The adoption of radical and incremental innovations: an empirical analysis
Management Science
Information systems innovation among organizations
Management Science
Information technology innovations: a classification by IT locus of impact and research approach
ACM SIGMIS Database - Special double issue: diffusion of technological innovation
The innovator's dilemma: when new technologies cause great firms to fail
The innovator's dilemma: when new technologies cause great firms to fail
Managing Experimentation in the Design of New Products
Management Science
Information Technology Effects on Firm Performance As Measured by Tobin's Q
Management Science
What's Wrong with the Diffusion of Innovation Theory
Proceedings of the IFIP TC8 WG8.1 Fourth Working Conference on Diffusing Software Products and Process Innovations
Knowledge Search in International Cooperative Ventures
Organization Science
Software Ecosystem: Understanding an Indispensable Technology and Industry
Software Ecosystem: Understanding an Indispensable Technology and Industry
How organizations adopt information system process innovations: a longitudinal analysis
European Journal of Information Systems
The Mixed Effects of Inconsistency on Experimentation in Organizations
Organization Science
ERP systems as an enabler of sustained business process innovation: A knowledge-based view
The Journal of Strategic Information Systems
Understanding evolution in technology ecosystems
Communications of the ACM
Validating instruments in MIS research
MIS Quarterly
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In this paper, we adopt the lens of absorptive capacity (ACAP), defined by two dimensions--the knowledge base (consisting of knowledge diversity, depth, and linkages) and routines (consisting of sensing and experimentation)--to explain how a software firm's knowledge endowments influence its level of radical information technology innovation during a technological breakthrough. We distinguish three types of IT innovations--base, processes, and service innovation--that form an innovation ecology. We posit that (1) ACAP is a relational construct where the impact of the knowledge base is mediated by routines; (2) IT innovations are either externally adopted or internally generated; and (3) knowledge antecedents associated with different types of innovations differ. We hypothesize a three-step, mediated path (knowledge base → sensing → experimentation → innovation) for external innovation adoption, and a two-step path (knowledge diversity/depth → experimentation → innovation) for internal innovation creation to explain the software firm's level of radical innovation across three IT innovation types. We validate the model through a cross-sector study that examined how 121 small software firms innovated with Internet computing. We confirm the mediated nature of ACAP for external base innovations, which are driven by all three knowledge-based factors as follows: (1) knowledge depth (direct positive effect); (2) knowledge diversity (mediated three-step path), (3) knowledge linkages (mediated three step path). Process innovations are externally driven by a three-step mediated path for knowledge linkages, as well as being directly affected by knowledge diversity, but negatively and directly impeded by knowledge depth. Service innovations are not driven by any mediated influence of ACAP, but driven directly by knowledge diversity. At the same time, both service and process innovations are strongly influenced by prior IT innovations: base and/or service. Several directions for future studies of radical IT innovation are proposed.