Entrepreneurial curiosity and firm innovation: Exploring the mediating role of information search in new technology ventures

Abstract

Innovation is considered an important ingredient for new venture survival. However, our understanding of the role of individual entrepreneurs in facilitating its occurrence is relatively limited. While it is often claimed that curiosity is important in entrepreneurship, there is limited empirical evidence to support this assertion. This study aims to address this gap by examining the relationship between founders’ entrepreneurial curiosity and firm innovation. Further, we examine the mediating effect of information search and the moderating effect of environmental dynamism on this relationship. By analyzing three waves of data collected from 249 entrepreneurs, we find that entrepreneurs’ curiosity has a positive association with (1) process innovation and (2) product innovation. Additionally, our findings show that the effect of curiosity on process innovation is mediated by information search effort, and that information search persistence mediates the effect of curiosity on product innovation. We also find that these mediating relationships are moderated by environmental dynamism.