Antecedents of Product Innovation for Vietnamese SMEs: The Roles of Transformational Leadership and Organizational Culture

Abstract

Innovation capability is regarded the fundamental factor for firms to survive and achieve competitive advantage in the context of increasing competitive pressure. The purpose of this paper is to elaborate the impacts of transformational leadership (TL) on innovation product via mediating role of a certain form of organizational culture namely collaborative culture. The paper used Structural Equations Modeling (SEM) to examine the relationship among these latent factors using survey data gathered from 215 participants of 61 medium and small-sized firms in Vietnam. The findings of this study highlight the significant impact of TL on product innovation compared to the impact of collaborative culture on product innovation. This study reveals that collaborative culture significantly serves as a crucial mediator in linking the effects of TL on product innovation. Importantly, the findings of this study have advanced the understanding and brought new initiatives on key antecedents by which CEOs and managers should follow and focus their efforts to improve product innovation capability for Vietnamese SMEs. Keywords: Transformational leadership; Organizational culture; Collaborative culture; Product innovation; Innovation capability