Abstract
Paper focuses on the "human side" of open innovation (OI) by bridging the gap between human capital antecedents to enterprises' performance, thus filling in some of its missing micro-foundations. Research responds to the request for more conceptualization by strongly tying open innovation, upper echelon theory, human capital theory from the literature. Research illuminates OI micro-foundations by emphasizing personal characteristics importance of key individuals (founder CEOs) in highly innovative MNEs or big techs (e.g. FAANG) have in open innovation performance, thus drawing attention to human factors and strategic leadership to close a significant gap in the literature. Propositions suggest big tech CEOs help in hiring procedures in businesses that want to support or develop open innovation policies.