A literature review of technological lock-in: The knowledge framework and future prospects

JIANG Qi-Meng; ZHU Xue-Zhong; TENG Zi-You

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Science Research Management ›› 2023, Vol. 44 ›› Issue (6) : 17-28.

A literature review of technological lock-in: The knowledge framework and future prospects

Jiang Qimeng, Zhu Xuezhong, Teng Ziyou

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Abstract

The continuous upgrading of great power competition in science and technology has led to foreign entities′ technology blockade policies or lock-in strategies, causing long-term passive and reverse technology lock-in for Chinese enterprises. It threatens national economic and S&T security. As a core issue of intellectual property security, clarifying the formation and breakthrough mechanism of technological lock-in helps resolve the "neck-jamming" crisis of core technology in critical industries. This paper explores the formation path, innovation effect, and unlocking path of enterprise technological lock-in. Three research questions are provided: (1) how do enterprises form technological path dependence and lead to technological lock-in? (2) How will technological lock-in impact the innovation of enterprises, regions, or industries? (3) How can enterprises break through technological lock-in and create new technological paths?
Our research originality and contribution lie in taking an international perspective on technological competition and differentiating technological locking effects into internal lock-ins and external lock-outs. We also have constructed a knowledge framework on technology lock-in to enrich the theoretical understanding and mechanism. It provides theoretical and practical support for Chinese companies to deal with foreign technology lock-in strategies.
A systematic literature review on technology lock-in provides a critical and structured analysis of the literature. The research design includes defining technology lock-in and its key constructs, setting search terms and exclusion criteria, using the PRISMA framework, and screening 141 relevant papers from the Web of Science and CNKI databases. The study sample covers 74 journals, with a relatively balanced distribution between Chinese and English literature.
The study finds that technological lock-in research has grown over the past 40 years and is increasingly diversified in perspectives and methods. From a theoretical perspective, research on technological lock-in is mainly conducted from three perspectives: path dependence, path creation, and path construction theory. Empirical studies use quantitative and qualitative methods such as statistical and case studies, while theoretical studies mainly use normative analysis, mathematical modeling, and literature research methods.
The knowledge framework of technological lock-in is constructed, consisting of six modules: enterprise technology selection, self-reinforcing mechanism, enterprise knowledge and capability, innovation effect, driving factors of technological unlock, and path breakthrough of technological lock-in. The formation of technology lock-in involves two processes: initial technology adoption and the self-reinforcing mechanism of enterprises. Accidental events from external sources or strategic technology choices from within the enterprise trigger the enterprise to enter path dependence. Influenced by four sub-mechanisms, the coordination effect, the scale effect, the learning effect, expected effect, the enterprise will deepen the degree of technological path dependence and fall into a state of technological lock-in. Technological lock-in′s impact on innovation will first improve and then weaken, affecting regional or industrial innovation and cooperation. External shocks and internal behaviors can trigger breakthroughs in technological lock-in, and enterprises can improve their technological diversity by increasing R&D investment intensity and scope, improving cross-border technology search levels, and optimizing cooperative R&D project structures.
The paper presents research shortcomings and prospects from the three dimensions of the research theme, theoretical perspective, and research methods. Regarding theoretical development, we should expand the research on the mechanism of enterprise technological lock-in from the strategic or organizational management perspective. It helps construct the theoretical interactions among technological, organizational, and enterprise resource path dependence. Regarding research topics, it is necessary to explore the unique technological (un)lock-in mechanism in combination with the Chinese context and develop a new path of technology unlocking from the perspectives of patent portfolio and technology fusion. The extension of research methods emphasizes the introduction of a process research paradigm into the qualitative research of technological lock-in. It should construct a new measurement index based on the relationship between technological standards and lock-in.

Key words

technological lock-in / path dependence / patent portfolio / self-reinforcing mechanism / technological diversity

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Jiang Qimeng, Zhu Xuezhong, Teng Ziyou. A literature review of technological lock-in: The knowledge framework and future prospects[J]. Science Research Management. 2023, 44(6): 17-28

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