Attention Focus and Attention Framework: A Configuration Perspective of Attention to Innovation

Abstract

Abstract The current understanding of the unique contribution of single factors to attention may underestimate the complexity involved in attention allocation. This study aims to design an attention framework and examine the interdependencies between organisational and contextual factors that affect firm attention to exploitation, exploration, and ambidexterity. Drawing on a longitudinal study from 2008 to 2021, we use a configurational approach and identify seven distinct attention configurations as a result of different factor interdependencies, shedding light on how stability in attention configurations produces consistent attention focus. We also identify four change pathways that illustrate how configurations could be modified in response to radical environmental changes. Our study contributes to the attention‐based view by stressing the importance of two alignments that explain a firm's high performance: between attention and contextual factors; between attention and organisational factors. Methodologically, the novelty of the configurational approach is its ability to capture configuration stability in normal external conditions and trace sudden changes in attention focus and configuration paths under extreme external conditions. This study also enhances exploitation and exploration research on managing attention configuration pathways in terms of path flexibility, path emergence, and path deterioration.

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