Explaining factors affecting individual innovation: The case of producer group members in Thailand

Individual innovation and its antecedent factors, both at the group and individual level, are becoming a topic of increasing interest to entrepreneurs. However, research on this area has not yet proved adequate. This study aims to develop and test a multilevel model of antecedents of group members’ innovation. Constructive culture and knowledge management are treated as group-level antecedents. Creativity and self-leadership are treated as individual-level antecedents. Data are collected from 1,526 group members in 138 producer groups of community products in the Northeast of Thailand. Results indicate that creativity fully mediates the effects of self-leadership, groups’ constructive culture, and knowledge management on innovation among group members. Furthermore, constructive culture also moderates the effects of creativity on innovation. Copyright The Author(s) 2012