Original innovation capability is crucial to achieving high-level self-reliance and strength in science and technology and to developing new quality productive forces. Universities constitute an important organizational context for original innovation, yet existing studies still lack a systematic discussion of its antecedents from an organizational perspective. Based on qualitative data from representative university teams engaged in original innovation, this study uses grounded analysis and inductive methods to construct a framework of the antecedents and mechanisms of original innovation from the perspective of the organizational field. The findings show that the antecedents within the organizational field include organizational factors and organizational environmental factors. The former comprise organizational collaboration, management mechanisms, resource allocation, and organizational climate, while the latter comprise macro-level policies and innovation culture. Furthermore, this study reveals the driving mechanisms through which organizational and environmental factors affect innovation actors, as well as the interactive mechanisms between these two types of factors. The study proposes an “organizational field perspective” on original innovation and advances research on originalinnovation in three respects: identifying antecedents, explaining underlying mechanisms, and extending the understanding of university organizational contexts. It also responds to and extends theories of knowledge creation and field theory by offering an explanation of the deeper mechanisms underlying original innovation activities. The findings provide managerial and policy implications for building university research organizational fields, shaping institutional environments, and promoting organized research and innovation activities.