IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/jbrese/v76y2017icp127-135.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Building innovation capability: The role of top management innovativeness and relative-exploration orientation

Author

Listed:
  • Wang, Xinchun
  • Dass, Mayukh

Abstract

Firms strive to develop innovation capabilities that help them achieve competitive advantage in the marketplace. This paper shows that managers can contribute to firms' innovation capabilities by involving themselves directly. Based on a unique multi-source (shareholder letters, COMPUSTAT, and World Bank Database) dataset covering 335 firms over nine years, empirical analysis reveals that top managers' innovativeness makes them more likely to adopt exploration orientation over exploitation orientation in innovation. This relative-exploration orientation is a key mediator that can transform top managers' innovativeness into better financial performance, and the effectiveness of this mediating role is contingent on a firm's resources and the industry environment.

Suggested Citation

  • Wang, Xinchun & Dass, Mayukh, 2017. "Building innovation capability: The role of top management innovativeness and relative-exploration orientation," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 76(C), pages 127-135.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jbrese:v:76:y:2017:i:c:p:127-135
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jbusres.2017.03.019
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0148296317301078
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.jbusres.2017.03.019?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Vincent L. Barker , III & George C. Mueller, 2002. "CEO Characteristics and Firm R&D Spending," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 48(6), pages 782-801, June.
    2. Huarng, Kun-Huang & Ribeiro-Soriano, Domingo Enrique, 2014. "Developmental management: Theories, methods, and applications in entrepreneurship, innovation, and sensemaking," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 67(5), pages 657-662.
    3. J. Robert Baum & Stefan Wally, 2003. "Strategic decision speed and firm performance," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 24(11), pages 1107-1129, November.
    4. Jiménez-Jiménez, Daniel & Sanz-Valle, Raquel, 2011. "Innovation, organizational learning, and performance," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 64(4), pages 408-417, April.
    5. Natalie Mizik & Robert Jacobson, 2007. "Myopic Marketing Management: Evidence of the Phenomenon and Its Long-Term Performance Consequences in the SEO Context," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 26(3), pages 361-379, 05-06.
    6. Wendy K. Smith & Michael L. Tushman, 2005. "Managing Strategic Contradictions: A Top Management Model for Managing Innovation Streams," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 16(5), pages 522-536, October.
    7. Morgan, Robert M. & Hunt, Shelby, 1999. "Relationship-Based Competitive Advantage: The Role of Relationship Marketing in Marketing Strategy," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 46(3), pages 281-290, November.
    8. Saurabh Mishra & Sachin Modi, 2013. "Positive and Negative Corporate Social Responsibility, Financial Leverage, and Idiosyncratic Risk," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 117(2), pages 431-448, October.
    9. Yoshihiro Eshima & Brian S. Anderson, 2017. "Firm growth, adaptive capability, and entrepreneurial orientation," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 38(3), pages 770-779, March.
    10. Granger, C W J, 1969. "Investigating Causal Relations by Econometric Models and Cross-Spectral Methods," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 37(3), pages 424-438, July.
    11. Arnett, Dennis B. & Wittmann, C. Michael, 2014. "Improving marketing success: The role of tacit knowledge exchange between sales and marketing," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 67(3), pages 324-331.
    12. Drechsler, Wenzel & Natter, Martin, 2012. "Understanding a firm's openness decisions in innovation," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 65(3), pages 438-445.
    13. Juha Uotila & Markku Maula & Thomas Keil & Shaker A. Zahra, 2009. "Exploration, exploitation, and financial performance: analysis of S&P 500 corporations," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(2), pages 221-231, February.
    14. Talke, Katrin & Salomo, Sören & Rost, Katja, 2010. "How top management team diversity affects innovativeness and performance via the strategic choice to focus on innovation fields," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 39(7), pages 907-918, September.
    15. Weerawardena, Jay & O'Cass, Aron & Julian, Craig, 2006. "Does industry matter? Examining the role of industry structure and organizational learning in innovation and brand performance," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 59(1), pages 37-45, January.
    16. James G. March, 1991. "Exploration and Exploitation in Organizational Learning," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 2(1), pages 71-87, February.
    17. Xueming Luo & Heli Wang & Sascha Raithel & Qinqin Zheng, 2015. "Corporate social performance, analyst stock recommendations, and firm future returns," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 36(1), pages 123-136, January.
    18. Ron Sanchez, 1995. "Strategic flexibility in product competition," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 16(S1), pages 135-159.
    19. O'Cass, Aron & Sok, Phyra, 2013. "Exploring innovation driven value creation in B2B service firms: The roles of the manager, employees, and customers in value creation," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 66(8), pages 1074-1084.
    20. O'Reilly, Charles A., III & Tushman, Michael L., 2013. "Organizational Ambidexterity: Past, Present and Future," Research Papers 2130, Stanford University, Graduate School of Business.
    21. Thorsten Beck & Asli Demirgüç‐Kunt & Vojislav Maksimovic, 2005. "Financial and Legal Constraints to Growth: Does Firm Size Matter?," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 60(1), pages 137-177, February.
    22. Janeiro, Pedro & Proença, Isabel & Gonçalves, Vítor da Conceição, 2013. "Open innovation: Factors explaining universities as service firm innovation sources," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 66(10), pages 2017-2023.
    23. Daniel A. Levinthal & James G. March, 1993. "The myopia of learning," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 14(S2), pages 95-112, December.
    24. Orr, Linda M. & Bush, Victoria D. & Vorhies, Douglas W., 2011. "Leveraging firm-level marketing capabilities with marketing employee development," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 64(10), pages 1074-1081, October.
    25. Auh, Seigyoung & Menguc, Bulent, 2005. "Balancing exploration and exploitation: The moderating role of competitive intensity," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 58(12), pages 1652-1661, December.
    26. Rajdeep Grewal & Joseph A. Cote & Hans Baumgartner, 2004. "Multicollinearity and Measurement Error in Structural Equation Models: Implications for Theory Testing," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 23(4), pages 519-529, June.
    27. Ho, Hillbun (Dixon) & Lu, Ruichang, 2015. "Performance implications of marketing exploitation and exploration: Moderating role of supplier collaboration," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 68(5), pages 1026-1034.
    28. Ted London & Stuart L Hart, 2004. "Reinventing strategies for emerging markets: beyond the transnational model," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 35(5), pages 350-370, September.
    29. Constantine Andriopoulos & Marianne W. Lewis, 2009. "Exploitation-Exploration Tensions and Organizational Ambidexterity: Managing Paradoxes of Innovation," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 20(4), pages 696-717, August.
    30. Allison, Thomas H. & McKenny, Aaron F. & Short, Jeremy C., 2013. "The effect of entrepreneurial rhetoric on microlending investment: An examination of the warm-glow effect," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 28(6), pages 690-707.
    31. Don Knight & Craig L. Pearce & Ken G. Smith & Judy D. Olian & Henry P. Sims & Ken A. Smith & Patrick Flood, 1999. "Top management team diversity, group process, and strategic consensus," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 20(5), pages 445-465, May.
    32. Ngo, Liem Viet & O'Cass, Aron, 2013. "Innovation and business success: The mediating role of customer participation," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 66(8), pages 1134-1142.
    33. Garrett, Robert P. & Covin, Jeffrey G. & Slevin, Dennis P., 2009. "Market responsiveness, top management risk taking, and the role of strategic learning as determinants of market pioneering," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 62(8), pages 782-788, August.
    34. Anna S. Cui & Fang Wu, 2016. "Utilizing customer knowledge in innovation: antecedents and impact of customer involvement on new product performance," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 44(4), pages 516-538, July.
    35. Talke, Katrin & Salomo, Søren & Kock, Alexander, 2011. "Top ManagementTeam Diversity and Strategic Innovation Orientation: The Relationship and Consequences for Innovativeness and Performance," Publications of Darmstadt Technical University, Institute for Business Studies (BWL) 63286, Darmstadt Technical University, Department of Business Administration, Economics and Law, Institute for Business Studies (BWL).
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Ferreira, Jorge & Coelho, Arnaldo & Moutinho, Luiz, 2020. "Dynamic capabilities, creativity and innovation capability and their impact on competitive advantage and firm performance: The moderating role of entrepreneurial orientation," Technovation, Elsevier, vol. 92.
    2. Olga Kassotaki, 2022. "Review of Organizational Ambidexterity Research," SAGE Open, , vol. 12(1), pages 21582440221, March.
    3. Yasser Alizadeh & Antonie J. Jetter, 2019. "Pathways for Balancing Exploration and Exploitation in Innovations: A Review and Expansion of Ambidexterity Theory," International Journal of Innovation and Technology Management (IJITM), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 16(05), pages 1-33, August.
    4. Koryak, Oksana & Lockett, Andy & Hayton, James & Nicolaou, Nicos & Mole, Kevin, 2018. "Disentangling the antecedents of ambidexterity: Exploration and exploitation," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 47(2), pages 413-427.
    5. Matthews, Lane & Heyden, Mariano L.M. & Zhou, Dan, 2022. "Paradoxical transparency? Capital market responses to exploration and exploitation disclosure," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 51(1).
    6. Veider, Viktoria & Matzler, Kurt, 2016. "The ability and willingness of family-controlled firms to arrive at organizational ambidexterity," Journal of Family Business Strategy, Elsevier, vol. 7(2), pages 105-116.
    7. Úbeda-García, Mercedes & Claver-Cortés, Enrique & Marco-Lajara, Bartolomé & Zaragoza-Sáez, Patrocinio, 2020. "Toward a dynamic construction of organizational ambidexterity: Exploring the synergies between structural differentiation, organizational context, and interorganizational relations," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 112(C), pages 363-372.
    8. Strobl, Andreas & Bauer, Florian & Matzler, Kurt, 2020. "The impact of industry-wide and target market environmental hostility on entrepreneurial leadership in mergers and acquisitions," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 55(2).
    9. Bob Walrave & A Georges L Romme & Kim E van Oorschot & Fred Langerak, 2017. "Managerial attention to exploitation versus exploration: toward a dynamic perspective on ambidexterity," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press and the Associazione ICC, vol. 26(6), pages 1145-1160.
    10. Guktae Kim & Moon-Goo Huh, 2015. "Exploration and organizational longevity: The moderating role of strategy and environment," Asia Pacific Journal of Management, Springer, vol. 32(2), pages 389-414, June.
    11. Andreea N. Kiss & Dirk Libaers & Pamela S. Barr & Tang Wang & Miles A. Zachary, 2020. "CEO cognitive flexibility, information search, and organizational ambidexterity," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 41(12), pages 2200-2233, December.
    12. Ioniţă Cătălin Gabriel, 2022. "Exploration vs. Exploitation: How Innovation Strategies Impact Firm Performance and Competitive Advantage," Proceedings of the International Conference on Business Excellence, Sciendo, vol. 16(1), pages 31-46, August.
    13. Karl Aschenbrücker & Tobias Kretschmer, 2022. "Performance-based incentives and innovative activity in small firms: evidence from German manufacturing," Journal of Organization Design, Springer;Organizational Design Community, vol. 11(2), pages 47-64, June.
    14. Bai, Xuan & Wang, Qingtao & Sheng, Shibin & Li, Julie Juan, 2021. "Cross-level interpersonal ties and IJV innovation: Evidence from China," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 134(C), pages 618-630.
    15. Michaela Wrede & Tobias Dauth, 2020. "A temporal perspective on the relationship between top management team internationalization and firms' innovativeness," Managerial and Decision Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 41(4), pages 542-561, June.
    16. Marina Estrada-Cruz & Noelia Rodriguez-Hernández & Antonio J. Verdú-Jover & Jose Maria Gómez-Gras, 2022. "The effect of competitive intensity on the relationship between strategic entrepreneurship and organizational results," International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal, Springer, vol. 18(1), pages 1-24, March.
    17. François Constant & Richard Calvi & Thomas Johnsen, 2020. "Managing tensions between exploitative and exploratory innovation through purchasing function ambidexterity Managing tensions between exploitative and exploratory innovation through purchasing functio," Post-Print hal-02891790, HAL.
    18. Shuwaikh, Fatima & Brintte, Souad & Khemiri, Sabrina, 2022. "The impact of dynamic ambidexterity on the performance of organizations: Evidence from corporate venture capital investing in North America," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 200(C), pages 991-1009.
    19. Youngtak M. Kim & John R. Busenbark & Seung-Hwan Jeong & Son K. Lam, 2022. "The performance impact of marketing dualities: a response surface approach to resolving empirical challenges," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 50(5), pages 915-940, September.
    20. Lennerts, Silke & Schulze, Anja & Tomczak, Torsten, 2020. "The asymmetric effects of exploitation and exploration on radical and incremental innovation performance: An uneven affair," European Management Journal, Elsevier, vol. 38(1), pages 121-134.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:jbrese:v:76:y:2017:i:c:p:127-135. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/jbusres .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.