"TMT Improvisation, Resource Management and Performance in SMEs: A Mediated Model"

Although scholars have argued that organizations may benefit from improvisation, research findings have been mixed. Our paper moves beyond direct effects and explores the intervening mechanisms through which top management team (TMT) improvisation affects the performance of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). More specifically, we direct attention to two resource management behaviors: bootstrapping and bricolage. We use a cross- industry sample of SMEs and find that TMT improvisation plays a fundamental role in how firms manage their resources. Teams that improvise more, make use of bricolage and bootstrapping to a greater extent. In turn, we find that bricolage has a positive effect on SME performance, whereas bootstrapping has a negative effect. As such, TMT improvisation enhances SME performance through bricolage, but also decreases SME performance through bootstrapping.