Entrepreneurial Leadership and Performance in Chinese New Ventures: A Moderated Mediation Model of Exploratory Innovation, Exploitative Innovation and Environmental Dynamism

Abstract

This study advances prior theoretical research by examining the relationship between entrepreneurial leadership and new venture performance with the introduction of exploratory and exploitative innovations as mediating variables. To fully understand the influence process of entrepreneurial leadership, we argue that environmental dynamism should be considered. Data on 168 new ventures in China indicate that entrepreneurial leadership is positively related to both exploratory and exploitative innovations, which in turn are both positively related to new venture performance. Our results also confirm that environmental dynamism moderates the relationship between entrepreneurial leadership and both types of innovation (i.e., exploratory and exploitative). Thus, we contribute to the debate on the influence of entrepreneurial leadership on the pursuit of excellent new venture performance, not only by examining how entrepreneurial leadership affects new venture performance by pursuing two types of innovative activities (i.e., exploratory and exploitative innovations), but also by revealing how these relationships are contingent upon environmental dynamism.

The Impact of Entrepreneurial Leadership on Nurses’ Innovation Behavior

“…Therefore, nurses’ successful IWB depends on their supervisors’ support throughout the innovation process, from exploring and generating a new idea to championing and implementing the idea (Kessel et al., ). This finding supports the contention that the influence of EL style varies with different dimensions of innovation behavior (Huang et al., ). More specifically, our findings provide new insights on the stronger effect of entrepreneurial leaders on nurses’ capacity to explore, generate, and implement new ideas than on championing new ideas.…”

“…Our findings confirmed the hypothesized significant impact of EL on nurses’ IWB. This finding contributed some of the first empirical evidence on the influential effect of EL on IWB in public and private organizations (Huang et al., ; Kim et al., ). In particular, this finding extends previous studies that have long suggested the influential effects of EL on IWB in healthcare organizations (Ballein, ; Guo, ).…”

“…Leaders also need to develop encouraging and supporting mechanisms for nurses who devote their efforts to the challenging process of innovation (Janssen, ; Kessel et al., ; Ng & Feldman, ; Xerri, ). Second, our finding on the significant impact of supervisors on fostering the IWB of nurses helps supervisors recognize the impact of their relationships and interactions in shaping nurses’ perceptions toward and capabilities in innovation (Andrews et al., ; Huang et al., ). Therefore, supervisors need to build strong relationships with nurses to inspire and support their new idea generation and implementation (Chen et al., ).…”

“…Middlebrooks (, p. 27) also defined entrepreneurial leaders as those who employ their unique knowledge and capabilities to “maximize innovation” and explore new opportunities. Empirical research has recently examined the impact of EL on innovation at the organizational level (Huang, Ding, & Chen, ; Kim et al., ). Building on both the personal and functional challenges of entrepreneurial leaders in organizational settings and their competencies in overcoming the challenges, Gupta et al.…”

<p>Impact of Entrepreneurial Leadership on Innovative Work Behavior: Examining Mediation and Moderation Mechanisms</p>

“…41 The entrepreneurial leaders also redesign their members' perceptions of their competencies by involving them in developing new and innovative ideas, and building their confidence to implement these ideas. 88,89 The functional competencies of entrepreneurial leaders also empower them to intentionally inspire and regulate their members toward innovation. 25,90 The leaders of high-tech entrepreneurial-based organizations realize their vision through identifying and stimulating the potential competencies of their group members, enabling them to generate new ideas, and reshaping their behavior, thoughts, and attitudes of implementing new ideas.…”