Innovation Management and Sustainability in Service Sector SMEs in Peru: An Organizational Management Approach

This study develops an emergent explanatory model examining the relationship between innovation management and organizational sustainability in service sector SMEs within an emerging Latin American economy. Using a cross-sectional quantitative design, data from 370 firms were analyzed through Spearman correlations, moderation analysis, and multiple regression models. While both innovation and sustainability reported high mean levels, no significant global association was found (ρ = −0.067, p = 0.196). However, firm size significantly moderated this relationship (B = −0.399, p = 0.008). In medium-sized firms, organizational innovation (β = −0.320, p = 0.013) and marketing innovation (β = −0.286, p = 0.042) negatively predicted sustainability, explaining 21.7% of variance. The findings suggest that innovation–sustainability dynamics are contingent upon organizational scale and growth stage, challenging universalistic assumptions. The study contributes to the contingency theory and dynamic capabilities literature by identifying size-dependent tensions during organizational expansion.