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Science & Technology Management and Innovation Management

Strategic Niche Management: Systematic Review, Content Frame⁃ work and Future Prospects 

Zhu Chunkui, Zhang Jincheng

(School of International Relations and Public Affairs, Fudan University, Shanghai 200433, China)

Abstract: Strategic niche management has become an important topic in innovation manage⁃ ment research. However, existing review studies often focus on specific domains or issues, leav⁃ ing room for improvement in terms of systematicity and comprehensiveness, and failing to fully  present the overall landscape and evolutionary trajectory of strategic niche management re⁃ search. Based on a systematic review of 158 international journal articles on strategic niche man⁃ agement published from 1994 to 2023, this study employs a combination of systematic literature  review and bibliometric analysis to map the research landscape of strategic niche management  from the perspectives of theoretical approaches, research methods, and research contexts, sys⁃ tematically summarizes and discusses the four main research themes including conceptual con⁃ notations, driving factors, inhibiting factors, and outcomes, and develops a content framework for  strategic niche management to provide theoretical foundations and practical guidance for highquality research in the Chinese context. The results show that: ①The literature in the field of  strategic niche management has shown an overall fluctuating upward trend, with publications  from 2012—2023 accounting for 78% of the total, peaking in 2020. Research contexts have ex⁃ panded from technology transitions in the energy sector to broader social transformations, from  market innovation to grassroots innovation, and from developed economies to diverse economies. Case study is the primary research method, and theoretical perspectives encompass multiple dis⁃ ciplinary fields, including multi-level perspective, technological innovation systems, and transi⁃ tion management. ② The theoretical connotation of strategic niche management has evolved  through three developmental stages from policy tool to analytical framework to experimental  method. Its core idea is to support the incubation and diffusion of emerging technologies in their  nascent stages by constructing protected experimental spaces and to promote their gradual inte⁃ gration into mainstream socio-technical regimes through expectation building, network forma⁃ tion, and learning mechanisms, ultimately driving fundamental transformations of sociotechnical systems. ③ The driving factors of strategic niche management include expectation  building, network formation, policy support, intermediary organization support, and global  events, among others. Inhibiting factors include unstable expectations, entrenched technological  regimes, limited policy instruments, and unstable social environments, among others. Outcomes  encompass three levels: technological change, organizational change, and social change. ④This  study constructs a comprehensive content framework encompassing macro, meso, and micro lev⁃ els, systematically reviews the knowledge foundation and research trajectory of this field, and  proposes five future research directions for strategic niche management in the Chinese context: exploring the theoretical mechanisms underlying the transition from market niches to regimelevel niches, expanding research contexts such as disruptive innovation, grassroots innovation, and urban transformation, employing research methods including primary data analysis, statisti⁃ cal quantification, and simulation modeling, identifying multi-level antecedent variables affect⁃ ing strategic niche management based on a multi-level perspective, and establishing evaluation  systems for the outcomes of strategic niche management across different domains. 

Key words: strategic niche management; protective space; emerging technologies; industrial  innovation; Chinese context; disruptive innovation; emerging industry