Breaking Barriers: How Do the Marketing Capabilities of Emerging-Market Micro-Multinationals Drive Social Innovation?

Despite the increasing importance of social innovation, research seeking to illuminate how firms engage in social innovation in emerging markets is limited. Utilizing survey data from 143 Pakistani micro-multinational firms operating in other emerging markets, this study examined how these firms undertook social innovation practices in host emerging markets. The findings indicate that the social innovation practices of these firms in host emerging markets are influenced by dynamic marketing capabilities. Furthermore, this influence is mediated by social embeddedness in the host market. Moreover, this mediated influence is positively moderated by a socially supportive culture of the host market. The impact of marketing capabilities on value creation in host emerging markets involves the serial mediation of social embeddedness and social innovation practices. The study demonstrates how resource-constrained emerging-market micro-multinational firms can generate value in host emerging markets, thereby validating the efficacy of dynamic marketing capabilities in the context of social innovation in emerging markets. The study also discusses practical and policy implications.