Entrepreneurial Creativity and Business Innovation Performance: The Role of Competitivenes Mechanism Protection and Competitive Intensity

The increasingly complex demand is a problem for a business because high creativity is not guaranteed for entrepreneurs to excel at innovation. The purpose of this study was to explore the important role of entrepreneurial creativity in improving business innovation performance through the mechanism of protecting competitiveness and moderating the intensity of the MSME business sector in Central Java, Indonesia. This study sampled 213 entrepreneurs operating in the micro, small, and medium enterprise sectors. The quantitative data from these respondents were analyzed using the SEM-PLS path analysis technique. The findings of the five hypotheses show that the role of entrepreneurial creativity, directly and indirectly mediated by the mechanism of protecting competitiveness, can potentially increase the performance of business innovation. However, on the contrary, the high intensity of competition has implications for weakening business innovation performance. The study's implications make a practical contribution to MSMEs. In the spirit of creativity, entrepreneurs must continue to consider external factors, from changing consumer preferences government policies, and competitive dynamics that conquer their competitive advantages.