Maneuvering through Hostile Environments: How Firms Leverage Product and Process Innovativeness

Is focusing on innovativeness the appropriate organizational response in hostile environments? This study addresses four distinct forms of hostile environments: market decline, restrictiveness, competition, and resource scarcity. The research draws on contingency theory to explain how these forms of hostility affect product innovativeness, process innovativeness, and firm performance. While the extant literature has investigated the effects of hostile environments on performance, little has been done to distinguish between different forms of hostility and, in turn, their potential effect on product and process innovativeness. We argue that investments in product and process innovativeness are either fostered or hindered, contingent on the form of hostile pressures from the external operating environment. These firm responses should in turn suppress the negative effects of hostility on performance. A survey using newly developed measurement scales for hostile environments was used to collect data from 148 small and medium‐sized manufacturing plants. The results provide evidence that generally supports our hypotheses. More specifically, the direct effects of the four forms of hostile environments impact product and process innovativeness differently. Likewise, the suppression and consistent mediation effects of product and process innovativeness differ depending upon the type of hostile environment, suggesting that manufacturers consider applying these capabilities contingent upon the type of hostile climate they face. Therefore, to understand how firms leverage product and process innovativeness, hostile environments are best differentiated into categories rather than being aggregated.