The University of Southampton
University of Southampton Institutional Repository

Open innovation networks: a driver for knowledge mobilisation in schools?

Open innovation networks: a driver for knowledge mobilisation in schools?
Open innovation networks: a driver for knowledge mobilisation in schools?

Purpose: In organisational and innovation research, the term “open innovation” refers to the inflow and outflow of knowledge to and from organisations: with open innovation theory suggesting active exchanges of knowledge with external actors leads to the development of exploitable new ideas. In the field of education, however, the exchange of knowledge with external parties represents a paradigm shift. In response, this article presents findings from research design to explore the nature and composition of school innovation networks, and the effects of such these networks on knowledge mobilisation. Design/methodology/approach: The study draws on data from a representative random sample of 411 German school leaders. Respondents were asked to detail their engagement in open and closed innovation activity and their school's external collaborations during the last 12 months. A latent class distal outcome model was developed to examine whether different types of collaboration associate with different knowledge mobilisation processes. Findings: The study findings suggest that schools in Germany mainly use internal knowledge for innovation, with external knowledge exchange taking place on a very limited basis. Knowledge mobilisation varies depending on the innovation network. The authors use the findings to indicate new insights for how schools can further innovate learning and teaching in future. Originality/value: Although there is increasing discussion on Professional Learning Networks in schools, the discourse on knowledge mobilisation within educational networks is limited, making concept of open innovation so far completely absent from discourses on school improvement. This paper initiates the population of this new research space.

Innovation networks, Latent profile analysis, Open innovation
2056-9548
202-218
Pietsch, Marcus
b019e70b-d112-48b9-b48b-cba4725ee097
Brown, Chris
42bbe788-54bf-4081-8c18-ead8b554f0fd
Aydin, Burak
e6033274-e8d9-4ff3-a284-bcee3b922c0c
Cramer, Colin
951166b2-c87e-4914-86cf-19ff3e47ae45
Pietsch, Marcus
b019e70b-d112-48b9-b48b-cba4725ee097
Brown, Chris
42bbe788-54bf-4081-8c18-ead8b554f0fd
Aydin, Burak
e6033274-e8d9-4ff3-a284-bcee3b922c0c
Cramer, Colin
951166b2-c87e-4914-86cf-19ff3e47ae45

Pietsch, Marcus, Brown, Chris, Aydin, Burak and Cramer, Colin (2023) Open innovation networks: a driver for knowledge mobilisation in schools? Journal of Professional Capital and Community, 8 (3), 202-218. (doi:10.1108/JPCC-02-2023-0012).

Record type: Article

Abstract

Purpose: In organisational and innovation research, the term “open innovation” refers to the inflow and outflow of knowledge to and from organisations: with open innovation theory suggesting active exchanges of knowledge with external actors leads to the development of exploitable new ideas. In the field of education, however, the exchange of knowledge with external parties represents a paradigm shift. In response, this article presents findings from research design to explore the nature and composition of school innovation networks, and the effects of such these networks on knowledge mobilisation. Design/methodology/approach: The study draws on data from a representative random sample of 411 German school leaders. Respondents were asked to detail their engagement in open and closed innovation activity and their school's external collaborations during the last 12 months. A latent class distal outcome model was developed to examine whether different types of collaboration associate with different knowledge mobilisation processes. Findings: The study findings suggest that schools in Germany mainly use internal knowledge for innovation, with external knowledge exchange taking place on a very limited basis. Knowledge mobilisation varies depending on the innovation network. The authors use the findings to indicate new insights for how schools can further innovate learning and teaching in future. Originality/value: Although there is increasing discussion on Professional Learning Networks in schools, the discourse on knowledge mobilisation within educational networks is limited, making concept of open innovation so far completely absent from discourses on school improvement. This paper initiates the population of this new research space.

Text
10-1108_JPCC-02-2023-0012 - Version of Record
Available under License Creative Commons Attribution.
Download (817kB)

More information

Accepted/In Press date: 13 June 2023
e-pub ahead of print date: 27 July 2023
Published date: 29 August 2023
Additional Information: Funding Information: The authors disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship and/or publication of this article: Marcus Pietsch is supported by a Heisenberg Professorship of the German Research Association (DFG, Project ID: 451458391, PI 618/4-1). Publisher Copyright: © 2023, Marcus Pietsch, Chris Brown, Burak Aydin and Colin Cramer.
Keywords: Innovation networks, Latent profile analysis, Open innovation

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 483470
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/483470
ISSN: 2056-9548
PURE UUID: 4921029d-b10b-4347-894f-e51220be9400
ORCID for Chris Brown: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0002-9759-9624

Catalogue record

Date deposited: 31 Oct 2023 17:51
Last modified: 18 Mar 2024 04:16

Export record

Altmetrics

Contributors

Author: Marcus Pietsch
Author: Chris Brown ORCID iD
Author: Burak Aydin
Author: Colin Cramer

Download statistics

Downloads from ePrints over the past year. Other digital versions may also be available to download e.g. from the publisher's website.

View more statistics

Atom RSS 1.0 RSS 2.0

Contact ePrints Soton: eprints@soton.ac.uk

ePrints Soton supports OAI 2.0 with a base URL of http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/cgi/oai2

This repository has been built using EPrints software, developed at the University of Southampton, but available to everyone to use.

We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you continue without changing your settings, we will assume that you are happy to receive cookies on the University of Southampton website.

×