Unpacking the paradox of openness in megaproject innovation ecosystems

ABSTRACTInter-organisational openness in megaproject innovation ecosystems helps stimulate innovation synergies (thereby promoting value creation), but it also may induce opportunistic behaviours such as imitation (thereby destroying value capture). Such a paradox of openness has received little attention. Previous studies have explored the paradox of openness primarily from the firm-centric perspective, without investigations at the ecosystem level. Based on evolutionary game theory, this study models and analyses actors' behavioural strategy choices (innovating or imitating) in the megaproject innovation ecosystem, in order to understand how the paradox of openness develops in this ecosystem and how it can be reconciled. We find that there are two possible equilibrium states for the evolutionary game in this ecosystem: all actors innovating, or all actors imitating. The latter means that opportunism spreads and leads to ecosystem failure, revealing the consequences of the openness paradox not being properly addressed. A series of factors jointly determine the direction of evolution, and mechanisms such as cost subsidies and innovation rewards can also affect it, providing theoretical references for ecosystem governance.KEYWORDS: Paradox of opennessinnovation ecosystemsmegaprojectsevolutionary game AcknowledgementsAll the authors would like to thank Ruizhen Song (SJTU) for his excellent support in modelling and editing the manuscript.Disclosure statementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).Additional informationFundingThis work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 71942006 and 71620107004).Notes on contributorsZhizhou JinZhizhou Jin received the Ph.D. degree from Shanghai Jiao Tong University. His research interests include innovation management, corporate strategy, and megaproject management.Zeng SaixingZeng Saixing is a Distinguished Professor at Antai College of Economics and Management, Shanghai Jiao Tong University. He received the Ph.D. degree from Harbin Institute of Technology. His current research interests include innovation management, corporate social responsibility, and megaproject management.Xin GaoXin Gao is an Assistant Research Fellow at Antai College of Economics and Management, Shanghai Jiao Tong University. He received the Ph.D. degree from Hohai University. His research interests include green management, environmental impact assessment of megaproject and game strategy analysis.