| Abstract: |
Most approaches to innovation bear the implicit assumption that increased
innovativeness leads to improved organizational performance. Thus, more
attention has been focused on innovativeness than on innovation performance;
on novelty than on value. However, recent empirical evidence calls into
question the unqualified optimism surrounding innovation, and leads us to ask
what we really know about when technological innovation improves performance.
In this paper, we seek to make a contribution by presenting the results of an
exhaustive review of extant knowledge on the outcomes of technological
innovation. Our synthesis of the literature allows us to relate in one
parsimonious model the drivers and moderators of the antecedents, technical
outcomes, and performance outcomes of technological innovation and
technological change. We also make sense of the proliferation of terms, and
consequent terminological ambiguity, which characterizes a lot of work on
technological innovation. Finally, in the light of the model presented and
recent developments in work on firm capabilities, we indicate possible avenues
for further development of this critical area of research. |