Management Review

Management Review ›› 2023, Vol. 35 ›› Issue (2): 94-105.

• Innovation and Entrepreneurship Management • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Will Management Innovation Improve Competitive Advantage through the Non-linear Mediating Effect of Bricolage in SMEs: The Moderating Effect of Leader-Follower Cognition Congruence for Management Innovation

Ye Baosheng1,2, Yu Chuanpeng2,3, Lin Chunpei4, Chen Qi5   

  1. 1. School of Business Administration, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 510640;
    2. Guangzhou Institute of Digital Innovation, Guangzhou 510640;
    3. Department of Tourism Management, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 510006;
    4. College of Business Administration, Huaqiao University, Quanzhou 362021;
    5. School of Management, Shanghai University of International Business and Economics, Shanghai 201620
  • Received:2020-10-19 Online:2023-02-28 Published:2023-03-27

PDF (PC)

201

Abstract: Considering the resource constraints in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), this paper explores whether management innovation (MI) will improve SMEs' competitive advantage (CA) via the non-linear mediating effect of bricolage and analyzes the moderating effect of leader-follower cognition congruence (LFCC) for MI, according to the perspective of capacity building and the theory of individual-environment fit. Taking 453 manufacturing SMEs from the two-wave survey data in the South China area as the objects, this paper tests the research hypotheses by using the techniques of the three-step curve test, bootstrap, and John-Neyman analysis. The results show that:(1) MI has a "diminishing marginal" effect on CA in SMEs, but the effect of "too much of a good thing" between MI and CA is not supported. (2) At the average level of LFCC, bricolage plays a non-linear mediator role, contributing to the effects of "decreasing margin" and "too much of a good thing" between MI and CA because MI has an inverted U-shaped relationship with bricolage. (3) At a higher level of LFCC, the negative effect in the inverted U-shaped curve between MI and bricolage is suppressed. Hence, bricolage contributes to the only effect of "decreasing marginal" between MI and SMEs' CA, and the "too much of a good thing" effect is not supported, which complies with result 1. The results above explain the non-linear mechanism of how MI enhances SMEs' CA and the conditions that are relied on in the case of resource constraints, and provide some insights for SMEs to improve their MI.

Key words: management innovation, bricolage, competitive advantage, leader-follower cognition congruence