Affrontare l’incertezza del mercato: il ruolo dell’innovazione aperta nello sviluppo dei sistemi informativi

In an economic context characterised by increasing turbulence and uncertainty, firms are called upon to develop adaptive strategies to sustain innovation and digital trans-formation processes. This study analyses the mediating role of Open Innovation (OI), understood as the variety of external partners involved in collaborative pro-cesses, in the relationship between market uncertainty and the development of firms’ Information Systems (IS). Drawing on Community Innovation Survey (CIS) 2018-2020 data on more than 23,000 Italian firms, and adopting a generalised structural equation modelling (g-SEM) framework integrated with a counterfactual approach to causal mediation, the study finds that market uncertainty is positively associated with both the adoption of OI practices and the development of IS. The mediation analysis further shows that the indirect effect of market uncertainty on IS develop-ment, mediated by OI, is positive and statistically significant and accounts for ap-proximately 16% of the total effect, confirming partial mediation. The analyses also show that firm size and operating in the manufacturing sector are positively associ-ated with IS development. Overall, the study contributes to the literature on organi-sational adaptation to uncertainty by showing how the integration of OI and invest-ments in IS supports firms’ digital transformation trajectories.

Parole chiave:Open Innovation, Partner variety, Market uncertainty, Information Systems, Innovation strategy, Generalized structural equation modeling

Salvatore Tallarico, Simone Lazzini, Affrontare l’incertezza del mercato: il ruolo dell’innovazione aperta nello sviluppo dei sistemi informativi in "MANAGEMENT CONTROL" 2/2026, pp 97-118, DOI: 10.3280/MACO2026-002005