Gamification as a Tool to Overcome Cultural Barriers in Open Innovation: a Theoretical Framework

Open innovation is related to knowledge exchange between different agents, and it implies the blurring of the organizations frontiers. One of the main problems when implementing open innovation strategies is the existence of cultural barriers, such as structural inertia, the ‘Not Invented Here’ syndrome, and the ‘Not Sold Here’ syndrome. The objective of this research is to review how gamification might be an efficient tool to overcome the cultural barriers that open innovation processes frequently pose to organizations. We posit that a gamification approach can help to overcome those barriers through the promotion of communication, motivation and teamwork to create trust, creativity and engagement among participants. Organisations can take advantage of the arising opportunities of gamification and deal with the challenges of implementing an open innovation process.

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