Assessing the mediating effect of innovation and organizational entrepreneurship on the relationship between ICT and improving organizational performance (Case study: Ahvaz Industrial Town No. 1)

Innovations based on information technology and its applications have become the main drivers of organizational performance improvement, economic growth and social change. Despite significant growth in this area, the importance of complementary factors such as corporate entrepreneurship in increasing the impact of technological innovation on organizational performance has not yet received much attention. This study develops and tests a framework in which the nature of the relationship between ICT use and organizational performance in small and medium-sized enterprises has been examined. This research is a survey in terms of the type of descriptive research and an applied research in terms of purpose. Considering Ahvaz Industrial Town No. 1 as a statistical population, a total of 210 were considered as samples and their information was collected through a questionnaire. Smart PLS software was used to analyse the proposed relationships with a focus on the importance of the mediating impact of organizational entrepreneurship and innovation. Multi-group analysis investigated the effect of the level of information technology use on the confirmation model and confirmed 9 hypotheses out of a total of 16 hypotheses. Research variables have predicted and reflected a total of 52% of performance changes. The results, while confirming the model, confirm the need for a proper information and communication system in companies.