Is supplier involvement always beneficial for financial performance? The roles of ambidextrous innovations and product smartness
International Journal of Operations & Production Management
ISSN: 0144-3577
Article publication date: 1 July 2022
Issue publication date: 4 October 2022
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the performance impact of supplier involvement, based on the knowing processes and contingencies of knowledge-based view. Ambidextrous innovations (i.e. exploitative innovation and exploratory innovation) are taken as intermediary processes. Furthermore, product smartness is considered to clarify boundary conditions.
Design/methodology/approach
The ordinary least squares regression was conducted, based on the two-source data collected from 125 high-tech firms in China.
Findings
Ambidextrous innovations positively mediate the relationship between supplier involvement and financial performance. Product smartness weakens the indirect impact via exploratory innovation but not exploitative innovation.
Originality/value
This study reveals the knowledge application and recombination mechanisms of ambidextrous innovations to mediate between supplier involvement and financial performance. It also highlights digital encapsulation function of product smartness as a contingent factor.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank the editor Tobias Schoenherr and three anonymous reviewers for their insightful comments and suggestions. This study was supported by Yunnan Deng Ronglin Education Foundation, the Program for Innovation Research in Central University of Finance and Economics, the Research Foundation for Youth Scholars of Beijing Technology and Business University, the 2021 Undergraduate Teaching Reform Innovation Project of Higher Education in Beijing, the National Natural Science Foundation of China under Grant Nos 71302128, 71774182, and the National Social Science Foundation of China under Grant No. 19BGL096.
Citation
Wang, Y., Jia, T. and Chen, J. (2022), "Is supplier involvement always beneficial for financial performance? The roles of ambidextrous innovations and product smartness", International Journal of Operations & Production Management, Vol. 42 No. 11, pp. 1653-1677. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJOPM-10-2021-0674
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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