Organizational ambidexterity, open innovation and innovation outputs: How do followers and low-flyer EU countries innovate?

This study analyses the role played by organizational ambidexterity and open innovation in innovation outputs, considering business units with different levels of technological intensity (medium-high and high tech, and medium-low and low tech) for countries with different innovation profiles. The countries considered in this paper are i) Estonia and Slovenia as innovation followers; ii) Slovakia, Hungary, Spain, Czech Republic, Italy, Portugal, Norway, and Croatia as moderate innovators; and iii) Bulgaria, Lithuania and Romania as modest innovators. In the empirical approach, the research hypotheses arise from the literature review and are tested using secondary data collected from the Community Innovation Survey (CIS) 2010. The conceptual model is tested using the logistic regression method, which indicates suitable accuracy and reliability for empirical testing purposes. The evidence reveals that for innovation followers, ambidexterity has a greater influence on the practice of eco-innovation, marketing innovation, and product innovation. For moderate innovators, ambidexterity has a greater influence on the practice of product innovation, process innovation, and eco-innovation. Concerning modest innovators, ambidexterity has a greater influence on the practice of product innovation, process innovation, and eco-innovation. With regard to open innovation, for innovation followers, this has a negative influence on product innovation in medium-high and high-tech companies. For moderate innovators, open innovation has a greater influence in process, organizational, and ecoinnovation. In the case of modest innovators, open innovation is more significant for innovation outputs in product, organizational, and marketing innovation. Size is not always positively related to innovation outputs.