The Effect of Knowledge Creation Practices on Managerial and Marketing Innovation Through Creativity

Abstract

Knowledge creation (KC) is viewed as one of the important practices in knowledge management (KM) process. It is argued that the success of the firm is measured, to a great extent, by its level of innovation. In fact, an innovation-oriented perspective contributes to sustainability. Moreover, innovation is usually developed through new knowledge and creative ideas. That’s why; it is relevant to examine the relationship between KC, creativity, and innovation. The first objective of the present paper is to study three direct relationships: The first relation is between KC and innovation (managerial, marketing). The second direct relation is between knowledge creation and creativity. The Third direct relation is between creativity and innovation. The second objective is to analyze the relationship between KC and innovation through the mediation of creativity. Finally, we will compare the results and identify the strongest and significant links useful for practice. The focus is on non-technological innovation because the majority of studies dealt with technological innovation. Added to that, managerial and marketing innovation is supposed to procure an advantage for emergent economies in a post-revolutionary and Covid context. The quantitative approach is adopted upon which 83 valid questionnaires are analyzed using the SEM with Pls3 to test the relationships between the variables. The results show that KC has a positive and significant effect on the two considered types of innovation. In addition, since KC dynamics allow organizations to develop and generate new ideas favorable to innovation, it has a positive effect on creativity. The test of mediation proves that creativity intervenes in the relation between KC, operationalized by the SECI model, and innovation. Based on these results, we may conclude that the relationship between KC and innovation becomes the strongest with the mediation of creativity. Certainly, these results have several implications both on the theoretical and empirical sides.