Trajectories towards balancing value creation and capture: Resolution paths and tension loops in open innovation projects

This study aims to elevate the current understanding of value creation and value capture tensions that emerge in open innovation projects and of their potential solutions. In contrast with prior studies that often suggest specific solutions to individual tensions, our study takes an integrative approach by considering complex (bundles of) tensions and potential solutions to these. The study employs qualitative methods and builds on interview data from six case companies and a group of expert informants. We investigate unfolding events from the point when value creation – value capture tensions are identified in open innovation projects, to the search for their solutions. We label such sequences of unfolding events as trajectories. Our findings reveal two types of trajectories: resolution paths, which are trajectories from initial tensions to solutions, and tension loops, where initial tensions persist and/or new tensions emerge after solutions are enforced. We analyze a total of 17 trajectories, of which seven are marked as resolution paths, and ten represent tension loops. For the majority of the tension loops in our data (eight out of ten) the tensions remain unresolved. We further categorize the types of tensions and discuss the implications of our results for researchers and practitioners.