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Lookup NU author(s): Dr Saurabh BhattacharyaORCiD
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0).
Purpose – Leveraging upper echelon theory and knowledge-based view of the firm, this paper aims toexplore how chief executive officers’ (CEO) sustainability orientation influences explorative and exploitativeknowledge management practices, which in turn influence incremental and radical sustainable innovationunder boundary conditions of CEOs’ temporal focus and regional affiliation in the home country.Design/methodology/approach – This study used a nonprobability convenience sampling strategy.Using survey-based research, the authors tested the study hypotheses using partial least squaresstructural equation modeling on a sample of 298 CEOs from Indian small and medium enterprises. Thisstudy also tested the reliability and validity of the study variables by using internal consistency tests andconvergent and discriminant validity procedures.Findings – The study finds that CEO sustainability orientation affects incremental and radical sustainableinnovation via the mediating effect of explorative and exploitative knowledge management practices.Furthermore, CEOs’ past temporal focus increases the influence of orientation on exploitative knowledgemanagement. In contrast, future temporal focus increases the influence of CEO sustainability orientation onexploratory knowledge management practices. Finally, CEOs from the southwest, west and northwest regionsof India increase the influence of exploratory knowledge management on radical sustainable innovation.Research limitations/implications – This study has significant implications for understanding upper echelonfactors that drive knowledge management practices. CEO temporal focus (time orientation) anddemographic aspects (regional affiliation) influence CEOs’ investment in different knowledgemanagement and, hence, sustainable innovation management practices. However, this study does notexplore cross-cultural differences and the role of the entire top management team in influencingsustainability values on sustainability innovation via knowledge management practices.Practical implications – This study comprehends upper-echelon factors that drive investment inknowledge management and sustainable innovation practices. Findings imply that CEOs with past andfuture temporal focus can influence sustainable innovation, but their investment in knowledgemanagement strategies differs. Past temporal-focused CEOs invest more in exploitative and futuretemporal focus more in explorative knowledge management for influencing sustainable innovation.Originality/value – The study provides novel insights into the influence of upper-echelon traits onknowledge management and sustainable innovation practices. Extant literature has largely explored firm levelfactors such as organizational culture influencing a firm’s knowledge management practices.However, by integrating the upper echelon with the knowledge-based view of the firm, we explain how thetraits of the CEO, especially the temporal perspective, influence knowledge management and sustainableinnovation practices of firms.
Author(s): Agnihotri A, Bhattacharya S, Vrontis D, Monge F
Publication type: Article
Publication status: Published
Journal: Journal of Knowledge Management
Year: 2024
Pages: Epub ahead of print
Online publication date: 18/07/2024
Acceptance date: 15/06/2024
Date deposited: 18/07/2024
ISSN (electronic): 1367-3270
Publisher: Emerald
URL: https://doi.org/10.1108/JKM-02-2024-0225
DOI: 10.1108/JKM-02-2024-0225
ePrints DOI: 10.57711/wch3-fm49
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