Internal and external antecedents of open innovation adoption in IT organisations: insights from an emerging market

Purpose This study aims to propose and test a theoretical model exploring the impact of internal and external factors of social media use by IT organisations on open innovation (OI) adoption with the mediating effect of knowledge management capabilities. Design/methodology/approach Data were collected from 200 IT firms and partial least squares structural equation modelling was used to analyse the data of this study and to test the research hypotheses. Findings The results revealed that both customer involvement in social media and top management support (TMS) for social media had a significant impact on OI adoption. However, only the relationship between TMS for social media usage and OI link was mediated by knowledge management capability. Practical implications This study stresses the importance of social media policy development for business managers to create an interactive platform for their customers to participate in the activities of the firm. Moreover, the results suggest that for developing open knowledge management capabilities, leaders must focus on and support the use of social media technologies by the firms. Originality/value Social media technologies have taken the world by storm. Organisations and individuals are influenced by the knowledge available on Web 2.0 platforms. Most of the current research has focussed on the impact of social media use on OI in developed countries, but developing nations on the Asian continent have been left out of this discussion. Moreover, while most studies have focussed on the OI outcomes, less efforts have been directed towards understanding and exploring the OI antecedents.