Existing knowledge assets and disruptive innovation: The role of knowledge embeddedness and specificity

Chunpei Lin, Baixun Li*, Yenchun Jim Wu

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

19 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Disruptive innovation has created a significant impact on management practices and academia. This study investigated the impact of existing knowledge assets on disruptive innovation by analyzing the role of knowledge embeddedness and specificity. We conducted a hierarchical regression analysis by using survey data from 173 Chinese industrial firms to test the direct and indirect effects of knowledge embeddedness and specificity on disruptive innovation, which can be divided into outward-oriented and internal-oriented disruptive innovation. The results indicated that knowledge embeddedness not only played a positive role in knowledge specificity, but also had a positive effect on outward-oriented disruptive innovation. Furthermore, knowledge specificity exhibited opposite functions in outward-oriented and internal-oriented disruptive innovation. In addition, knowledge specificity mediated the relationship between knowledge embeddedness and outward-oriented (internal-oriented) disruptive innovation.

Original languageEnglish
Article number342
JournalSustainability (Switzerland)
Volume10
Issue number2
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2018 Jan 29

Keywords

  • Disruptive innovation
  • Knowledge assets
  • Knowledge embeddedness
  • Knowledge specificity

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Computer Science (miscellaneous)
  • Environmental Science (miscellaneous)
  • Geography, Planning and Development
  • Energy Engineering and Power Technology
  • Hardware and Architecture
  • Management, Monitoring, Policy and Law
  • Computer Networks and Communications
  • Renewable Energy, Sustainability and the Environment

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