Unlocking the Potential of Outsourcing, the Key: Authentic Leadership as Accelerator of Open Innovation

Abstract: This paper aims to demonstrate the effects of authentic leadership on open innovation in two different national cultures: Dutch and Indian. An exploratory quantitative research study was held amongst 286 Dutch and 104 Indian co-workers of a financial institution. In this study, PLS-SEM was used. It was found that authentic leadership has a significant effect on open innovation. Moreover, the study showed that significant differences exist in this type of relationship between the Dutch and Indian national cultures. The outcomes of the study may contribute to a further understanding of how authentic leadership affects open innovation in different national cultures. The originality of this study is that it is conducted among ICT-organisations as well in India as the Netherlands in looking for differences in the perception of authentic leadership and its effect on open innovation.