中小企业沉淀冗余对产品创新的影响机制——基于跨界搜索和环境特征的视角

Research on the Mechanism of Absorbed Slack to Product Innovation of SMEs: On the Perspective of Cross-border Search and Environmental Characteristics

尽管相关文献就组织冗余对企业创新的作用机制进行了理论阐释,但尚缺乏实证研究的支持,使得这一作用过程仍然处于"黑箱"状态。有研究认为,大企业组织冗余的作用和中小企业的会有所区别。基于中小企业特征,本文首先分析不同跨界搜索在沉淀冗余和中小企业产品创新之间所起的中介作用,以及环境因素在这一过程中所起的调节作用;其次,以科技型中小企业为调查对象,对这一传导机制模型进行实证检验,研究证实,沉淀冗余有利于中小企业产品创新,跨界搜索在这一过程起到中介作用,但对市场知识的跨界搜索并非有利于创新;环境动荡、跨界搜索的影响被增强;竞争激烈时,跨地域搜索和跨认知搜索对创新的作用分别被负向和正向调节;环境异质性高,市场知识对中小企业创新的影响减弱。

Ahhough literatures have stated how organizational slack effects enterprises＇ innovation, the mechanisms therein are still in blackbox for lacking further analysis and evidences from empirical studies. According to organizational behavior theory, organizational slack can inspire some behaviors or programs, including innovation, adaptation and risk taking. Organizational slack in large enterprises can support mega projects and investments which include R＆D programs cerntainly. Meanwhile, they may promote pet programs and arbitrary decision-makings. Because of the small quantity, organizational slack in small and medium-size enterprises （SMEs） can＇t play the same effects as in large ones, but it may inspire some common activities, such as search behaviors which are critical for SMEs＇ innovation. It demonstrates that we should create a separate analysis of slack＇s effects in the context of SMEs. Moreover, some scholars propose that SMEs treat innovation as the tool of gain competitive force to a higher extent than their large counterparts. Thus, understanding antecedents of product innovation in SMEs is very important, as these enterprises play an increasingly important role nowadays and are often considered as engines of economic growth and employment. In conclusion, we explore the mechanisms of slack on innovation in the context of SMEs in this paper. Two distinct viewpoints provide conflicting reasons for enterprises＇ decisions to treat slack from the perspective of innovation. Firstly, according to organizational behavior theory, slack act as a catalyst for innovation activities because it provides sufficient resource to explore and by supporting enterprises to deal with uncertainties brings relaxation of controls. Moreover, slack facilitates innovation , or even innovation failures with more confidence. Actually, managers often evaluate whether their enterprises have sufficient stock of resources and capabilities before making their decision about innovation. Secondly, according to agency theory, enterprises with large amounts of slack often invest in duhious pet R＆D projects which may cause missing of true opportunities for innovation. A long line of divergent studies previous support this paradox which remains an unsettled issue yet. But we deem that slack in SMEs can＇ t support or induce pet projects for its small quantity, especially for absorbed slack which can be used only in a few specific situations with low discretionary. We take science-based SMEs as the samples and confirm that, absorbed slack benefits SMEs＇ innovation definitely, and the latter viewpoint above seems untenable in this context. Aborbed slack provides resources and capacities, then stimulates search activities which certainly include cross-boundary searches. Innovation activities are usually regared as the process of trial and error with various com- binations of technologies which related searches contribute to cumulate. But knowledge from customers, suppliers and other market entities is likely to affect innovation outcomes of SMEs in the opposite direction. The major reason is that, SMEs often take single-strategy and market knowledge stimulates marketing campaigns, but not innovation. And then, we build the transmission mechanism model among absorbed slack, cross-border searches and product innovation, and the results of the empirical study testify the mediating roles of cross-border searches though some relationships between variables are not significant. These conclusions put forward the researches on the mechanism of organizational slack. Cross-boundary searches mean the processes of getting useful knowledge from outside, and the behaviors of SMEs also depend on environmental factors. We further analysis the moderating roles of three-dimension environ- ment in the active processes of searches on product innovation in SMEs, and find that： （ 1 ） turbulence of environment speeds up the refresh rate of knowledge and enhances the effects of cross-boundary searches ; （2） under pressure of fierce competitiveness from environment, SMEs prefer adopt the knowledge and technologies directly and promptly, especially the ones with more non-exclusive characters, such as those transferred from other geographic locations. But knowledge across current technological domains with more exclusive will be more beneficial in fierce competitiveness for their contribution to diversification of knowledge ; （3） heterogeneity means decentralize and diversification in costom needs. Excessive heterogeneity of environment decreases the response intentions of SMEs to the market knowledge, namely moderates the effects of search on market knowledge positively. These conclusions on moderating effects also provide some pratical suggestions to SMEs on how to use slack properly and to governmental and industrial agencies on how to support innovation of SMEs.