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JournalofOperationsManagement29(2011)116–127ContentslistsavailableatScienceDirectJournalofOperationsManagementjournalhomepage::ThemoderatingeffectofoperationscontrolontheantecedentsofcorporateentrepreneurialactivityinrelationtoinnovationperformanceJohnC.Goodalea,1,DonaldF.Kuratkob,∗,JeffreyS.Hornsbyc,2,JeffreyG.Covinb,3aCollegeofBusiness,SouthernIllinoisUniversity,Carbondale,IL62901,UnitedStatesbKelleySchoolofBusiness,IndianaUniversity,Bloomington,IN47405,UnitedStatescCollegeofBusinessAdministration,KansasStateUniversity,Manhattan,KS66506,UnitedStatesarticleinfoArticlehistory:Availableonline23July2010Keywords:OperationscontrolCorporateentrepreneurshipInnovationabstractResearchonthetopicofcorporateentrepreneurshiphasexpandedsteadilyoverthelastfewdecades,inlargepartduetotheincreasinglyrecognizedlinkagesbetweenproduct-marketandtechnologicalinnovation(i.e.,consequencesofcorporateentrepreneurialactivity)andfirmsuccess.Likewise,growingevidencesuggeststhateffectiveoperationscontrolisacommonqualityofsuccessfulfirms.Onthesurfacethetwophenomena—corporateentrepreneurshipandoperationscontrol—mayseemtobeinherentlyatodds.Thatis,corporateentrepreneurshipisaimedattakingthefirminnewdirections,whileoperationscontrolisaimedatchannelingandoftenrestrictingactions.Assuch,itwouldbeusefultoknowhowoperationscontrolvariablesactinconcertwiththedeterminantsofcorporateentrepreneurialactivitytopromotetheinnovationoutcomesthatfacilitatelong-termorganizationalsuccess.Inthisstudyof177firmsoperatinginawidevarietyofindustries,weinvestigatetheeffectoninnovationperformanceofseveralcommonly-acknowledgedantecedentsofcorporateentrepreneurship,asmeasuredbytheCorporateEntrepreneurshipAssessmentInstrument(e.g.,Hornsbyetal.,2008,2002);namely,manage-mentsupport,workdiscretion/autonomy,rewards/reinforcements,timeavailability,andorganizationalboundaries.Moreimportantly,weexaminethemoderatingeffectsofoperationscontrolvariables–specificallyriskcontrolandprocesscontrolformality–ontherelationshipsbetweentheantecedentsofcorporateentrepreneurshipandinnovationperformance.Resultsindicatethatonlytwoofthefiveantecedentstocorporateentrepreneurshiphavemaineffectsoninnovationperformancewithmoder-atesignificance.However,eachofthefiveantecedentssignificantlyinteractswithoneorbothoftheoperationscontrolvariablesand,thereby,influencesinnovationperformance.Theimplicationsoftheseresultsinrelationtooperationsmanagementandcorporateentrepreneurshiptheoryandpracticearediscussed.©2010ElsevierB.V.Allrightsreserved.1.IntroductionCorporateentrepreneurshipreferstothepursuitofentrepreneurialactionsandinitiativesthattransformtheestab-lishedorganizationthroughstrategicrenewalprocessesand/orextendthefirm’sscopeofoperationsintonewdomains,thatis,newproduct-marketsegmentsortechnologicalarenas(GuthandGinsberg,1990).Firmsthatexhibitcorporateentrepreneurship∗Correspondingauthor.Tel.:[phone].E-mailaddresses:[e-mail](J.C.Goodale),[e-mail](D.F.Kuratko),[e-mail](J.S.Hornsby),[e-mail](J.G.Covin).1Tel.:[phone]Tel.:[phone]Tel.:[phone].aretypicallyviewedasdynamic,flexibleentitiespreparing,orprepared,totakeadvantageofnewbusinessopportunitieswhentheyarise(Morrisetal.,2008).Theyexplorenewbusinessdomainsaswellasnewwaysofconductingbusinesswithinexist-ingdomains.Amongsuchfirms,thereisawillingnesstodeviatefrompriorroutines,strategies,businessmodels,andoperatingenvironments,andembracenewresourcecombinationsthatholdpromiseaspotentialenablersofinnovation.Ingeneral,corporateentrepreneurshipflourishesinestablishedfirmswhenindividualsarefreetopursueactionsandinitiativesthatarenoveltothefirm.However,tobesuccessfulentrepreneurialactivitymustbeintegratedintotheorganization’sstrategies(Burgelman,1983).Operationsmanagersrealizethatamixtureofformalityanddiscretionisakeytoprovidingbothhigheffectivenessandhighefficiency(Naveh,2007).Yet,thepresenceofcontrol-relatedstruc-tures,policies,systems,andoperatingmanagementphilosophies0272-6963/$–seefrontmatter©2010ElsevierB.V.Allrightsreserved.doi:10.1016/j.jom.2010.07.005J.C.Goodaleetal./JournalofOperationsManagement29(2011)116–127117Fig.1.TheImpactofoperationscontrolvariablesontherelationshipbetweenantecedentsofcorporateentrepreneurshipandinnovationperformance.inorganizationswouldseemtobeadeterrenttothefreedomsneededtosuccessfullypromoteentrepreneurialbehaviorinestab-lishedfirms.Afterall,thecontrolfunctioninorganizationsexists,atleastinpart,tocounteracttheadverseeffectsofuncertaintyontheorganizationalsystem,ensureconformitytoestablishedroutines,correctdeviationsfromexpectedbehaviors,andpromoteefficiencyandexploitativelearningwithintheconfinesofestablishedoper-ations(BoyerandLewis,2002;Devarajetal.,2004;Krajewskietal.,2010).Nonetheless,thosefactorsthatdriveentrepreneurialactivityinestablishedfirms–including,forexample,resourcesup-portforinnovativeideasandhighlevelsofworkerdiscretionintheperformanceoftasks–maynotresultinsuperiorinnovationperformanceatthefirmlevel