Unveiling the role of risk‐taking in innovation: antecedents and effects

Abstract

This study addresses innovation development with a focus on risk-taking, widely considered a relevant driver for the exploration and exploitation of new ideas. The study empirically examines the effects of risk-taking propensity on innovation performance and its antecedents. We consider the role of several key antecedents related to the organizational structure and the activities of firms aimed at encouraging employees to take risks in innovation. We performed an empirical survey within a global and innovation-oriented Swedish company to test our hypotheses. Correlation and linear regression analyses were used to analyze the collected data. The results highlight the significant effect of risk-taking on innovation performance and show that the availability of organizational resources, innovation support activities, clear innovation goals, and collaboration have a significant positive effect on risk-taking. However, contrary to the hypothesis, well-established innovation processes have a significant but negative effect on risk-taking and innovation performance. This study contributes to existing knowledge on the role of risk-taking for innovation, providing insights into designing organizational contexts that encourage an appropriate risk appetite in employees.

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“…For example, using the example of a group operating in more than 70 countries, it was proven that risk-taking has an impact on innovation performance. It was further indicated that clearly defined innovation goals, cooperation, innovation support activities, and availability of organizational resources positively determine risk-taking (Giaccone & Magnusson, 2022). A study of Chinese companies found that risk-taking indirectly affects the relationship between digital transformation and innovation (Liu et al, 2023).…”

Do customer centricity and innovativeness mediate the relationship between total quality management and the corporate success of SaaS companies?

“…According to Hult et al (2004), innovation involves upgrading products, processes, or procedures to improve an organization's performance (Bhupendra and Sangle, 2022;Ranjan and Nayak, 2023). The relationship between innovation and performance has also been extensively studied in organizations operating in various sectors (Akg€ un et al, 2014;Carlos Pinho, 2008;Giaccone and Magnusson, 2022). However, it has been limited in the context of SaaS companies operating in an emerging economy such as India.…”

Dynamic Evaluation of Project Governance in Collaborative Innovation Projects: A Case of Industry Technology Research Institute

“…Considering collaborating among partners with different expertise is a practical approach to improving the reliability of the innovation process [38], a myriad of studies have examined the rules of enterprise collaboration with various types of institutions, such as universities [39,40], customers, and suppliers [41], so as to understand how to control the collaboration process and what are the major factors that drive the successes and failures of such innovation endeavors [42]. However, significant hurdles remain in the implementation process, including the lack of close cooperation among partners [43], unstable operation, and low success rate [44], and existing research does not provide an effective method to evaluate the collaboration process.…”