Flexing the Frame: TMT Framing and the Adoption of Non-Incremental Innovations in Incumbent Firms

Abstract

Why do incumbent firms frequently reject non-incremental 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 perceptually 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 forces of inertia 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 appeal to organizational sentiments and aspirations in innovation adoption.