IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/techno/v74-75y2018ip32-41.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Improvisation for innovation: The contingent role of resource and structural factors in explaining innovation capability

Author

Listed:
  • Liu, Yang
  • Lv, Diwei
  • Ying, Ying
  • Arndt, Felix
  • Wei, Jiang

Abstract

This paper focuses on resource and structural factors to explore the relationship between organizational improvisation and innovation capability. Although the role of improvisation has attracted increasing academic attention in fast-changing environments, little is known about the conditions under which firms benefit from improvisation. This paper addresses this gap using an organizational learning perspective that explains the role of a firm's organizational structure and organizational resources for improvisation and innovation. A large-scale survey in China finds that firms vary in their levels of (I) centralization and formalization of decision making and (II) resource slack and investment irreversibility and that these factors moderate the relationship between improvisation and innovation capability in distinct ways. Consistent with our theorizing, improvisation enhances innovation capability when firms have a decentralized but formalized structure or pursue the dual goals of maximizing resource slack and minimizing investment irreversibility.

Suggested Citation

  • Liu, Yang & Lv, Diwei & Ying, Ying & Arndt, Felix & Wei, Jiang, 2018. "Improvisation for innovation: The contingent role of resource and structural factors in explaining innovation capability," Technovation, Elsevier, vol. 74, pages 32-41.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:techno:v:74-75:y:2018:i::p:32-41
    DOI: 10.1016/j.technovation.2018.02.010
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0166497218301275
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.technovation.2018.02.010?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. Justin J. P. Jansen & Frans A. J. Van Den Bosch & Henk W. Volberda, 2006. "Exploratory Innovation, Exploitative Innovation, and Performance: Effects of Organizational Antecedents and Environmental Moderators," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 52(11), pages 1661-1674, November.
    2. Dusya Vera & Mary Crossan, 2005. "Improvisation and Innovative Performance in Teams," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 16(3), pages 203-224, June.
    3. Karl E. Weick, 1998. "Introductory Essay—Improvisation as a Mindset for Organizational Analysis," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 9(5), pages 543-555, October.
    4. Mary Crossan & Joao Vieira da Cunha & Miguel Pina e Cunha & Dusya Vera, 2002. "Time and organizational improvisation," Nova SBE Working Paper Series wp410, Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Nova School of Business and Economics.
    5. Alva Taylor & Constance E. Helfat, 2009. "Organizational Linkages for Surviving Technological Change: Complementary Assets, Middle Management, and Ambidexterity," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 20(4), pages 718-739, August.
    6. Alan Carruth & Andy Dickerson & Andrew Henley, 2000. "What do We Know About Investment Under Uncertainty?," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 14(2), pages 119-154, April.
    7. Dosi, Giovanni & Grazzi, Marco & Mathew, Nanditha, 2017. "The cost-quantity relations and the diverse patterns of “learning by doing”: Evidence from India," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 46(10), pages 1873-1886.
    8. Tsai, Yingyi & Lin, Justin Yifu & Kurekova, Lucia, 2009. "Innovative R&D and optimal investment under uncertainty in high-tech industries: An implication for emerging economies," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 38(8), pages 1388-1395, October.
    9. Saemundsson, Rognvaldur J. & Candi, Marina, 2017. "Absorptive capacity and the identification of opportunities in new technology-based firms," Technovation, Elsevier, vol. 64, pages 43-49.
    10. Yuri Mishina & Timothy G. Pollock & Joseph F. Porac, 2004. "Are more resources always better for growth? Resource stickiness in market and product expansion," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 25(12), pages 1179-1197, December.
    11. Manders, Basak & de Vries, Henk J. & Blind, Knut, 2016. "ISO 9001 and product innovation: A literature review and research framework," Technovation, Elsevier, vol. 48, pages 41-55.
    12. Frank J. Barrett, 1998. "Coda—Creativity and Improvisation in Jazz and Organizations: Implications for Organizational Learning," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 9(5), pages 605-622, October.
    13. Steven W. Bradley & Dean A. Shepherd & Johan Wiklund, 2011. "The Importance of Slack for New Organizations Facing ‘Tough’ Environments," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 48, pages 1071-1097, July.
    14. Akbar Zaheer & Geoffrey G. Bell, 2005. "Benefiting from network position: firm capabilities, structural holes, and performance," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 26(9), pages 809-825, September.
    15. Ken Kamoche & Miguel Pina e Cunha & João Vieira da Cunha, 2003. "Towards a Theory of Organizational Improvisation: Looking Beyond the Jazz Metaphor," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 40(8), pages 2023-2051, December.
    16. Justin Tan & Mike W. Peng, 2003. "Organizational slack and firm performance during economic transitions: two studies from an emerging economy," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 24(13), pages 1249-1263, December.
    17. Raymond Van Wijk & Justin J. P. Jansen & Marjorie A. Lyles, 2008. "Inter‐ and Intra‐Organizational Knowledge Transfer: A Meta‐Analytic Review and Assessment of its Antecedents and Consequences," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 45(4), pages 830-853, June.
    18. Adomako, Samuel & Opoku, Robert A. & Frimpong, Kwabena, 2018. "Entrepreneurs' improvisational behavior and new venture performance: Firm-level and institutional contingencies," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 83(C), pages 10-18.
    19. Daniel A. Levinthal & James G. March, 1993. "The myopia of learning," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 14(S2), pages 95-112, December.
    20. Danchi Tan & Shih-Chang Hung & Nienchi Liu, 2007. "The Timing of Entry into a New Market: An Empirical Study of Taiwanese Firms in China," Management and Organization Review, The International Association for Chinese Management Research, vol. 3(2), pages 227-254, July.
    21. Seo, Hangyeol & Chung, Yanghon & Yoon, Hyungseok (David), 2017. "R&D cooperation and unintended innovation performance: Role of appropriability regimes and sectoral characteristics," Technovation, Elsevier, vol. 66, pages 28-42.
    22. Tan, Danchi & Hung, Shih-Chang & Liu, Nienchi, 2007. "The Timing of Entry into a New Market: An Empirical Study of Taiwanese Firms in China," Management and Organization Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 3(2), pages 227-254, July.
    23. Johannessen, Idar A. & McArthur, Philip W. & Jonassen, Jan R., 2015. "Informal leadership redundancy: Balancing structure and flexibility in subsea operations," Scandinavian Journal of Management, Elsevier, vol. 31(3), pages 409-423.
    24. Paul A. Pavlou & Omar A. El Sawy, 2010. "The “Third Hand”: IT-Enabled Competitive Advantage in Turbulence Through Improvisational Capabilities," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 21(3), pages 443-471, September.
    25. repec:bla:jecsur:v:14:y:2000:i:2:p:119-53 is not listed on IDEAS
    26. Baker, Ted & Miner, Anne S. & Eesley, Dale T., 2003. "Improvising firms: bricolage, account giving and improvisational competencies in the founding process," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 32(2), pages 255-276, February.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Quan Cai & Ying Ying & Yang Liu & Wei Wu, 2019. "Innovating with Limited Resources: The Antecedents and Consequences of Frugal Innovation," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(20), pages 1-23, October.
    2. Sun, Yang, 2021. "Case based models of the relationship between consumer resistance to innovation and customer churn," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 61(C).
    3. Mariano, Stefania & Laker, Benjamin, 2024. "On-the-fly decision making within organizations: A systematic literature review and future research directions," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 174(C).
    4. Fei Li & Jin Chen & Ying Ying, 2019. "Innovation Search Scope, Technological Complexity, and Environmental Turbulence: A N-K Simulation," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(16), pages 1-12, August.
    5. Jiang Wei & Ding Wang & Yang Liu, 2018. "Towards an asymmetry-based view of Chinese firms’ technological catch-up," Frontiers of Business Research in China, Springer, vol. 12(1), pages 1-13, December.
    6. Açıkgöz, Atif & Acikgoz, Fulya & Günsel, Ayşe & Latham, Gary P., 2023. "The relationship between imperfect information and performance speed: The mediation of improvisation in new product development teams," Technovation, Elsevier, vol. 121(C).
    7. Lu Chen & Ming Yuan & Han Lin & Yilong Han & Youyou Yu & Caihui Sun, 2023. "Organizational improvisation and corporate green innovation: A dynamic capability perspective," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 32(8), pages 5686-5701, December.
    8. Ying, Ying & Wang, Shixiang & Liu, Yang, 2022. "Make bricks without straw: Eco-innovation for resource-constrained firms in emerging markets," Technovation, Elsevier, vol. 114(C).
    9. Liu, Yang & Deng, Ping & Wei, Jiang & Ying, Ying & Wu, Bing, 2021. "How to gain from international R&D alliances? A mutual dependence logic," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 135(C), pages 800-815.
    10. Li Xiong, 2022. "Improvise to win: the relationship between entrepreneurial improvisation and start-up competitive advantage," Asian Business & Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 21(2), pages 184-204, April.
    11. Liu, Yang & Dong, Jiuyu & Mei, Liang & Shen, Rui, 2023. "Digital innovation and performance of manufacturing firms: An affordance perspective," Technovation, Elsevier, vol. 119(C).
    12. Escrig-Tena, Ana B. & Segarra-Ciprés, Mercedes & García-Juan, Beatriz, 2021. "Incremental and radical product innovation capabilities in a quality management context: Exploring the moderating effects of control mechanisms," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 232(C).
    13. Leone, Ludovica, 2020. "The Ratatouille paradox. An inductive study of creativity in haute cuisine," Technovation, Elsevier, vol. 92.
    14. Achmad Mamduh & Heri Pratikto, 2021. "Technology orientation and innovation capability in the digital transformation process of SMEs: A review," International Journal of Research in Business and Social Science (2147-4478), Center for the Strategic Studies in Business and Finance, vol. 10(8), pages 76-81, December.
    15. Liu, Yang & Dong, Jiuyu & Ying, Ying & Jiao, Hao, 2021. "Status and digital innovation: A middle-status conformity perspective," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 168(C).
    16. Tikas, Gaurav Dilip, 2023. "Team innovation capability: Scale development and validation," Technovation, Elsevier, vol. 126(C).
    17. Shaik, Aqueeb Sohail & Alshibani, Safiya Mukhtar & Mishra, Shreya & Papa, Armando & Cuomo, Maria Teresa, 2023. "Does learning from innovation failure enhance innovation performance? A quantitative investigation of small businesses," Technovation, Elsevier, vol. 127(C).

    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. Magni, Massimo & Palmi, Pamela & Salvemini, Severino, 2018. "Under pressure! Team innovative climate and individual attitudes in shaping individual improvisation," European Management Journal, Elsevier, vol. 36(4), pages 474-484.
    2. Sahi, Gurjeet Kaur & Gupta, Mahesh C. & Cheng, T.C.E., 2020. "The effects of strategic orientation on operational ambidexterity: A study of indian SMEs in the industry 4.0 era," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 220(C).
    3. Carolina Rojas-Córdova & Amanda J. Williamson & Julio A. Pertuze & Gustavo Calvo, 2023. "Why one strategy does not fit all: a systematic review on exploration–exploitation in different organizational archetypes," Review of Managerial Science, Springer, vol. 17(7), pages 2251-2295, October.
    4. Michael Sheppard, 2020. "The relationship between discretionary slack and growth in small firms," International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal, Springer, vol. 16(1), pages 195-219, March.
    5. Ciprian Stan & Mike Peng & Garry Bruton, 2014. "Slack and the performance of state-owned enterprises," Asia Pacific Journal of Management, Springer, vol. 31(2), pages 473-495, June.
    6. Bradley, Steven W. & Wiklund, Johan & Shepherd, Dean A., 2011. "Swinging a double-edged sword: The effect of slack on entrepreneurial management and growth," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 26(5), pages 537-554, September.
    7. Josep M. Argilés-Bosch & Josep Garcia-Blandón & Diego Ravenda & Mónica Martínez-Blasco, 2018. "An empirical analysis of the curvilinear relationship between slack and firm performance," Journal of Management Control: Zeitschrift für Planung und Unternehmenssteuerung, Springer, vol. 29(3), pages 361-397, December.
    8. Chih-Hsing Sam Liu & Jun-You Lin & Sheng-Fang Chou, 2022. "Wielding a double-edged sword? JV investment geographic diversity and parent's innovation," Review of Managerial Science, Springer, vol. 16(6), pages 1783-1816, August.
    9. Jing Zhang & Justin Tan & Poh Wong, 2015. "When does investment in political ties improve firm performance? The contingent effect of innovation activities," Asia Pacific Journal of Management, Springer, vol. 32(2), pages 363-387, June.
    10. Wiersma, Eelke, 2017. "How and when do firms translate slack into better performance?," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 49(5), pages 445-459.
    11. Verena Komander & Andreas König, 2024. "Organizations on stage: organizational research and the performing arts," Management Review Quarterly, Springer, vol. 74(1), pages 303-352, February.
    12. 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.
    13. Mohsin Shahzad & Abaid Ullah Zafar & Maoran Ye & Xiangan Ding, 2024. "Harmony in flux: Unraveling the green innovation with organizational forgetting, absorptive capacity, and the jazz of organizational improvisation," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 33(5), pages 4145-4161, July.
    14. Dusya Vera & Mary Crossan, 2005. "Improvisation and Innovative Performance in Teams," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 16(3), pages 203-224, June.
    15. Adomako, Samuel & Opoku, Robert A. & Frimpong, Kwabena, 2018. "Entrepreneurs' improvisational behavior and new venture performance: Firm-level and institutional contingencies," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 83(C), pages 10-18.
    16. Guo, Feng & Zou, Bo & Zhang, Xiaofei & Bo, Qingwen & Li, Kai, 2020. "Financial slack and firm performance of SMMEs in China: Moderating effects of government subsidies and market-supporting institutions," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 223(C).
    17. Zhang, Man & Merchant, Hemant, 2020. "A causal analysis of the role of institutions and organizational proficiencies on the innovation capability of Chinese SMEs," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 29(2).
    18. Haibin Yang & Sunny Sun & Zhiang Lin & Mike Peng, 2011. "Behind M&As in China and the United States: Networks, learning, and institutions," Asia Pacific Journal of Management, Springer, vol. 28(2), pages 239-255, June.
    19. Ting Yu & Xueling Li, 2022. "RETRACTED ARTICLE: The relationship between organizational improvisation and economic performance by moderating effects of regional economic level, market environment and cultural background: a meta-a," Operations Management Research, Springer, vol. 15(3), pages 965-982, December.
    20. Michelle L. Lofton, 2022. "The impact of excess taxing capacity on short‐term resources," Public Budgeting & Finance, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 42(1), pages 3-27, March.

    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:techno:v:74-75:y:2018:i::p:32-41. 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.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/01664972 .

    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.