The Role of Effectuation in Achieving Competitive Advantage: Testing the Mediating Role of Agility and Innovation Orientation

Maya Faridhotul Aini; Sri Palupi Prabandari; Radityo Putro Handrito

doi:10.61255/jeemba.v4i3.971

Authors

Maya Faridhotul Aini Universitas Brawijaya, Indonesia
Sri Palupi Prabandari Universitas Brawijaya, Indonesia
Radityo Putro Handrito Universitas Brawijaya, Indonesia

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.61255/jeemba.v4i3.971

Keywords:

Agility, Innovation Orientation, Competitive Advantage, Smallholder Cocoa

Abstract

Purpose – This study examines how smallholder cocoa farmers in Indonesia achieve competitive advantage under high market uncertainty by investigating whether effectuation logic — an expertise-driven, non-predictive decision-making approach — functions as the cognitive foundation for building competitive superiority, and through which internal capability pathways this transformation occurs.

Design/Methodology/Approach – A quantitative cross-sectional survey of 260 smallholder cocoa farmers was conducted using purposive sampling across major Indonesian cocoa-producing regions. Data were analyzed using SEM-PLS (SmartPLS 4.0) with 5,000-subsample bootstrapping to test direct and mediation effects.

Findings/Results – Effectuation logic does not directly influence competitive advantage but significantly predicts individual agility (β = 0.466, p < 0.001) and innovation orientation (β = 0.202, p < 0.01). Both variables fully mediate the effectuation–competitive advantage relationship, with innovation orientation as the dominant pathway (β = 0.477, p < 0.001).

Originality/Value – This study introduces the cognitive-behavioral translation mechanism, establishing that effectuation generates competitive advantage exclusively through behavioral capabilities, not directly. It demonstrates that agility produces a negative competitive effect in buyer-dominated commodity markets challenging universal agility positivity assumptions and extends dynamic capability theory to individual farmer-entrepreneurs in developing-economy agribusiness.

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