Dipl.-Kfm. Martin Dumbach

In my dissertation, I investigate how communication in open innovation settings affects social capital within organizations as well as how these changes of social capital affect organizational performance. For this purpose, I rely upon social capital theory to focus on social relationships that emerge and intensify as individuals exchange knowledge and resources in open innovation settings. To investigate how these exchanges affect organizational social capital and performance, I aim to proceed in three steps. First, I conduct a systematic literature review to develop a theoretical framework on the influence of communication in open innovation settings on organizational social capital and performance. Second, I validate and adapt this theoretical framework by means of qualitative research methods. Third, I test the identified relationships on a quantitative basis to verify generalizability of the findings. My proposed contribution here is twofold: (a) as I focus on emerging social networks, I am able to investigate sustainable benefits of open innovation, even beyond the scope of innovation-oriented tasks, and (b) as individuals form social relationships while exchanging knowledge and resources, I argue that open innovation is a suitable management tool for informal networks within and across companies.