How and Why Top Executives Influence Innovation: A Review of Mechanisms and a Research Agenda

Scholars have shown increasing interest in the relationship between top executives and firm innovation. However, no systematic effort has been made to integrate or synthesize the theoretical mechanisms in this literature. Without such an integrative framework, this field remains fragmented, offering...

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Veröffentlicht in:Journal of management Jg. 51; H. 6; S. 2320 - 2354
Hauptverfasser: Zhu, David H., Zhao, Zeyu, Semadeni, Matthew
Format: Journal Article
Sprache:Englisch
Veröffentlicht: Los Angeles, CA SAGE Publications 01.07.2025
Sage Publications Ltd
Schlagworte:
Adoption of innovations
Classification
Executives
Future
Innovations
Leadership
Literary influences
Literature reviews
Motivation
Organizational research
innovation and learning
Top management teams/upper echelon
strategic leadership
ISSN:0149-2063, 1557-1211
Online-Zugang:Volltext
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Zusammenfassung:Scholars have shown increasing interest in the relationship between top executives and firm innovation. However, no systematic effort has been made to integrate or synthesize the theoretical mechanisms in this literature. Without such an integrative framework, this field remains fragmented, offering limited guidance for future research. In this study, we integrate and synthesize findings from over 100 articles on the effects of top executives on innovation. Our review identifies four major categories of theoretical mechanisms (Motivations, Cognitions, Leadership Behaviors, and Influences), eleven sub-categories of mechanisms, and three prominent causal chains in the literature. Our review also examines how these mechanisms align with those in the broader innovation literature, highlighting numerous opportunities for future research. These include deeper integration within and across four categories of mechanisms in strategic leadership literature, drawing insights from strategic leadership research to better inform future research on organizational motivations for innovation, examining top executives’ economic motivations for innovation, and elucidating how strategic leaders shape absorptive and economic capacities to innovate.
Bibliographie:ObjectType-Article-1
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ObjectType-Feature-2
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ISSN:0149-2063
1557-1211
DOI:10.1177/01492063241284962