CREATIVE AND PURE IMITATION UNDER ENVIRONMENTAL TURBULENCE: EVIDENCE FROM AN EMERGING ECONOMY

Due to the significance of imitation in business success and economic growth, there is an increasing interest of scholars in exploring different dimensions of imitation, illuminating the ‘black box’ of imitation. Given the increasingly turbulent nature of business environments, this study aims to investigate creative and pure imitation-based competitive strategies and their performance under different levels of environmental turbulence. A theoretical framework was tested using a sample of manufacturing firms in Vietnam. The results revealed that creative imitation is positively associated with sustained competitive advantage, while the impact of pure imitation on sustained competitive advantage is negligible. Furthermore, environmental turbulence affects both creative and pure imitation, with only creative imitation mediating the effects of environmental turbulence on sustained competitive advantage. Lastly, environmental turbulence amplifies the effect of pure imitation on sustained competitive advantage, while it has minimal moderating effects on the relationship between creative imitation and sustained competitive advantage. This study contributes to the literature by being the first to examine the effect of environmental turbulence on the performance of both creative and pure imitation strategies.