This study, by conducting a laboratory experiment, investigates whether social inducement can be an external instrument to promote open innovation. The study’s findings suggest that social inducement, on average, leads subjects to invest more in open innovation projects. In particular, in an asymmetric inducement setting, both induced and non-induced subjects invest more and are more active in open innovation compared to a full inducement setting. Furthermore, economic uncertainty increases the effectiveness of social inducement, suggesting that open innovation is easier to promote in the presence of economic uncertainty. Our findings may suggest practitioners and policymakers applying public channels to communicate open innovation concepts with the public, which in turn helps the adoption of open innovation.