The moderating effects of entrepreneurial orientation on technological opportunism and innovation performance

Purpose: Research shows how with the evolution of technologies, technological opportunism enables firms to effectively identify and exploit innovations and opportunities through strategic management practices, such as adopting an entrepreneurial orientation. The study’s purpose is to explain the nature of the relationship between technological opportunism and innovation performance, while accounting for any possible moderating effects of entrepreneurial orientation. Design/methodology/approach: A cross-sectional design was used to collect primary data from targeted respondents (n = 347) in the South African banking sector. Initially, instrument validity and reliability is established and the hypotheses are tested using multiple regression analyses. Findings: The findings support the hypotheses insofar higher levels of technological opportunism are positively associated with higher levels of innovation performance, which is moderated by entrepreneurial orientation in terms of innovativeness, risk-taking and proactiveness. Moreover, competitive hostility, as a control played a significant role in the moderation effect between technological opportunism and innovation performance. Practical implications: Leaders need to appreciate the importance of an entrepreneurial organization in leveraging technological opportunities which is pivotal for emerging economies, rather than individual entrepreneurial activities, which are rarely scalable in African economies. Originality/value: The study provides an original contribution by increasing the theoretical and empirical reach of research on entrepreneurial orientation and technological opportunism. Since the original scales have primarily been employed in developed economies, by verifying their psychometric properties, this now allows for further replication studies to take place in other similar emerging market contexts.