IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/wsi/ijimxx/v26y2022i04ns1363919622500232.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Incumbent’S Curse Revisited: Are Firm Stereotypes Beneficial Or Harmful For Established Companies Pursuing Radical Technological Innovations?

Author

Listed:
  • NICHOLAS FOLGER

    (Chair for Strategy and Organisation, TUM School of Management, Technical University of Munich, Aricsstrasse 21, Munich D-80333, Germany)

  • TIM KANIS

    (Chair for International Management and Corporate Strategy, Faculty of Business Administration, Technical University Bergakademie Freiberg, Schlossplatz 1, Freiberg D-09599, Germany)

  • JUTTA STUMPF-WOLLERSHEIM

    (Chair for International Management and Corporate Strategy, Faculty of Business Administration, Technical University Bergakademie Freiberg, Schlossplatz 1, Freiberg D-09599, Germany)

  • ISABELL M. WELPE

    (Chair for Strategy and Organisation, TUM School of Management, Technical University of Munich, Aricsstrasse 21, Munich D-80333, Germany)

Abstract

Established companies often struggle while start-ups gain market share by pursuing radical technological innovations. Research has found that internal organisational barriers can cause this incumbent’s curse, but it has not explored the role of external actors. Drawing on social judgements of organisations theory, we suggest that potential consumers possess firm stereotypes (i.e., warmth and competence perceptions), which affect their expectations about the success of established companies and start-ups in pursuing radical technological innovations. Findings from three experimental studies show that established companies are perceived as more competent but less warm than start-ups. This perception leads to higher success expectations for established companies pursuing radical technological innovations. Yet, these benefits are no longer present after the revelation of information about a fatal error.

Suggested Citation

  • Nicholas Folger & Tim Kanis & Jutta Stumpf-Wollersheim & Isabell M. Welpe, 2022. "Incumbent’S Curse Revisited: Are Firm Stereotypes Beneficial Or Harmful For Established Companies Pursuing Radical Technological Innovations?," International Journal of Innovation Management (ijim), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 26(04), pages 1-39, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:wsi:ijimxx:v:26:y:2022:i:04:n:s1363919622500232
    DOI: 10.1142/S1363919622500232
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.worldscientific.com/doi/abs/10.1142/S1363919622500232
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1142/S1363919622500232?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:wsi:ijimxx:v:26:y:2022:i:04:n:s1363919622500232. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Tai Tone Lim (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.worldscinet.com/ijim/ijim.shtml .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.