Summary Kammerlander, N., König, A., & Richards, M. (2018). Why do incumbents respond heterogeneously to disruptive innovations? The interplay of domain identity and role identity. Journal of Management Studies.

Kammerlander et al (2018) – Why do Incumbents respond heterogeneously to
disruptive innovations? The interplay of domain identity and role identity
Research interest

Understand the influence of org. identity on the adoption of disruptive innovations

Here, org. identity is considered with regard to 2 factors:

1. Org. domain identity = To which category of organizations do we belong? What is our
hometurf?

2. Org. role identity = Who are we with regard to our central impact on the overall
development of our category? What is our essential relation to other actors in our category


Methods:

Qualitative multi-case study on German publishing houses



Organizational role identities

Shapers Followers
= they form their category’s overall trajectory = they adapt to their field’s development and
and lead the other actors react to external demands (customer demands)


Effect of disruptive innovation on identity

 For each company was identified:
o Are you a shaper or a follower (role identity)?
o And does innovation challenge or enhance this identity?
o Does innovation challenge or enhance your domain identity (domain identity)
o Finally: how will you react to the innovation (adopt/not adopt)?