From Creative Environment to Administrative Innovation: Creation and Implementation in Top Management Teams

Abstract

AbstractDrawing upon the stage model of innovation and the ability–motivation–opportunity (AMO) framework, we hypothesize the mediating role of top management team (TMT) creativity and the moderating roles of external social capital and environmental uncertainty in the relationship between TMT creative team environment and a firm’s administrative innovation. We collected multisource data from 136 TMTs and tested the hypotheses using bootstrap method with SPSS 23.0. As hypothesized, TMT creativity mediated the relationship between a creative team environment and administrative innovation. Moreover, external social capital amplified the effect of a creative team environment on TMT creativity and subsequently its indirect effect on administrative innovation via TMT creativity, whereas environmental uncertainty weakened the effect of a creative team environment on TMT creativity and subsequently its indirect effect on administrative innovation via TMT creativity. We advanced team creativity theory and research by showing how internal and external environment jointly shape creativity and innovation. We not only tested the stage model of innovation by showing TMT creativity as a mechanism linking creative team environment and administrative innovation, but also extended it by revealing external boundary conditions for this mechanism. Finally, we contribute to the upper echelon research by revealing the negative role of environmental uncertainty in the TMT creation stage.