In search of the sweet spot: The role of personal proximity in three Dutch clusters

Open Innovation for Wicked Problems: Using Proximity to Overcome Barriers

“…Social proximity reflects the structure of network relationships between two or more partners as part of a larger network 76 ; having social proximity may allow for individual-level relationships to form for the purpose of the initiative. Empirical research has demonstrated that social proximity is an important impetus for the formation of innovation networks.…”

“…On the other hand, if social proximity is too strong, this may result in the creation of ingroups and out-groups within network structures that cause partnerships to dysfunction. 78 Social proximity can, however, also help to overcome open innovation barriers, as partners may derive trust from being socially close. 79 This trust may help to counteract such things as ASH syndrome, since organizations become more open to what they might be able to learn from their partners.…”

“…80 Personal proximity has been shown to be conducive to the formation of partnerships, 81 as well as to the functioning of partnerships. 82 Nevertheless, having particularly weak or strong personal proximity between partners is undesirable for innovation, as this can be associated with inertia or immoral conduct, 83 among various other problems. Hence, personal proximity could also constitute a source of managerial and relational barriers to open innovation.…”

“…84 However, hinting at inverse U-shaped relationships, studies also clearly point to the benefits of personal proximity, which may act as a lever to make the most of open innovation initiatives by overcoming barriers and substituting for weaker proximity on other dimensions. 85 In Figure 2, we summarize the theoretical framework that underlies the current study. This framework reflects our tentative proposition that various dimensions of proximity can either be a source of barriers or enablers of open Note.…”

“…20 The proximity framework considers the effects of various dimensions of proximity between partners on innovation: geographical, cognitive, organizational, institutional, social, and personal proximity. 21 These proximity dimensions are widely known to drive all kinds of managerial decisions, and also known to affect the success of collaborative approaches to innovation. 22 Managers juggle with proximity and distance all the time when making partnering decisions.…”