본 연구는 최근 혁신을 위해 양면성 이론과 역설이론 등을 기반으로 역설적 속성의 공존 및 전략적 활용이 강조되어왔음에도 그 연구가 거시 수준(macro-level)에 국한되어 이루어져 온 협력적 경쟁에 대해 미시 수준(micro-level) 에서 그 영향력을 살펴보았다. 개인 수준에서 협력적 경쟁의 영향력을 살펴보기 위해 협력적 경쟁 경향성(Geraudel & Salvetat, 2014)이 개인의 혁신성과에 미치는 영향과 그 메커니즘을 검증하였다.
재직 중인 직장인 총 184명을 대상으로 실증분석을 실시하였으며, 그 결과 협력적 경쟁 경향성이 개인의혁신성과에 미치는 긍정적 영향을 확인하였다. 이러한 과정에서 개인의 흡수역량은 협력적 경쟁과 혁신성과 간의관계를 긍정적으로 매개하였으며, 리더-구성원 간 관계의 질(LMX)은 상황적 요인으로써 구성원의 협력적 경쟁경향성이 그들의 흡수역량에 미치는 긍정적 영향력을 강화하였다.
본 연구는 그동안 거시적 수준에 국한되어왔던 협력적 경쟁에 대해 미시적 수준에서 살펴보았다는 점에서 의미가있다. 구성원의 협력적 경쟁 경향성이 그들의 혁신적 업무 행동에 미치는 긍정적 영향력을 확인함으로써 구성원의혁신성과를 선행으로 하는 조직의 혁신을 도출하기 위해 조직 내 활발한 협력적 경쟁이 요구됨을 확인하였다. 또한개인 수준의 협력적 경쟁이 혁신성과를 유발하는 과정에서 그 메커니즘으로서 흡수역량의 긍정적 역할을확인하였으며, 이를 통해 개인의 흡수역량이 혁신성과를 유발하기 위한 주요 요인임을 검증하였다. 나아가 LMX가구성원의 협력적 경쟁 경향성이 그들의 흡수역량에 미치는 영향력을 강화함을 검증함에 따라 조직 내 지식의 습득및 활성화하는 흡수역량과 이를 통한 혁신에 있어 LMX 역시 중요한 상황 요인임을 확인하였다. 이러한 실증분석결과를 바탕으로 조직 내 구성원의 협력적 경쟁을 통한 혁신성과 도출과 흡수역량을 향상시키기 위한 전략 그리고그 과정에서 LMX의 긍정적 영향력의 확대를 위한 이론적/실무적 시사점을 제공하였다.
Due to the rapid changing in the industry such as the Fourth Industrial Revolution and uncertainty in the organizational environment, it is necessary to retain dynamic capabilities and organizational strategy to cause organizational innovation. Therefore, organizations build cooperative relationships with competitors to increase their own competitive advantage(Wu, 2014). In response to the current organizational situation, coopeition, the coexistence of competition and cooperation, has been attended in extensive management literature. However, it has been little attended at the micro-level. It is not difficult to observe coopetition among individuals in the organization. Individuals have to do innovative work behavior to achieve competitive advantage and they have to cooperate to achieve organizational goals. It implies that paradoxical dimensions coexist in an organization(Landkammer & Sassenberg, 2016). Also, it is important to manage paradoxical dimensions to achieve better organizational performance(Raza-Ullah, Bengtsson, & Kock, 2014).
Thus, we examined the impact of coopetition on innovative work behavior and the underlying mechanism between the propensity to coopetition(Geraudel & Salvetat, 2014) and innovative work behavior to provide a comprehensive understanding of coopetition at the individual level. To explore the underlying mechanism between propensity to coopetition and innovative work behavior, we attend to absorptive capacity as a mediator. Also, we test whether the leader-member relationship(LMX) influences the relationship between propensity to coopetition and absorptive capacity.
To test our hypotheses, we collected data from 184 individual employees. Our result showed that all of the hypotheses were supported. The result confirmed that the propensity to coopetition is positively related to innovative work behavior. Moreover, absorptive capacity mediated the relationship between propensity to coopetition and innovative work behavior. Also, leader-member exchange(LMX) moderated the relationship between propensity to coopetition and absorptive capacity.
This study contributes to coopetition in micro-level literature. Based on ambidexterity theory and paradox theory, we confirm the relationship between propensity to coopetition and innovative work behavior. Based on these results, this study implies that ambivalent conditions and paradoxical situations can be significant factors which affect organizational outcomes. Thus, it is necessary to explore coopetition at different levels including individual, inter-group, and organization.
Moreover, this study extends to absorptive capacity in the micro-level study. Absorptive capacity has been attended to in macro-level literature. Since absorptive capacity is related to an individual’s knowledge management including acquisition, and utilization, it applies to explain the knowledge acquisition and utilization of individual or team. This study showed that absorptive capacity can be an insightful element in the micro-level study.
Also, this study advances leadership literature by confirming the moderating effect of LMX on propensity to coopetition and absorptive capacity. LMX provides the individual with what information and knowledge is necessary to enhance their performance, thus individuals acquire and utilize the new knowledge and information(Yukl, Mahsud, Hassan, & Prussia, 2013). Our results showed that LMX enables effective learning through interaction with leaders and provide a clear guideline for individual, which lead to maximizing proper knowledge acquisition and internalization.
Based on empirical analysis, this study provides theoretical / practical implications to increase coopetition to maximize innovative work behavior at intra-organization.