Research On The Influence Of Dynamic Underperformance And Organizational Slack On Firms’ Innovation Search

Under the background of a new normal for economic development,the key role of innovation in economic growth and development has become more prominent.Since innovation is usually driven by technological progress or market demand,accordingly,firms can take market-oriented or technology-oriented innovation search behaviors to enrich their knowledge base,to further improve firm innovation.In addition,due to the resource-limited and technology-intensive characteristics of high-tech small and medium-sized enterprises(SMEs),SMEs are unable to provide all the knowledge needed for product innovation by themselves,so they will more frequently carry out external technology search activities to seek technical knowledge from external sources to make up for their own defic iencies.At present,more and more scholars have paid attention to innovation search.Although prior studies have proposed that resources and problems are two critical factors driving firm innovation search,few studies have taken time effects into account to consider the impact of problem persistence and resource persistence on firms’ innovation search behaviors.In addition,in terms of static resource driving,previous studies have failed to reach a consensus on whether resource intensity can positively or negatively drive firms’ innovation search behaviors.Besides,previous research has paid little attention to the role of institutional situations and internal and external environmental factors in emerging markets.Therefore,this study introduces the time dimension of the antecedents of innovative search and considers the situational factors of emerging markets.Based on the problems and resources to drive firms’ search behavior logic,this research builds the theoretical model of the influences of dynamic underperformance and organizational slack on high-tech SMEs’ innovation search and performance,while considering moderators of environmental factors.Firstly,this study from the logic of problem-driven search behavior,on the basis of the Behavior Theory of the Firm(BTOF)and the theory of Environmental Scanning,validates and reveals the influence of underperformance duration on high-tech SMEs’ technology search and market search,while considering the SMEs’ internal and external environmental factors.It is found that as underperformance duration continues,enterprises are more and more inclined to reduce technology search activities to solve the problem of underperformance.However,firms will respond by increasing market search volume and then decreasing it.In addition,the technology search behavior of high-tech SMEs is more sensitive in the face of organizational risks,and market search behavior is more sensitive in the face of industry competition.Therefore,there are some differences in the moderating effects of organizational risk and industry competition.Then,based on resource-driven search behavior logic,this study explores and reveals the influence of organizational slack on high-tech SMEs’ technology search and market search,while considering the growth and profit strategic orientations,and then takes technology search and market search as a paradox,based on the opposite and uniformity of paradox,and then further explores the synergy of high-tech SMEs’ performance.The results show that organizational slack can promote enterprises to carry out technology and market search activities;a growth-oriented strategy can enhance the positive impact of slack on technology and market search,while a profit-oriented strategy can only strengthen the positive impact of slack on technology search.This study further found that technology search and market search are difficult to have a positive synergistic effect on the performance of high-tech SMEs.Next,considering the external technology search on the importance of the high-tech SMEs,from the problem-and resource-driven search behavior logic,this research analyzes and reveals the different impacts of underperformance duration and outperformance duration on high-tech SMEs’ external technology search,while considering the moderating role of institutional context.It is found that with the continuous underperformance duration,the external technology search activity of enterprises will first decline and then increase.On the contrary,with t he continuous outperformance duration,the enterprise’s external technology search activity will increase first and then decrease.These findings further reveal the differentiation of external technology search activities driven by problems and resources;In addition,the market-supporting institutions positively moderate the relationship between outperformance duration and the external technology search of high-tech SMEs.Finally,from the logic of resource-driven search behaviors,based on the resource-based view and environmental scanning theory,this paper studies,verifies,and reveals the mediating mechanism of external technology search on the relationship between organizational slack and performance in high-tech SMEs,and explores the moderating mechanisms of organizational risk and government subsidies.We find that external technology search partially mediates the relationship between organizational slack and the performance of high-tech SMEs.From the perspective of environmental scanning,both organizational risk and government subsidy positively moderated the indirect effect of organizational slack on the performance of high-tech SMEs through external technology search.This study takes high-tech SMEs as the research object.Based on the logical framework of the problem-and resource-driven innovation search behavior of enterprises,combined with BTOF,resource-based view,environmental scanning,and institutional theory,and on the basis of research results related to innovation search,performance feedback,and organizational slack,this thesis comprehensively analyzes the influence mechanism of underperformance duration,organizational slack and outperformance duration on the market search and technology search of enterprises,and further reveals the moderating mechanism of internal and external contextual factors.This study enriches the relevant literature in the field of innovative search and performance feedback and has a certain reference value for guiding enterprises to carry out innovative search activities from management practice perspectives.