This paper reviews the research results of the legitimacy of disruptive innovation and future research directions. Firstly, it analyzes the realistic background and theoretical significance of the emergence of the perspective of innovation legitimacy evaluators, reviews the contents and characteristics of the value conflicts of innovation stakeholders from the perspective, and summarizes the theoretical connotation of disruptive innovative legitimacy based on the value conflicts of stakeholders. Secondly, it summarizes the challenges of the legitimacy of disruptive innovation, including the conflicts about stakeholders’ material interests, spiritual values and moral norms, and analyzes the driving mechanism, market selection mechanism and diffusion mechanism of the dynamic evolution of disruptive innovation legitimacy. Disruptive innovation stakeholders’ material interest conflict challenges include preference value conflicts, market value conflicts, etc. Spiritual value conflict challenges include emotional value conflicts, trust value conflicts, etc. Moral norm conflict challenges include institutional norm conflicts, moral ethics conflicts and cultural value conflicts, etc. Moreover, the interactive relationship between disruptive innovation stakeholders’ value conflicts and entrepreneurs’ strategic actions is the dynamic evolutionary driving mechanism of disruptive innovation legitimacy. Disruptive innovation stakeholders’ value conflicts and entrepreneurs’ market choices form the dynamic evolutionary market selection mechanism of disruptive innovation legitimacy. When disruptive innovation gains a foothold in the low-end or high-end market, it will lead to a broader range of stakeholders’ value conflicts and entrepreneurs’ strategic actions, forming the diffusion mechanism of disruptive innovation legitimacy. Thirdly, it puts forward the theoretical framework of disruptive innovation legitimacy and entrepreneurs’ strategic actions based on the perspective of stakeholders’ value conflicts. The unique strategic orientation of disruptive innovation legitimacy leads to the change of institutional logic, and the value orientation of disruptive innovation entrepreneurs affects the orientation of innovation market values and then the strategic actions of entrepreneurs. The heterogeneity of evaluators’ value judgment about disruptive innovation is manifested in stakeholders’ value conflicts. Stakeholders’ value conflicts are conducive to the discovery of entrepreneurs’ innovative values and guide entrepreneurs’ strategic actions. The interactive relationship between entrepreneurs’ strategic actions and stakeholders’ value conflicts forms the dynamic evolution driving mechanism, market selection mechanism and diffusion mechanism of disruptive innovation legitimacy. Therefore, in the process of the dynamic evolution of disruptive innovation legitimacy, that is, in the process of stakeholders’ value conflicts and co-evolution of disruptive innovation, there is inherent correlation between disruptive innovation legitimacy and entrepreneurs’ strategic actions, thus forming the theoretical analyzing framework of disruptive innovation legitimacy and entrepreneurs’ strategic actions. Finally, this paper points out the problems that need to be solved and the future research directions of the disruptive innovation legitimacy theory.
/ Journals / Foreign Economics & Management
Foreign Economics & Management
LiZengquan, Editor-in-Chief
ZhengChunrong, Vice Executive Editor-in-Chief
YinHuifang HeXiaogang LiuJianguo, Vice Editor-in-Chief
The Legitimacy of Disruptive Innovation and Entrepreneurs’ Strategic Actions: A Literature Review and Prospects
Foreign Economics & Management Vol. 41, Issue 03, pp. 111 - 125,152 (2019) DOI:10.16538/j.cnki.fem.2019.03.008
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Cite this article
Yu Peili, Liu Muyang, Pan Peiyao. The Legitimacy of Disruptive Innovation and Entrepreneurs’ Strategic Actions: A Literature Review and Prospects[J]. Foreign Economics & Management, 2019, 41(3): 111-125.
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