Why do incumbent firms frequently reject nonincremental innovations? Beyond technical, structural, or economic factors, we propose an additional factor: the degree of the top management team's (TMT) frame flexibility, i.e., their capability to cognitively expand an innovation's categorical boundaries and to cast the innovation as emotionally resonant with the organization's identity, competencies, and competitive boundaries. We argue that inertial forces generally constrict how TMTs perceive innovations but that frame flexibility can overcome these constraints, increasing the likelihood of adoption and broadening the organization's innovation practices. We advance a theoretical model that relaxes the assumption that cognitive frames are static, showing how they become flexible via categorical positioning, and introduce a role for emotional frames that appeals to organizational members' sentiments and aspirations in innovation adoption.
Keywords: innovation adoption; cognition; framing; emotional resonance; incumbent inertia; Innovation and Invention; Technology Adoption; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Change Management;
Citation:
Raffaelli, Ryan, Mary Ann Glynn, and Michael Tushman. "Frame Flexibility: The Role of Cognitive and Emotional Framing in Innovation Adoption by Incumbent Firms." Strategic Management Journal 40, no. 7 (July 2019): 1013–1039. View Details