An examination of spiritual capital and innovation: insights from high-growth aspiration entrepreneurs in a developing economy

Purpose

This study aimed to examine the relationship between spiritual capital and small business innovation in a developing market economy and the highly religious society of Minangkabau.

Design/methodology/approach

A quantitative method was used by analyzing the data with partial least squares (PLS), comprising 278 entrepreneurial and high-growth aspiration small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) owners in a developing economy such as Indonesia.

Findings

The results showed that spiritual capital was a source of acquiring knowledge from innovation failure situations, serving as a catalyst for the occurrence of novelty and differentiation-related innovation.

Research limitations/implications

The perspective of spiritual capital was provided within a religious community, showing that future reports should produce comparative analyses from varying contexts. Since understanding entrepreneurs' perspectives and spiritual capital situation remained ambiguous, the performance of qualitative analysis was crucial.

Practical implications

Entrepreneurs were expected to obtain considerable benefits from spiritual capital as a source of inspiration for differentiation and higher levels of novelty-related innovation. Similarly, policymakers should implement the capital and learn from failure to evaluate entrepreneurial SMEs concerning their capabilities.

Originality/value

Previous studies were unable to acknowledge an alternative source of innovation in a specific context, such as entrepreneurial SMEs with high-growth aspirations and spiritual capital. This is because capital contributes to innovation, helps in the assimilation of innovative knowledge and causes novelty-related innovation.