Open Innovation, Organizational Resilience, and the Growth of SMEs in Crisis Situations

Small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) have played an important role in economic growth and employment stability during the COVID-19 pandemic. Based on the resource orchestration theory and transaction cost theory, in this article, we examine how open innovation (OI) affects growth performance (GP) during the COVID-19 pandemic. The following findings are based on the empirical research of 201 SMEs in China. First, inbound open innovation (IOI) has a U-shaped effect on GP, outbound open innovation (OOI) has a positive linear impact on GP, and IOI can strengthen the positive effect of OOI on GP. Second, IOI and OOI have a U-shaped effect on organizational resilience (OR), and IOI and OOI have complementary effects on OR. Third, OR has a significant positive impact on GP, and OR plays a mediating role among IOI, OOI, and GP. Fourth, the event strength of the COVID-19 pandemic plays a significant positive moderating role among IOI, OOI, and GP. These findings provide a new perspective for further understanding the different effects of IOI and OOI on GP in different situations, reveal the different mechanisms of IOI and OOI on GP in crisis situations, and provide practical implications for enterprises to address sudden major crises and increase growth.