Promoting BMI through organizational culture: the mediating role of strategic flexibility

Purpose The main purpose of this study is to investigate the role of organizational culture in creating a supportive environment for business model innovation (BMI) by focusing on the mediating role of strategic flexibility and the moderating effect of technological capability. Design/methodology/approach To achieve this objective an empirical survey was conducted among 379 participant firms in Greece. CFA and finally hierarchical regression analysis were performed to validate the data and examine the hypothesized relationships. Findings The results show that strategic flexibility mediates the relationship between organizational culture and BMI. The effect of organizational culture on strategic flexibility is stronger for firms with increased technological capability. Research limitations/implications Data were collected at only one point in time from one country, Greece. This might pose limitations on the generalizability of our results. Furthermore, we did not explore many internal or external mediating or moderating factors in the relationship between organizational culture and BMI. Practical implications Managers should consider incorporating a suitable organizational culture into their strategies to enable them improve their strategic flexibility, which further promotes BMI. Originality/value The current state of knowledge of both theory and practice for critical organizational factors such as organizational culture, strategic flexibility, BMI and technological capability will be extended.