Verhoeven, Dennis, Kovacs, Adrian, Marullo, Cristina, Di Minin, Alberto and Van Looy, Bart (2025) More or the same? Radical, disruptive, discontinuous, and breakthrough innovation. Industrial and Corporate Change. ISSN 0960-6491
Full text not available from this repository.Abstract
This paper addresses the conceptual ambiguity in the literature on exceptional innovations, labeled “radical,” “disruptive,” “breakthrough,” or “discontinuous.” A bibliometric analysis of 4407 articles shows that different labels are used by papers with shared theoretical foundations and thematic orientation. An in-depth analysis of 60 seminal contributions shows that definitions are (I) not always provided, (II) inconsistent within labels, and (III) not distinctive across labels. This complicates the exploration of the literature and the comparison of results. Definitions, when provided, agree on the existence of two underlying dimensions—novelty and impact—but disagree on how the labels relate to these dimensions. To advance conceptual clarity, we propose a typology of innovation trajectories that treats novelty and impact as distinct concepts and clarifies how and when novelty relates to impact.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Additional Information: | © 2025 The Author(s) |
| Divisions: | Centre for Economic Performance |
| Subjects: | H Social Sciences > HB Economic Theory H Social Sciences > HD Industries. Land use. Labor |
| JEL classification: | O - Economic Development, Technological Change, and Growth > O3 - Technological Change; Research and Development > O31 - Innovation and Invention: Processes and Incentives O - Economic Development, Technological Change, and Growth > O3 - Technological Change; Research and Development > O32 - Management of Technological Innovation and R&D O - Economic Development, Technological Change, and Growth > O3 - Technological Change; Research and Development > O33 - Technological Change: Choices and Consequences; Diffusion Processes |
| Date Deposited: | 03 Feb 2025 11:54 |
| Last Modified: | 03 Feb 2025 12:00 |
| URI: | http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/127157 |
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