Alliance partners diversity for open innovation: The role of network position and external knowledge acquisition

This study advances the research on alliance partner diversity and the network perspective by examining how a firm´s network position and external knowledge acquisition strategically shape the relation between alliance partner diversity and open innovation. Building on the knowledge-based and social capital theories, this study extends the model by hypothesizing that the ways in which alliance partner diversity drives open innovation from the central position of an interfirm open alliance network will be further moderated by the breadth and depth of external acquisition. Using an original large-scale survey of high-tech firms, the results support the expectation that the breadth of external acquisition facilitates the conjunctive effect of network centrality and alliance partner diversity; however, the depth of external acquisition mitigates the conjunctive effect of network centrality and alliance partner diversity on the deployment of firms´ open innovation. This study´s findings contribute to the theoretical development of open innovation as well as the development of alliance network practice.