earticle

영어

A considerable number of previous studies regarding technological innovation have focused on technological innovation capabilities as a major factor affecting a firm’s technological innovation performance. In recent years, the concept of technological innovation orientation, which denotes the firm’s collective direction of thought toward steadily pursing and promoting technological innovation in the long run, has been presented as a crucial mechanism leading the firm to superior technological innovation performance. Technological innovation orientation indicates the degree to which the organizational members share the importance and long-term value of technological innovation and the firm-wide efforts and commitment to implement those technological innovations. As such, technological innovation orientation may be characterized as organizational culture representing the value and belief shared by members. While technological innovation orientation has conceptually and practically important implications for securing the firm‘s superior technological innovation performance and sustainable competitive advantage, so far a limited amount of research has been conducted on its role in improving the firm’s technological innovation performance. Given such limitation in prior research, this study empirically examined the impact of both technological innovation orientation and technological innovation capabilities on the firm’s technological innovation performance. Particularly, based on resource-based view and dynamic capabilities theory, this study regarded technological innovation orientation and technological innovation capabilities as two distinct strategic assets conferring a source of sustainable competitive advantage on the firm, and proposed and empirically investigated a theoretical research frame in which those two strategic assets must be complementarily used for the firm to actualize its technological innovation performance in full. For such a research purpose, this study suggested and empirically examined a research model and hypotheses concerning the impact of technological innovation orientation, technological innovation capabilities and the interaction between those two constructs on the firm’s technological innovation performance. To empirically test the proposed research model and hypotheses, this study conceptualized technological innovation capabilities as consisting of four critical dimensions of R&D, production/operations, marketing, and organization capabilities and analyzed the impact of these respective functional capabilities had on the firm’s technological innovation performance individually and through interaction with technological innovation orientation. Analysis of survey data on 86 Korean IT SMEs (small and medium-sized enterprises) provided substantial support for the proposed research model and hypotheses. Technological innovation orientation was found to positively influence the firm’s technological innovation performance. With regard to the relationship between technological innovation capabilities and technological innovation performance, R&D and production/operations capabilities had a positive effect on the firm’s technological innovation performance, whereas marketing and organization capabilities did not directly affect the firm’s technological innovation performance. Furthermore, the interaction between technological innovation orientation and R&D, production/operations, organization capabilities, respectively improved the firm’s technological innovation performance, while the interaction between technological innovation orientation and marketing capabilities was not correlated with the firm’s technological innovation performance. Results of this study are expected to promote a deep understanding of the relative roles of technological innovation orientation and technological innovation capabilities in creating the firm’s technological innovation performance and to offer valuable research data supporting the theoretical and empirical bases of resource-based view and dynamic capabilities theory by demonstrating the importance of the complementary combination of those two factors for securing the firm’s sustainable competitive advantage.

한국어

본 연구에서는 자원기반관점(resource-based view)과 동태적역량이론(dynamic capabilities theory)에 기초하여 기술혁신지향성과 기술혁신역량을 기업의 경쟁우위를 창출하는 서로 다른 개념의 두 전략적 자산(strategic asset)으로 파악하고, 기업의 우수한 기술혁신성과 창출을 위해 이 두 자산의 보완적(complementary) 조합이 이루어져야 한다는 이론적 틀을 제시하고 이를 실증 분석하였다. 이러한 관점에 따라 본 연구에서는 기술혁신지향성, 기술혁신역량 그리고 이 두 요인 간의 상호작용이 기업의 기술혁신성과에 미치는 영향에 대한 연구모델과 가설들을 제안하고 이를 실증 분석하였다. 제안된 연구모델과 가설들을 검증하기 위하여, 본 연구에서는 기술혁신지향성을 기술혁신을 지속적이고 장기적으로 추진하고 도모하려는 기업의 전반적인 사고방향 또는 조직문화로 개념화하였고 또한 R&D역량, 생산운영역량, 마케팅역량 및 조직역량의 4가지 기능역량을 기술혁신역량을 구성하는 가장 주요한 차원으로 파악 분석하였다. 86개의 국내 IT 중소기업을 대상으로 실증 분석한 결과, 기술혁신지향성과 R&D역량 및 생산운영역량이 기술혁신성과에 긍정적인 영향을 미치는 것으로 나타났다. 또한 기술혁신지향성이 R&D역량, 생산운영역량, 조직역량과 각각 상호작용하여 기술혁신성과를 증대시키는 것으로 나타났다. 본 논문의 연구결과는 기술혁신성과 창출을 위한 기술혁신지향성과 기술혁신역량의 상대적인 역할에 대한 심층적인 이해를 도모하고 기업의 우수한 기술혁신성과와 지속적인 경쟁우위 확보를 위한 이 두 요인의 보완적 조합의 중요성을 제시함으로써 자원기반관점과 동태적역량이론의 이론적, 실증적 기반을 지지하는 중요한 연구 자료가 될 것으로 기대된다.