In today’s business environment, information and innovation are key to success. Companies are constantly trying to improve their offerings and business model by increasing their knowledge about customers, competitors, products, services and new technologies. To achieve this open innovation practises are increasingly used, but a major part of the knowledge in companies is generated by individuals who do research to generate new ideas and capture opportunities. This required know-how can be sourced from within the company or from external sources. Nowadays, individuals performing R&D functions are encouraged to seek for knowledge outside the boundaries of the firm. This requires more openness to external sources. However, according Salter et al. (2015) an individual’s openness to external sources of knowledge is curvilinear related to the ability of that individual to develop new and useful ideas for the organization (e.g. ideation performance).

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