behavior.Study 3 explores the influence mechanism of cooperative communication on cooperation performance from the holistic perspective.The research results show that both formal communication and informal communication can significantly positively affect knowledge sharing in OIPs.Meanwhile,through the mediating effect of knowledge sharing,formal communication and informal communication can significantly positively affect cooperative performance.This proves that both formal communication and informal communication are effective ways of interaction in OIPs.This paper has the following research implications:First,we select open innovation projects as the main unit of analysis,enriching the theoretical research at the project level.Second,we have identified the interorganization partnership and cooperative behavior of the two parties in OIPs.In addition,we examine the influence mechanism of different interorganization partnership on cooperative behaviors from the perspectives of the focal company and cooperative partners,which expands the new perspective of understanding the behavioral choices of both parties in OIPs.Third,we verify the role of cooperative communication and governance mechanisms in OIPs,and confirm that the knowledge sharing behavior of cooperative partner is the core activity of open innovation projects,which can provide theoretical guidance for open innovation project management.