Innovation in manufacturing SMEs during the COVID-19 pandemic: How does environmental dynamism reinforce employee proactive behavior?

Yi-Fen Huang; Hung-Chun Lin; Hsu-Mei Lee

doi:10.1016/j.techfore.2022.122247

Innovation in manufacturing SMEs during the COVID-19 pandemic: How does environmental dynamism reinforce employee proactive behavior?

Technol Forecast Soc Change. 2023 Feb:187:122247. doi: 10.1016/j.techfore.2022.122247. Epub 2022 Dec 1.

Authors

Yi-Fen Huang¹, Hung-Chun Lin², Hsu-Mei Lee³

Affiliations

¹ Department of Business Administration, Dayeh University, 168 University Road, Dacun, Changhua, Taiwan, ROC.
² College of Management, Dayeh University, 168 University Road, Dacun, Changhua, Taiwan, ROC.
³ Department of International Business Management, Dayeh University, 168 University Road, Dacun, Changhua, Taiwan, ROC.

Abstract

In a turbulent environment such as during the COVID-19 pandemic crisis, employee proactive behavior is imperative for innovation initiatives in small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). We ask whether and how turbulent environments motivate employees to proactively engage in innovative behavior. This study argues that employees' perceptions of environmental dynamism reinforce employee proactive innovation behavior. Using a sample comprising 262 innovative employees from 40 manufacturing SMEs in Taiwan, this study tests a moderated-mediation model in which environmental dynamism is expected to increase the indirect effect of creative self-efficacy on employee innovative behavior through knowledge acquisition. The results confirm the mediating role of knowledge acquisition and the positive moderating effect of environmental dynamism. This study sheds light on the issue of employee proactive behavior in response to changing environments.

Keywords: Creative self-efficacy; Employee innovative behavior; Environmental dynamism; Knowledge acquisition.