A multi-theoretical perspective analysis of radical innovation research: An integrated framework

Radical innovation enterprise's acquiring of innovational resources through network embeddedness helps to improve its innovation performance. Meanwhile, to obtain innovation legitimacy relying on network embeddedness is a critical element to ensure the success of radical innovation and get access to resource under the constraints of institutional environment. Following this principle, literature review is conducted in the first part of this paper, combining relevant theoretical studies of enterprise network, resource and institution. Focused on enterprise radical innovation, this paper proposes an integrated model analyzing the impact of network embeddedness, innovation legitimacy acquisition and innovation resource acquisition on radical innovation performance. This study aims to contribute to radical innovation theory by shedding light on the importance of the impact of innovation legitimacy on the success of radical innovation in institution theory perspective. It also has important implication for Chinese enterprises in the context of institutional transition and network embeddedness to develop innovation by building legitimacy and obtaining resources successfully.

[1]  Scott L. Newbert,et al.  Exploring the Determinants of Organizational Emergence: A Legitimacy Perspective , 2007 .

[2]  R. Gulati Does Familiarity Breed Trust? The Implications of Repeated Ties for Contractual Choice in Alliances , 1995 .

[3]  M. Zimmerman,et al.  Beyond Survival: Achieving New Venture Growth by Building Legitimacy , 2002 .

[4]  Walter W. Powell,et al.  Knowledge Networks as Channels and Conduits: The Effects of Spillovers in the Boston Biotechnology Community , 2004, Organ. Sci..

[5]  David L. Deephouse,et al.  Does Isomorphism Legitimate? , 1996 .

[6]  George S. Day,et al.  Assessing Advantage: A Framework for Diagnosing Competitive Superiority , 1988 .

[7]  A. Hillman,et al.  Resource Dependence Theory: A Review , 2009 .

[8]  Richard Leifer,et al.  Radical Innovation: How Mature Companies Can Outsmart Upstarts , 2000 .

[9]  Ulf R. Andersson,et al.  The strategic impact of external networks: Subsidiary performance and competence development in the multinational corporation , 2002 .

[10]  Mark C. Suchman Managing Legitimacy: Strategic and Institutional Approaches , 1995 .

[11]  B. Uzzi,et al.  Social Structure and Competition in Interfirm Networks: The Paradox of Embeddedness , 1997 .

[12]  D. Lazer,et al.  The Strength of Strong Ties , 2003 .

[13]  Howard E. Aldrich,et al.  Fools Rush in? The Institutional Context of Industry Creation , 1994 .

[14]  Mark S. Granovetter Economic Action and Social Structure: The Problem of Embeddedness , 1985, American Journal of Sociology.

[15]  Vangelis Souitaris,et al.  External communication determinants of innovation in the context of a newly industrialised country: a comparison of objective and perceptual results from Greece , 2001 .

[16]  Mark S. Granovetter The Strength of Weak Ties , 1973, American Journal of Sociology.

[17]  D. Krackhardt The strength of strong ties: The importance of Philos in organizations , 2003 .

[18]  M. Tushman,et al.  Technological Discontinuities and Organizational Environments , 1986 .

[19]  L. Hossain Effect of organisational position and network centrality on project coordination , 2009 .

[20]  David L. Deeds,et al.  The Influence of Firms’ and Industries’ Legitimacy on the Flow of Capital into High-Technology Ventures , 2004 .

[21]  Jürgen Beyer,et al.  Jeffrey Pfeffer and Gerald R. Salancik: The External Control of Organizations : A Resource Dependence Perspective , 2000 .

[22]  S. Ghoshal,et al.  Social Capital, Intellectual Capital, and the Organizational Advantage , 1998 .

[23]  J. Barney Firm Resources and Sustained Competitive Advantage , 1991 .

[24]  R. Gulati,et al.  Where Do Interorganizational Networks Come From?1 , 1999, American Journal of Sociology.

[25]  Robert N. Stern,et al.  The External Control of Organizations: A Resource Dependence Perspective. , 1979 .

[26]  Andrea L. Larson Network Dyads in Entrepreneurial Settings: A Study of the Governance of Exchange Relationships , 1992 .

[27]  Peter Moran Structural vs. relational embeddedness: social capital and managerial performance , 2005 .

[28]  Antonio Capaldo Network Structure and Innovation: The Leveraging of a Dual Network as a Distinctive Relational Capability , 2006 .

[29]  K. Zhou,et al.  The Effects of Strategic Orientations on Technology- and Market-Based Breakthrough Innovations , 2005 .

[30]  Paul DiMaggio,et al.  Structures of Capital: The Social Organization of Economic Life , 1990 .

[31]  Raghunath Singh Rao,et al.  The Fruits of Legitimacy: Why Some New Ventures Gain More from Innovation Than Others. , 2008 .

[32]  W. Hulsink,et al.  Network effects on Entrepreneurial Processes: Start-ups in the Dutch ICT Industry 1990-2000 , 2003 .

[33]  John G. Maurer Readings in organization theory : open-system approaches , 1971 .

[34]  Todd H. Chiles,et al.  Integrating variable risk preferences, trust, and transaction cost economics – 25 years on: reflections in memory of Oliver Williamson , 2021, Journal of Institutional Economics.

[35]  Steven B. Andrews,et al.  Structural Holes: The Social Structure of Competition , 1995, The SAGE Encyclopedia of Research Design.

[36]  Milford B. Green,et al.  Corporate knowledge transfer via interlocking directorates: a network analysis approach , 2004 .

[37]  Jeffrey H. Dyer,et al.  The Relational View: Cooperative Strategy and Sources of Interorganizational Competitive Advantage , 1998 .

[38]  Talcott Parsons,et al.  Structure and Process in Modern Societies , 1961 .

[39]  Rafesh Koshy Chandy Organizing for Radical Product Innovation , 1998 .