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Top1. Introduction
Technological innovation is a main power to promote economic growth (Chen & Lei 2020; Chen & Xie 2018; Hämäläinen & Inkinen 2019; Kumar and Chanda 2018; Lei et al 2019, 2020; Lu 2016; Sui and Liu 2020; Tan et al 2010; Wang et al 2007; Wipulanusat et al 2020; Xu et al 2008, 2011, 2013, 2014, 2016, 2018, 2020; Xu and Viriyasitavat 2014, 2019; Yang et al 2018; Zhang et al 2018). Particularly, radical technological innovation generates substantial competitive advantages for enterprises (Li 2018, 2020). Schumpeter (1942) first introduced the concept of innovation into the field of economic growth. Later, Utterback and Abernathy (1975) categorized innovation into incremental innovation and radical innovation based on technologies’ novelty. Given that technology discontinuity (Tushman & Anderson, 1986) and disruptive technologies (Christensen, 2013) generate leapfrog value for customers, scholars proposed the concepts of breakthrough technology innovation, disruptive innovation, and radical innovation. They have investigated breakthrough technology innovation, disruptive innovation, and radical innovation intensively from diverse perspectives.
However, existing innovation literature focuses on either enterprises’ internal innovation practices or their innovation in business model. Manufacturing process is considered as the only origination of innovation. According to tech-sociology theory, factors, such as institution, user, and social network, affect technology development (Bleda & Río, 2013; Llerena & Matt, 2006). A comprehensive analysis of innovation process and its impact factors is missing. A hierarchical structure of impact factors for radical innovation is not available.
Accordingly, this paper adopts Multi-level Perspective (MLP) to analyze the formation motivation of radical innovation. It presents the temporal structure and hierarchical structure of factors that affect radical innovation and explores the formation mechanism of radical innovation. In specific, this paper identifies three stages in the radical technological innovation process. It then applies MLP to explore the formation process, operating mechanism, breakthrough path, and impact factors of radical technological innovation. A three-phase model, which includes formation of radical innovation, breakout of radical innovation, and new regimes construction, is proposed to analyze radical technological innovation. At the end, the model is applied in a case study to analyze the leapfrogging development of technologies in China’s mobile communication industry. This paper makes theoretical and practical contributions by enriching technological innovation theory and providing supports for policy making and guidance for implementing technological innovation.