OPEN INNOVATION ORIENTATION AND SUSTAINABILITY OF SMES: DO ENTREPRENEURIAL ORIENTATION AND RESOURCE BRICOLAGE MATTER?

The burgeoning literature postulates that a firm’s degree of openness for external parties in building its knowledge base undoubtedly enables it gaining competitive advantage though a little attention has been devoted to investigating the phenomena from small and medium enterprise (SME) perspective. Accordingly, this study investigates how open innovation orientation leads nurturing greater innovation and acquiring greater sustainable goals and specifically, how entrepreneurial orientation and resource bricolage facilitate the whole process. Drawing upon a sample of 442 SMEs, the study followed a quantitative approach to investigate the focal research question. The results reveal that open innovation orientation of SMEs significantly influences on nurturing greater innovation and attaining sustainable goals in long-run while the entrepreneurial orientation drives the whole process. The study also finds that the resource bricolage plays a significant role in converting SMEs more open innovation oriented and fostering greater innovation. By doing so, this study provides noteworthy theoretical and managerial insights.