Proceedings of The 6th International Conference on Applied Research in Management, Business and Economics
Year: 2023
DOI:
[PDF]
The Mediating Role of Improvisation between Knowledge Management and Innovativeness during COVID-19 Pandemic in Information Technology Companies in India
Karishma Trivedi
ABSTRACT:
Literature suggests that knowledge management processes develop improvisational capability, a capability to respond to unpredictable and unexpected changes. This further leads to innovativeness in firms. But the existing literature does not provide explicit evidence regarding this relationship. This study aims to examines the mediating effect of improvisational capability in the association between KM processes and Innovativeness. Drawing from the knowledge-based view of firms, and organizational improvisation theory, we first critically reviewing the literature and derive hypotheses. This study provides empirical evidence from IT organizations in India. Data is collected from 231 employees using a survey questionnaire during a period in the COVID-19 pandemic. After checking the data for reliability, validity, and biases, we test the hypotheses by structural equation modelling in AMOS. All KM processes, except acquisition have a positive and significant relationship with innovativeness and improvisation. Improvisation is positively related to all the dimensions of innovativeness- Product-service, and Behavioral. Mediation analysis shows that improvisation partially mediates the association between knowledge sharing-creation and behavioral innovativeness. Whereas it fully mediates the relationship between knowledge base and innovativeness. Improvisation has no mediation between KM processes, and Product-Service Innovativeness. This suggests KM facilitates organizations capability to improvise, which leads to innovative behavior of employees. The outbreak of COVID-19 had practical-socio-economic implications impacting the IT sector in India. The insights from the study would help the managers suggesting KM activities for building improvisation and innovation capabilities, thus adapting, and sustaining in the unpredictable environment of the pandemic, and enhancing employee performance, and creativity.
keywords: Knowledge sharing, knowledge acquisition, knowledge creation, knowledge base, Organizational improvisation