The moderating impact of organizational identity strength between strategic improvisation and organizational memory and their effects on competitive advantage

Abstract

In the ever-changing environment, companies are often required to adopt improvised responses to certain unpredicted events and sometimes need to improvise strategically to sustain or thrive. However, the mechanism between strategic improvisation and competitive advantage is understudied. In this study, we try to unveil the mechanism by proposing a moderated mediation model investigating the relationships among strategic improvisation, organizational memory, organizational identity strength, and competitive advantage. Using survey data collected among top managers and members of funding teams in Jiangsu Province, China, we find that strategic improvisation is positively related to competitive advantage, and most importantly, this relationship is partially mediated by organizational memory. However, the moderating effect of organizational identity strength on the relationship between strategic improvisation and organizational memory is not proven. We contribute to the existing literature by making up for the deficiency of the traditional resource-based view to some extent, enhancing the understanding of strategic improvisation, and contributing to achieving sustainable development goals 8 and 12. We also offer some practical suggestions to top managers in terms of cultivating improvising learning as well.