The double-edged sword of servitization in radical product innovation: The role of latent needs identification

Yanping Wang, Jie Gao and Zelong Wei

Technovation, 2022, vol. 118, issue C

Abstract: Using survey data from 208 Chinese manufacturing firms, this paper empirically explores whether servitization facilitates or hinders radical product innovation performance. On the basis of organizational knowledge creation theory, we argue that servitization enables manufacturers to identify latent customer needs that are valuable in searching for radical product innovation opportunities. However, according to social structural embeddedness theory, a firm with a high level of servitization becomes overembedded in customer relationships, which prevents it from seizing such opportunities. We integrate these two theories and find an inverted U-shaped relationship between servitization and radical product innovation performance. Our research enriches the servitization literature by identifying and integrating the two roles of servitization for radical product innovation performance.

Keywords: Servitization; Latent needs identification; Radical product innovation; Organizational knowledge creation; Embeddedness (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:techno:v:118:y:2022:i:c:s0166497221000651

DOI: 10.1016/j.technovation.2021.102284

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