Empowering frontline managers: the unsung heroes of innovation in high-tech

Mesut Coskun; Saskia de Klerk; Margarietha Johanna de Villiers Scheepers

doi:10.1108/MD-08-2025-2464

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Empowering frontline managers: the unsung heroes of innovation in high-tech

Journal article

Open access

Peer reviewed

Empowering frontline managers: the unsung heroes of innovation in high-tech

Mesut Coskun, Saskia de Klerk and Margarietha Johanna de Villiers Scheepers

Management Decision, Vol.64(13), pp.670-692

2026

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/MD-08-2025-2464

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Abstract

Entrepreneurs

Entrepreneurship

Innovations

Managers

Middle management

Product development

Qualitative research

Purpose This study explores the under-researched role of frontline managers (FMs) in corporate entrepreneurship (CE). FMs play a crucial role in driving innovation; however, they are often seen as task executors. This research examines how their position in CE is perceived and performed in the high-tech sector. Design/methodology/approach A qualitative design was employed, based on the thematic analysis of 19 semi-structured interviews with FMs working in the high-tech manufacturing sector. This was appropriate given the limited studies on this group's CE role, and the study's goal to explore their roles within dynamic technological and organisational contexts. Purposeful sampling targeted FMs engaged in external innovation-related activities. Findings The study reveals that FMs enact their roles in CE by proactively engaging with external customer demand, adapting their role performance in response to shifting organisational expectations, and asserting technical expertise to influence innovation activities, as interpreted through organisational role theory. They play an agentic role by initiating, integrating and implementing entrepreneurial initiatives. These findings illustrate how FMs' role behaviours shape entrepreneurial activity within organisations' operational core. Originality/value This article enriches the CE literature by focusing on FMs as embedded entrepreneurial actors and empirically clarifying their role as initiators and integrators of innovation. Their technical expertise and responsiveness to external changes reveal how CE emerges through operational practices, addressing the identified gap in FMs' roles in CE.

Details

Title: Empowering frontline managers: the unsung heroes of innovation in high-tech
Authors: Mesut Coskun (Corresponding Author) - University of the Sunshine Coast
Saskia de Klerk - University of the Sunshine Coast
Margarietha Johanna de Villiers Scheepers - University of the Sunshine Coast
Publication details: Management Decision, Vol.64(13), pp.670-692
Publisher: Emerald Publishing Limited
Date published: 2026
DOI: 10.1108/MD-08-2025-2464
ISSN: 1758-6070
Copyright note: © Mesut Coskun, Saskia de Klerk and Margarietha Johanna de Villiers Scheepers. Published by Emerald Publishing Limited. This article is published under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY 4.0) licence. Anyone may reproduce, distribute, translate and create derivative works of this article (for both commercial and non-commercial purposes), subject to full attribution to the original publication and authors. The full terms of this licence may be seen at Link to the terms of the CC BY 4.0 licence.
Organisation Unit: School of Business and Creative Industries; Healthy Ageing Research Cluster; Australian Centre for Pacific Islands Research; Engage Research Lab; Sustainability Research Cluster
Language: English
Record Identifier: 991233601002621
Output Type: Journal article

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