Cognitive flexibility and business model innovation: mediating roles of active search and bricolage

ABSTRACTUsing multiple regression based on data from 322 new ventures from China, this study develops a multiple-mediator framework to explain how new ventures achieve business-model innovation (BMI) under the cognitive view. The study verifies the triggering effect of cognitive flexibility on BMI. Furthermore, it highlights the significance of active search and bricolage as two knowledge-based entrepreneurial learning actions that mediate the relationship between cognitive flexibility and BMI. The study highlights the role of entrepreneurial cognition in facilitating knowledge-management activities for developing BMI in new ventures. Additionally, the study represents a step in new ventures’ BMI development and advances the understanding of entrepreneurial learning by shedding light on the effects of active search and bricolage in the entrepreneurial process.KEYWORDS: Active searchbricolagebusiness model innovationcognitive flexibility Disclosure statementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).Additional informationFundingThis research was supported by the Soft Science Research Projects of Shaanxi Province (2022KRM027), the Humanities and Social Science Fund of Ministry of Education of China (20YJA630097), and the China Scholarship Council. When contributing to this work, Jingjing Lin was a JSPS (Japan Society for the Promotion of Science) International Research Fellow in the Graduate School of Management at Kyoto University.Notes on contributorsSiyao LyuSiyao Lyu is currently a PhD candidate with the School of Management, Xi’an Jiaotong University. Her research interests are strategy and entrepreneurship. She has authored or coauthored research papers published in journals such as the Entrepreneurship Research Journal.Wenhong ZhaoWenhong Zhao is currently a Professor with the School of Management, Xi’an Jiaotong University. Her research interests are strategy and entrepreneurship. She has authored or coauthored research papers published in journals including the International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal, Management Decision, Entrepreneurship Research Journal, etc.Tomoki SekiguchiTomoki Sekiguchi is currently a Professor with the Graduate School of Management, Kyoto University. His research interests are human resource management and organisational behaviour. He has authored or coauthored research papers published in journals including the Asia Pacific Journal of Management, Journal of Business Research, Asian Business & Management, etc.Jingjing LinJingjing Lin is currently an Assistant Professor with the Centre of IT-based Education, Toyohashi University of Technology. Her research interests are e-Learning and entrepreneurship education. She has authored or coauthored research papers published in journals including the Information and Communication Technologies in Tourism, etc.