Cannibalize and Combine? Antecedents and Outcomes of Two Key Organizational Innovation Attitudes

How can a firm ensure its survival and success in the pursuit of both radical and incremental new products? We propose that the answer to this question lies in the establishment of two important organizational innovation attitudes: willingness to cannibalize and product knowledge integration. Using multiple respondent data from 199 Chinese firms, we develop and test a model on the environmental antecedents as well as outcomes of these two organizational innovation attitudes. Our findings indicate that: (1) uncertain, turbulent and competitive environments make willingness to cannibalize as well as product knowledge integration necessary; (2) ambidextrous innovations require both willingness to cannibalize and product knowledge integration; and (3) firms must develop a balanced portfolio of new products for higher performance.