A paradoxical view of speed and quality on operational outcome: An empirical investigation of innovation in high-tech small and medium-sized enterprises

Recently, there has been increasing attention on the speed versus quality paradox in operations and innovation management literature. This study examines the innovation speed-quality paradox on operational performance in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) from high-tech industries. Specifically, we seek to understand how R&D investment with organizational risk influences the innovation speed-quality paradox and how this paradox further influences a firm's operational performance. Based on a panel data of 247 firms (1782 firm-year observations), the empirical results show that R&D investment positively affects innovation speed and quality, and organizational risk positively moderates the relationship between R&D investment and innovation quality. Also, both the innovation speed and quality are positively related to firm's operational performance, while the interaction of speed and quality is negatively related to firm's operational performance. The theoretical and practical implications of our research are also discussed.