Survival of the fittest: the multiple paths of entrepreneurial leadership driving adaptive innovation in uncertain environment

Abstract

PurposeThis study aims to investigate the multiple influence paths or underlying mechanisms of entrepreneurial leadership (EL) on adaptive innovation from the perspectives of organizational learning and resource management, drawing on complex adaptive system theory.Design/methodology/approachWith a questionnaire survey of 317 senior and middle managers from different firms in China, structural equation modeling was used to test the hypothesized conceptual model, and bootstrapping method was employed to examine the multiple mediating effects.FindingsResults indicate that EL has a significant and positive effect on adaptive innovation. This relationship is partially mediated through exploitative learning, exploratory learning, resource bricolage and boundary-spanning integration, respectively. The impact of EL on adaptive innovation is also sequentially transmitted through exploitative learning and resource bricolage or exploratory learning and boundary-spanning integration.Originality/valueAdaptive innovation has become a firm competition strategy to cope with dynamic changes in current uncertain environment where EL can play its effectiveness to engage firms in such innovation activities. However, the question of why and how EL drives adaptive innovation has yet to be discussed. This study highlights the innovation effectiveness of EL and the triggering process of adaptive innovation, and contributes to several countermeasures for firms to implement leadership and innovation practices responding to uncertain environment.

Impact of entrepreneurial leadership on supply chain performance: the mediating role of supply chain resilience

“…Gupta et al (2004) defined EL as "leadership that creates visionary scenarios that are used to assemble and mobilize a 'supporting cast' of participants who become committed by the vision to the discovery and exploitation of strategic value creation". Hence, entrepreneurial leaders guide their teams to collectively put efforts into searching for ways to improve existing processes and search for new opportunities available in the environment (Lin and Yi, 2022). They continuously focus on improving the existing processes and also try to find new ones (Latif et al, 2020).…”

“…Innovation is considered essential in dealing with uncertainty, and EL helps in dealing with uncertainty through discovering new ideas and processes, by encouraging the knowledge-sharing environment and motivating members to experiment to find new opportunities (Islam et al, 2022;Hoang et al, 2022). Lin and Yi (2022) discussed that EL helps in dealing with uncertain environments by developing adaptive innovation through exploitative and explorative learning, resource bricolage and boundary-spanning integration. Whereas adaptive innovation refers to adaptive favorable infrastructure to external changes by understanding the cause and effect of the changes in the environment (Shankar and Spanjol, 2005).…”

“…Previous studies have discussed the importance of EL in improving firm performance (Bilal et al, 2021;Hoang et al, 2022;Latif et al, 2020), but the mechanism through which EL improves has not been studied (Nguyen et al, 2021;Rahim et al, 2015;Zhao et al, 2011;Wang, 2008). As EL is the capability of a leader, who is motivated to improve the processes and product offerings (Lin and Yi, 2022). Merely the possession of a capability is not going to improve performance (Song et al, 2007).…”

“…, 2022). Lin and Yi (2022) discussed that EL helps in dealing with uncertain environments by developing adaptive innovation through exploitative and explorative learning, resource bricolage and boundary-spanning integration. Whereas adaptive innovation refers to adaptive favorable infrastructure to external changes by understanding the cause and effect of the changes in the environment (Shankar and Spanjol, 2005).…”

“…Managers' opinions, decisions and behavior are the key determining factors in the firms' actions and future (Lee and Nam, 2016; Abdalla and Nakagawa, 2022). Top-level managers' role is vital in deciding which capability bundles will the firm invest in (Lin and Yi, 2022). Hence, the firms are dependent on a managerial role in achieving SCR under disruptions.…”