Intellectual agility and innovation in micro and small businesses: The mediating role of entrepreneurial leadership

Abstract

The purpose of this research is to examine the relationship between intellectual agility, entrepreneurial leadership (measured through future orientation and community building) and the innovativeness of micro and small businesses in an efficiency-driven economy. Building on nexus of entrepreneurial leadership, human capital and economics of innovation literature, a theoretical model has been developed and tested empirically on a sample of 110 micro and small businesses from Serbia, a country with an emerging efficiency-driven economy by means of the structural equation modelling. Intellectual agility of employees positively influences the innovativeness of micro and small businesses, but this effect is strongly mediated through entrepreneurial leadership. Future orientation contributes significantly to innovativeness and the ability to build community links; in turn it is affected by the intellectual agility. The main theoretical contribution of this research lies in the emphasized role of intellectual agility of employees in micro and small businesses’ innovativeness, in the context of the emerging concept of entrepreneurial leadership. The findings are useful for managers and owners of micro and small businesses in their efforts to enhance the innovation of their firms, which will rely on the potential of intellectual agility of employees and the central role of entrepreneurial leadership in the future.