Antecedents and processes leading to open innovation in SMEs

Open Innovation (OI) literature related to Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) has often been fragmented, hindering the effective generalisation of findings. We conducted a systematic multidisciplinary literature review to explore OI in the context of SMEs across various regions. OI research in SMEs was most common in Europe, followed by China, Korea, South East Asia, Africa, South America and the Middle East. Surprisingly, very little research has been done in the USA, Canada, and the Indian subcontinent. We aimed to identify the commonalities and regional specifics in the antecedents and processes leading to OI. The review included one hundred research articles from the Web of Science database. Our findings revealed four common antecedents of OI across the firms: Human Factors, Technology, Policy, and Heterogeneity.