How do absorptive capacity and attention shape the relationship between individuals' external search and ideation?

Individual search for external knowledge and utilizing it within the organizational boundaries is crucial for open innovation success. Until now, research has carved out the importance of individuals in external search... [ view full abstract ]

Individual search for external knowledge and utilizing it within the organizational boundaries is crucial for open innovation success. Until now, research has carved out the importance of individuals in external search breadth, but neglected the role of search depth. Taking an individual information processing perspective and drawing on a sample of 1412 employees from one organization, we examine how individuals’ external search breadth and depth affect ideation performance, as well as how external attention and individuals’ absorptive capacity moderate these relationships. We show that search depth, like search breadth, is related to ideation performance in a nonlinear way (inverted u-shape). The relationship between search depth and ideation performance is moderated by individual absorptive capacity, while the relationship between search breadth and ideation performance is moderated by external attention. Our findings contribute to research on the microfoundations of open innovation, on individual external knowledge search, and individual absorptive capacity.