The relationship between organizational immunity and disruptive innovation: A study in medium-sized businesses

In dynamic environmental conditions, businesses carry out innovation activities as creative innovations in order to survive and compete with their competitors. With the innovations made today, it is seen that the competitors are eliminated, that is, the destructive effect of the innovations has emerged. While businesses are carrying out their disruptive innovation activities, they may encounter factors that may be harmful to them in this process. The immune structure of the enterprises can come into play at this stage and take on a kind of protection task. Keeping this structure strong can contribute to the realization of disruptive innovations. Based on this idea, this study was conducted to determine the relationship between organizational immunity and disruptive innovation. In the first part of the study, information about the conceptual framework of organizational immunity was presented and the theoretical examination of the concept was made. In the second part, the literature review on the concept of disruptive innovation has been carefully examined and the concept has been examined. In the third part, the data related to the research were analyzed and the relationship between organizational immunity and disruptive innovation was tried to be determined. The research population consists of medium-sized businesses producing business and construction machinery in the province of Ankara, and the sample group consists of managers working in these businesses. In order to test the applicability of the scale, which was adapted into Turkish from the foreign literature, a pilot study was conducted with 20 businesses. Then, a total of 410 survey data were collected from the managers working in the lower, middle and senior management staff of 141 businesses and the research was completed. The hypotheses established in the research were tested with the SPSS 21.0 statistical program. According to the findings of the analyzes, it was determined that there is a strong and same-sided relationship between organizational immunity and disruptive innovation. From the sub-dimensions of organizational immunity; sub-dimensions of immune perception, immune defense, immune memory, immune balance and immune control, and disruptive innovation; it has been observed that there are same-sided, medium and weak relations between individual and collective knowledge and abilities, intra-organizational and inter-organizational processes. The analysis findings revealed that there was no relationship between the sub-dimensions of organizational immunity and financial factors, rules and regulatory factors. Keywords: Immunity, Innovation, Organizational Immunity, Disruptive Innovation