Title: Perceived value of participating in SMEs' open idea-generation activities: an individual actor perspective

Authors: Susanne Marx

Addresses: Faculty of Business Studies, Stralsund University of Applied Sciences, Zur Schwedenschanze 15, 18435 Stralsund, Germany

Abstract: Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) implement various open innovation (OI) activities. Research on the value derived from OI has focused on the organisational view; however, since the perception of value is actor-specific, research should be conducted on the level of individual actors. This study transfers the concept of perceived value from marketing literature as a means of analysing individual actors' perspectives on the value attributed to participation in SMEs' open idea-generation activities. The study participants comprised two case SMEs with ten internal and external individual actors who were involved in idea-generation activities initiated by both a single SME and jointly by two SMEs. The study demonstrates that the value perceived by individual actors in open idea-generation activities is multifaceted, with excellence value and emotional value being the most prevalent categories. Four propositions are developed to describe the perceived value of participation in open idea-generation activities of SMEs as a foundation for future research.

Keywords: perceived value; entrepreneur; open innovation; network; idea-generation; service; participation; small and medium-sized enterprises; SME.

DOI: 10.1504/IJEIM.2023.136377

International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Innovation Management, 2023 Vol.27 No.5/6, pp.309 - 329

Received: 16 Mar 2022
Received in revised form: 30 May 2023
Accepted: 05 Jul 2023
Published online: 31 Jan 2024 *

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