Vol. 13 No. 4 (2025)
December 2025

Articles

A jump start to open innovation: A multidimensional competence profile in an international setting

Published 2025-12-28

  • Marita McPhillips
    • ,
  • Silke Tegtmeier
    • ,
  • Tatjana Nikitina

Marita McPhillips
Gdansk University of Technology

Silke Tegtmeier
University of Southern Denmark

Tatjana Nikitina
Riga Technical University

Abstract

Objective: This study investigates open innovation (OI) competence development through a dynamic capabilities lens, offering a systematic understanding of how OI competencies are distributed across higher education contexts in mature and post-transition economies.

Research Design & Methods: We conceptualised and measured OI competencies among 397 engineering students from three European countries – Denmark, Latvia, and Poland – representing both mature and post-transition economies. Using multigroup latent profile analysis (LPA), we identified empirically determined patterns of competence distribution. This methodological approach enables robust cross-cultural comparison while accounting for national contextual variations.

Findings: Results revealed three distinct OI competence profiles with significant cross-national variations. Latvian students demonstrated higher entrepreneurship and risk-taking competencies, Danish students excelled in digital skills, while Polish students showed moderate levels across dimensions. Gender analyses uncovered unexpected patterns: women students were significantly more represented in high OI profiles in Poland and Latvia, while men dominated high profiles in Denmark.

Implications & Recommendations: For higher education institutions, our findings emphasise the need for contextually sensitive OI learning environments. For practitioners, our OI Competence Profile provides a framework for recruitment and team development across different national contexts.

Contribution & Value Added: This study advances OI theory by validating a comprehensive competence profile that functions as a first-order dynamic capability. Our multi-country, gender-inclusive approach reveals how educational, cultural, and economic factors shape innovation competency development across different national contexts.

Keywords

open innovation, competence, multigroup latent profile analysis, Higher Education Institutions, post-transition economies

(PDF) Save

Author Biography

Marita McPhillips

PhD Eng, Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Management and Economics, Gdansk University of Technology, Gdansk, Poland. Her research interests include open innovation and entrepreneurship.

Silke Tegtmeier

PhD, Associate Professor at the Department of Technology and Innovation, University of Southern Denmark. Her research interests include entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial decision-making.

Tatjana Nikitina

PhD, Researcher at the Faculty of Engineering, Economics, and Management, Riga Technical University, Riga, Latvia. Her research interests include entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial orientation.

References

  1. Akhmadi, S., & Tsakalerou, M. (2022). Shades of innovation: is there an East-West cultural divide in the European Union?. International Journal of Innovation Science, 15(2), 260-278. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJIS-01-2022-0019
  2. Antonelli, G., Venesaar, U., Riviezzo, A., Kallaste, M., Dorożyński, T., & Kłysik-Uryszek, A. (2024). Find your limits and break them! Nurturing students’ entrepreneurship competence through innovative teaching methods and self-assessment. Journal of Enterprising Communities: People and Places in the Global Economy, 18(1), 29-48. https://doi.org/10.1108/JEC-10-2022-0148
  3. Becker, G. (1964). Human Capital. 2nd edition. Columbia University Press, New York.
  4. Behnam, S., Cagliano, R., & Grijalvo, M. (2018). How should firms reconcile their open innovation capabilities for incorporating external actors in innovations aimed at sustainable development?. Journal of Cleaner Production, 170, 950-965. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2017.09.168
  5. Bereznoy, A., Meissner, D., & Scuotto, V. (2021). The intertwining of knowledge sharing and creation in the digital platform based ecosystem. A conceptual study on the lens of the open innovation approach. Journal of Knowledge Management, 25(8), 2022-2042. https://doi.org/10.1108/JKM-10-2020-0769
  6. Bertello, A., Bogers, M.L.A.M., & De Bernardi, P. (2022). Open innovation in the face of the COVID‐19 grand challenge: insights from the Pan‐European hackathon ‘EUvsVirus.’ R&D Management, 52(2), 178-192. https://doi.org/10.1111/radm.12456
  7. Bogers, M., Chesbrough, H., Heaton, S., & Teece, D.J. (2019). Strategic Management of Open Innovation: A Dynamic Capabilities Perspective. California Management Review, 62(1), 77-94. https://doi.org/10.1177/0008125619885150
  8. Bogers, M., Foss, N.J., & Lyngsie, J. (2018). The “human side” of open innovation: The role of employee diversity in firm-level openness. Research Policy, 47(1), 218-231. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.respol.2017.10.012
  9. Buil, I., de Chernatony, L., & Martínez, E. (2012). Methodological issues in cross-cultural research: An overview and recommendations. Journal of Targeting, Measurement and Analysis for Marketing, 20(3), 223-234. https://doi.org/10.1057/jt.2012.18
  10. Burcharth, A.L., & Fosfuri, A. (2015). Not invented here: How institutionalized socialization practices affect the formation of negative attitudes toward external knowledge. Industrial and Corporate Change, 24(2), 281-305. https://doi.org/10.1093/icc/dtu018
  11. Carayannis, E.G., & Morawska-Jancelewicz, J. (2022). The Futures of Europe: Society 5.0 and Industry 5.0 as Driving Forces of Future Universities. Journal of the Knowledge Economy, 13(4), 3445-3471. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13132-021-00854-2
  12. Carmona-Lavado, A., Cuevas-Rodríguez, G., Cabello-Medina, C., & Fedriani, E.M. (2021). Does open innovation always work? The role of complementary assets. Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 162, 120316. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.techfore.2020.120316
  13. Chatenier, E. du, Verstegen, J.A.A.M., Biemans, H.J.A., Mulder, M., & Omta, O.S.W.F. (2010). Identification of competencies for professionals in open innovation teams. R&D Management, 40(3), 271-280. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9310.2010.00590.x
  14. Chesbrough, H.W. (2003). Open innovation: The new imperative for creating and profiting from technology. Harvard Business Press.
  15. Deming, D.J. (2022). Four Facts about Human Capital. Journal of Economic Perspectives, 36(3), 75-102. https://doi.org/10.1257/jep.36.3.75
  16. Demir, C., French, B.F., & Hand, B. (2023). Cross-cultural critical thinking profiles: A multigroup latent profile analysis. Thinking Skills and Creativity, 48, 101286. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tsc.2023.101286
  17. Ehrtmann, L., Wolter, I., & Hannover, B. (2019). The Interrelatedness of Gender-Stereotypical Interest Profiles and Students’ Gender-Role Orientation, Gender, and Reasoning Abilities. Frontiers in Psychology, 10. Retrieved from https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychology/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2019.01402 on May 23, 2022.
  18. El Maalouf, N., & Bahemia, H. (2022). The implementation of inbound open innovation at the firm level: A dynamic capability perspective. Technovation, 102659. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.technovation.2022.102659
  19. Engelsberger, A., Bartram, T., Cavanagh, J., Halvorsen, B., & Bogers, M. (2022). The role of collaborative human resource management in supporting open innovation: A multi-level model. Human Resource Management Review, 100942. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.hrmr.2022.100942
  20. Enkel, E., Bogers, M., & Chesbrough, H. (2020). Exploring open innovation in the digital age: A maturity model and future research directions. R&D Management, 50(1), 161-168. https://doi.org/10.1111/radm.12397
  21. European Skills/Competences, Qualifications and Occupations (ESCO) – Employment, Social Affairs & Inclusion – European Commission. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://ec.europa.eu/social/main.jsp?catId=1326&langId=en on May 23, 2022.
  22. Greco, M., Grimaldi, M., Locatelli, G., & Serafini, M. (2021). How does open innovation enhance productivity? An exploration in the construction ecosystem. Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 168, 120740. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.techfore.2021.120740
  23. Gürdür Broo, D., Kaynak, O., & Sait, S.M. (2022). Rethinking engineering education at the age of industry 5.0. Journal of Industrial Information Integration, 25, 100311. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jii.2021.100311
  24. Hafkesbrink, J., & Schroll, M. (2014). Ambidextrous Organizational and Individual Competencies in Open Innovation: The Dawn of a new Research Agenda. Journal of Innovation Management, 2(1), 9-46. https://doi.org/10.24840/2183-0606_002.001_0004
  25. Holgersson, M., & Granstrand, O. (2022). Value capture in open innovation markets: the role of patent rights for innovation appropriation. European Journal of Innovation Management, 25(6), 320-339. https://doi.org/10.1108/EJIM-02-2021-0114
  26. Honti, G., Czvetkó, T., & Abonyi, J. (2020). Data describing the regional Industry 4.0 readiness index. Data in Brief, 33, 106464. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dib.2020.106464
  27. Krieger, A., Block, J., Stuetzer, M., Obschonka, M., & Salmela-Aro, K. (2022). Closing the gender gap in entrepreneurship: The importance of skill variety. PLOS ONE, 17(7), e0270976. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0270976
  28. Kubiv, S., Bobro, N., Lopushnyak, G., Lenher, Y., & Kozhyna, A. (2020). Innovative potential in european countries: analytical and legal aspects. International Journal of Economics and Business Administration, VIII(Issue 2), 250-264. https://doi.org/10.35808/ijeba/457
  29. Lapuente, V., & Suzuki, K. (2020). The prudent entrepreneurs: women and public sector innovation. Journal of European Public Policy, 28(9), 1345-1371. https://doi.org/10.1080/13501763.2020.1770316
  30. Lavrynenko, A., Shmatko, N., & Meissner, D. (2018). Managing skills for open innovation: The case of biotechnology. Management Decision, 56(6), 1336-1347. https://doi.org/10.1108/MD-04-2017-0301
  31. Leka, E., Lamani, L., & Hoxha, E. (2024). Equity in bytes: an in-depth analysis of gender disparities in the ict sector across albania and western balkans countries – insights, challenges, and strategies for promoting inclusion and empowerment. Tem Journal, 1580-1588. https://doi.org/10.18421/tem132-71
  32. Leskinen, J., Kajamaa, A., & Kumpulainen, K. (2023). Learning to innovate: Students and teachers constructing collective innovation practices in a primary school’s makerspace. Frontiers in Education, 7. Retrieved from https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/education/articles/10.3389/feduc.2022.936724 on May 1, 2024.
  33. Liñán, F., & Fernández-Serrano, J. (2018). ELITE’s Initial Questionnaire for Nascent Entrepreneurs.
  34. Mahdad, M., De Marco, C.E., Piccaluga, A., & Di Minin, A. (2020). Harnessing adaptive capacity to close the pandora’s box of open innovation. Industry and Innovation, 27(3), 264-284. https://doi.org/10.1080/13662716.2019.1633910
  35. Marion, T.J., & Fixson, S.K. (2020). The Transformation of the Innovation Process: How Digital Tools are Changing Work, Collaboration, and Organizations in New Product Development*. Journal of Product Innovation Management, jpim.12547. https://doi.org/10.1111/jpim.12547
  36. Markovic, S., Koporcic, N., Arslanagic-Kalajdzic, M., Kadic-Maglajlic, S., Bagherzadeh, M., & Islam, N. (2021). Business-to-business open innovation: COVID-19 lessons for small and medium-sized enterprises from emerging markets. Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 170, 120883. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.techfore.2021.120883
  37. Matricano, D. (2018). The State of the Art of Open Innovation Culture. In Exploring the Culture of Open Innovation (pp. 139-162). Emerald Publishing Limited. https://doi.org/10.1108/978-1-78743-789-020181005
  38. McPhillips, M. (2020). Trouble in Paradise? Barriers to Open Innovation in Regional Clusters in the Era of the 4th Industrial Revolution. Journal of Open Innovation: Technology, Market, and Complexity, 6(3), 84. https://doi.org/10.3390/joitmc6030084
  39. McPhillips, M., Nikitina, T., Tegtmeier, S., & Wójcik, M. (2022). What Skills for Multi-Partner Open Innovation Projects? Open Innovation Competence Profile in a Cluster Ecosystem Context. Sustainability, 14(20). https://doi.org/10.3390/su142013330
  40. Morin, A., Meyer, J.P., Creusier, J., & Biétry, F. (2015). Multiple-Group Analysis of Similarity in Latent Profile Solutions. Organizational Research Methods, 19(2), 231-254. https://doi.org/10.1177/1094428115621148
  41. Ovbiagbonhia, A.R., Bas, K., & Brok, P. Den. (2023). Investigating the impact of innovation competence instruction in higher engineering education. European Journal of Engineering Education, 48(6), 1068-1101. https://doi.org/10.1080/03043797.2023.2219216
  42. Petrović, J., & Radukić, S. (2018). The Distinctiveness of Female Entrepreneurship in Post-Transition Countries: The Case of Central Europe and the Baltic States. In Ateljević, J., Budak, J. (Eds.) Entrepreneurship in Post-Communist Countries (pp. 75-91). Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-75907-4_7
  43. Podmetina, D., Soderquist, K.E., Petraite, M., & Teplov, R. (2018). Developing a competency model for open innovation. Management Decision, 56(6), 1306-1335. https://doi.org/10.1108/MD-04-2017-0445
  44. Rauter, R., Globocnik, D., Perl-Vorbach, E., & Baumgartner, R.J. (2019). Open innovation and its effects on economic and sustainability innovation performance. Journal of Innovation & Knowledge, 4(4), 226-233. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jik.2018.03.004
  45. Shah, C.S., & Krishnan, S. (2024). ICT, Gender Inequality, and Income Inequality: A Panel Data Analysis Across Countries. Information Systems Frontiers, 26(2), 709-727. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10796-023-10396-4
  46. Shinnar, R.S., Hsu, D.K., & Powell, B.C. (2014). Self-efficacy, entrepreneurial intentions, and gender: Assessing the impact of entrepreneurship education longitudinally. The International Journal of Management Education, 12(3), 561-570. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijme.2014.09.005
  47. Spada, I., Chiarello, F., Curreli, A., & Fantoni, G. (2022b). On the link between Education and Industry 4.0: a framework for a data-driven education design. 2022 IEEE Global Engineering Education Conference (EDUCON), 1670-1677. https://doi.org/10.1109/EDUCON52537.2022.9766534
  48. Spöttl, G., & Windelband, L. (2021). The 4th industrial revolution – its impact on vocational skills. Journal of Education and Work, 34(1), 29-52. https://doi.org/10.1080/13639080.2020.1858230
  49. Spurk, D., Hirschi, A., Wang, M., Valero, D., & Kauffeld, S. (2020). Latent profile analysis: A review and “how to” guide of its application within vocational behavior research. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 120, 103445. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jvb.2020.103445
  50. Stefan, I., Hurmelinna-Laukkanen, P., Vanhaverbeke, W., & Oikarinen, E.-L. (2022). The dark side of open innovation: Individual affective responses as hidden tolls of the paradox of openness. Journal of Business Research, 138, 360-373. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2021.09.028
  51. Stojčić, N. (2021). Collaborative innovation in emerging innovation systems: Evidence from Central and Eastern Europe. Journal of Technology Transfer, 46(2), 531-562. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10961-020-09792-8
  52. Teece, D.J. (2020). Hand in glove: Open innovation and the dynamic capabilities framework. Strategic Management Review, 1(2), 233-253. https://doi.org/10.1561/111.00000010
  53. Tierney, P., & Farmer, S.M. (2002). Creative Self-Efficacy: Its Potential Antecedents and Relationship to Creative Performance. Academy of Management Journal, 45, 1137-1148. https://doi.org/10.2307/3069429
  54. Tomczak, M.T., Ziemiański, P., & Gawrycka, M. (2023). Do the young employees perceive themselves as digitally competent and does it matter?. Central European Management Journal, 31(4), 522-534. https://doi.org/10.1108/CEMJ-04-2022-0226
  55. Urbinati, A., Chiaroni, D., Chiesa, V., & Frattini, F. (2020). The role of digital technologies in open innovation processes: an exploratory multiple case study analysis. R&D Management, 50(1), 136-160. https://doi.org/10.1111/radm.12313
  56. van Kessel, R., Wong, B.L.H., Rubinić, I., O’Nuallain, E., & Czabanowska, K. (2022). Is Europe prepared to go digital? making the case for developing digital capacity: An exploratory analysis of Eurostat survey data. PLOS digital health, 1(2), e0000013. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pdig.0000013
  57. Zhang, D.C., Highhouse, S., & Nye, C.D. (2018). Development and validation of the general risk taking propensity scale (GRiPS). Journal of Behavioral and Decision Making. https://doi.org/10.1002/bdm.2102
  58. Zhang, H., Ma, Z., Liang, X., & Garrett, T.C. (2023). Antecedents and outcomes of open innovation over the past 20 years: A framework and meta-analysis. Journal of Product Innovation Management, 41(4), 793-815. https://doi.org/10.1111/jpim.12710
  59. Zuraik, A., Kelly, L., & Perkins, V. (2020). Gender differences in innovation: the role of ambidextrous leadership of the team leads. Management Decision, 58(7), 1475-1495. https://doi.org/10.1108/MD-01-2019-0054

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.