Roles of organizational flexibility and organizational support on service innovation via organizational learning – A moderated mediation model

Abstract

The study aims to determine if organizational flexibility and support generate innovation in IT solutions, providing firms with enhanced competitiveness. It also explores the mediating role of organizational learning in its flexibility and innovation dynamics and the moderating influence of employees' perceived organizational support on its flexibility and learning. The paper argues that the inimitable internal resources of flexibility, learning capabilities, and a supportive climate can help service-oriented firms innovate to enhance their competitive advantage. A quantitative approach was adopted to conduct a cross-sectional survey of 1350 IT solution-providing companies concentrating on Software Export zones based in India. The structural equation modeling technique was adopted to test the validity and reliability of the measurement models, followed by the proposed direct, mediating, and moderating relationships among organizational flexibility, learning, support, and service innovation. The findings illuminate the significant positive influence of firm-level resources of organizational flexibility on learning, leading to amplified innovation in its services. Additionally, perceived support from the organization's side towards the employees mitigates the positive relationship between organizational flexibility and organizational learning, indicating a negative association. This study also highlighted the untested influence of organizational support as a mitigator of learning in flexible organizations.