Science Research Management ›› 2025, Vol. 46 ›› Issue (2): 149-157.DOI: 10.19571/j.cnki.1000-2995.2025.02.015

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The path mechanism and boundary conditions for transition from the improvisation proclivity of innovative personnel to the innovation and change of teams

Xiong Li1, Nian Pengxiang2, Yu Wei1,3, Lu Wenzhu4   

  1. 1. School of Business Administration, Jiangxi University of Finance and Economics, Nanchang 330032, Jiangxi, China; 
    2. School of Business Administration, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 510640, Guangdong, China; 
    3. School of Economics, Management and Law, Jiangxi Science and Technology Normal University, Nanchang 330038, Jiangxi, China;
    4. School of Management, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou 730000, Gansu, China
  • Received:2023-03-13 Revised:2024-12-03 Online:2025-02-20 Published:2025-02-11

Abstract:      Nowadays, in the face of the complex and volatile market environment, companies increasingly rely on the improvisational discoveries of innovative personnel to achieve their own innovation and development. However, the process of translating improvisational ideas generated by innovative personnel into actual team innovation and transformation, though significant in practical terms, remains an unclear mechanism of transformation. Based on the model of creativity and innovation, and by taking serendipity as the entry point, this paper explored the upward transformation mechanism from the proclivity for improvisation of innovative personnel to team innovation and change, as well as the moderating effect of accessibility to resources and team reflection. By conducting the path analysis on 231 two-wave data, the results showed that: (1) the proclivity for improvisation of members can significantly promote serendipity; (2) resource availability plays a positive moderating role in the impact of members′ proclivity for improvisation on serendipity; (3) the interaction effect of serendipity and team reflection has a positive impact on member-initiated team innovation and change; and (4) team reflection plays a crucial moderating role in the indirect positive impact of member′s proclivity for improvisation through serendipity on member-initiated team innovation and change (the latter part). This study has opened the "black box" of how individual proclivity for improvisation affect team innovation and change, thus providing a unique perspective on understanding the specific mechanisms by which individual proclivity for improvisation trigger team innovation and change, and offering some theoretical and practical references on how to absorb and transform individual improvisational value to stimulate "bottom-up" team innovation and change.

Key words: team-member′s proclivity for improvisation, serendipity, resource availability, team reflection, member-initiated team innovation and change