Antecedents and Outcomes of Innovation Capability: A Case of European Automotive Organizations

Abstract

Most of the firms are keen to achieve desired performance levels and competitive advantage through creativity and innovation. Thus, drawing on the resource-based view current study aims to contribute by exploring the underlying mechanism through which firms' characteristics are linked with firm performance and competitive advantage. Using online survey data was collected from 303 managers from German and Italian SMEs, results revealed that innovation capability mediated the associations between antecedents (creativity & dynamic capability) and outcomes (competitive advantage and performance). Several key policy insights and future research directions are suggested.