Innovativeness and performance : the joint effect of relational trust and combinative capability

Purpose: This work aims to develop a configurational model to explain how relational trust and combinative capability can jointly improve the relationship between innovativeness and firm's performance. Design/methodology/approach: The empirical study was developed on a sample of 224 companies in the footwear industry in Spain. Hierarchical regression analysis was used to test the hypotheses in order to confirm the proposed configurational model. Findings: The partial results demonstrate the significant effect of relational trust on the innovativeness-performance relationship but, unexpectedly, reveals the non-significant effect of combinative capability on this relationship. The triple interaction effects model provides new insights into the positive effect of combinative capability on the innovativeness-performance relationship once firms gain relational trust from their contacts. Research limitations/implications: The cross-sectional nature of the study imposes a limitation on the results. Nevertheless, due to the detailed information required to achieve the aims of the research, a longitudinal study could be excessively complex. In any event, the cross-sectional approach of the study accomplishes the proposed aim. Practical implications: Managers should involve the employees of the firm in order to improve the effectiveness of continuous innovation, encouraging them to establish trusting relationships with external agents and contributing to combine the relevant external knowledge with the individual and collective knowledge available in the firm. Originality/value: This work contributes to the existing literature with a more complete picture of the influence of innovativeness on firms' performance, highlighting that performance is affected by the coherence of the configuration of innovativeness, relational trust and combination capability.