Knowledge integration and entrepreneurial firms’ frugal innovation in the service industry
Journal of Business & Industrial Marketing
ISSN: 0885-8624
Article publication date: 29 March 2022
Issue publication date: 22 January 2023
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to examine how knowledge integration influences entrepreneurial firms’ frugal innovation in the service industry. This study builds a moderated mediation framework to investigate the effect of knowledge integration on frugal innovation via entrepreneurial bricolage and under moderations of competitive intensity and government support.
Design/methodology/approach
This study uses a two-wave survey study among 278 entrepreneurial firms from the service industry in China.
Findings
The findings reveal that knowledge integration positively influences entrepreneurial firms’ frugal innovation via entrepreneurial bricolage. Competitive intensity strengthens both the direct effect of knowledge integration on entrepreneurial bricolage and the indirect effects of knowledge integration on frugal innovation via entrepreneurial bricolage. Government support buffers the effect of entrepreneurial bricolage on frugal innovation but does not influence the indirect effect of knowledge integration on frugal innovation.
Practical implications
This study advocates for managers in entrepreneurial firms to cultivate knowledge integration to improve frugal innovation through activating entrepreneurial bricolage strategy and to pay attention to competitive intensity and government support in the transformation process from knowledge integration to frugal innovation.
Originality/value
While the link between knowledge integration and frugal innovation of entrepreneurial firms in the service industry remains unexplored in the fields of knowledge and innovation management, this study contributes to the knowledge and innovation management literature by exploring the mediating role of entrepreneurial bricolage based on a knowledge-based view and the moderation roles of competitive intensity and government support in this relationship.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
This work was supported in part by National Natural Science Foundation of China under Grants 71901106 and 71802098, Chinese Ministry of Education of Humanities and Social Science under Grant 18YJC630169.
Citation
Wang, C. and Li, X. (2023), "Knowledge integration and entrepreneurial firms’ frugal innovation in the service industry", Journal of Business & Industrial Marketing, Vol. 38 No. 3, pp. 429-443. https://doi.org/10.1108/JBIM-03-2021-0188
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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