A contingency view of external learning and radical innovation in Chinese high-tech industry

Abstract

Although marketing and management literature highlight the benefits of learning in product innovation, they fail to address the content of learning and its contingent value. This study differentiates two types of external learning, technical and administrative, and examines how they affect radical innovation. The results from a survey of 183 high-tech firms in China indicate that both technical and administrative learning facilitate the development of radical innovation. Furthermore, their positive effects on radical innovation are contingent on two environmental factors: technological turbulence and competitive intensity. Technological turbulence reduces the effect of technical learning but enhances the effect of administrative learning, whereas competitive intensity enhances the effect of technical learning but reduces the effect of administrative learning.