管理创新与中小企业竞争优势——资源拼凑能力的非线性中介作用和领导下属认知一致性的调节作用

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

基于能力建构视角以及个体-环境匹配理论,引入资源拼凑能力变量,探究管理创新能否通过资源拼凑能力提升中小企业竞争优势的过程机制,并分析领导下属认知一致性的情境效应。以453份华南地区中小型制造企业纵向跟踪调查问卷数据为样本,采用Haans等建议的三步骤曲线检验以及Bootstrap的非线性中介检验、John-Neyman调节分析技术,对假设进行实证检验,得出以下结论:(1)管理创新与中小企业竞争优势的总效应存在边际效应递减,“过犹不及”效应未得到实证数据支持。(2)在不考虑领导下属认知一致性的情境下,由于管理创新与资源拼凑能力存在倒U型关系,适度管理创新能够通过资源拼凑能力的间接作用提升中小企业竞争优势;然而当管理创新开展过多时,其无法通过资源拼凑能力的间接作用提升中小企业竞争优势。(3)在较高领导下属认知一致性情境下,由于管理创新与资源拼凑能力的倒U型曲线拐点后的负向效应得到抑制,此时,资源拼凑能力促成了管理创新与中小企业竞争优势的“边际递减”,而“过犹不及”效应未得到实证数据支持的结果。本研究结果解释了中小企业管理创新提升竞争优势的非线性传导机制与情境依赖条件,有助于为中小企业管理创新提供管理启示。

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.