Agility and Innovativeness: The Serial Mediating Role of Helping Behavior and Knowledge Sharing and Moderating Role of Customer Orientation

Abstract

This study aims to understand the mechanism whereby the Agile approach works by analyzing the effect of agility on innovativeness, the sequential mediating effect of helping behavior and knowledge sharing, and the moderating effect of customer orientation. Data for 323 Information and Communication Technology (ICT) companies and 964 non-ICT companies were collected and analyzed through online surveys. Bootstrapping analysis using Model No. 83 of the PROCESS macro confirmed that agility increases team members’ helping behaviors and strengthens knowledge sharing, which in turn has a positive effect on innovativeness. More specifically, helping behavior and knowledge sharing sequentially mediate the relationship between agility and innovativeness. In addition, the study verified that customer orientation moderates the effect of agility on helping behavior. This study is meaningful in showing that it is important to create a culture that pursues “customer value” while promoting mutually helping behavior and sharing knowledge when introducing Agile methodology.