STRATEGIC LEADERSHIP AND INNOVATION CAPABILITY ACCUMULATION IN EMERGING MARKET FIRMS: A FRAMEWORK FOR FUTURE RESEARCH

While extensive research has examined external and contextual factors influencing the accumulation of innovation capabilities in emerging market firms (EMFs), the role of firm-specific variables — particularly strategic leadership — remains underexplored. This study explores this gap by developing a conceptual framework to guide empirical research on the links among strategic leadership initiatives, dual absorptive capacity (AC) development, and the accumulation of innovation capability in EMFs. The framework identifies seven learning-driven strategic leadership initiatives and three related evaluation criteria — incidence, consistency, and effectiveness — to assess how leadership initiatives affect firms’ learning intensity, continuity, and innovation outcomes over time. By integrating the literature on leadership, organisational learning, and innovation capability building, the study advances a contextually grounded understanding of how visionary and persistent leadership transforms organisational learning into cumulative innovation capability. We provide structured methodological suggestions for future empirical application of the framework. Given the increasing importance of EMFs in the global economy, our framework provides valuable insights for researchers, managers, and policymakers. It helps them better understand how firm-level strategic leadership can offset the macroeconomic and institutional constraints inherent to emerging economies. This shift may transform EMFs from modest imitators into significant innovators through learning-focused actions, thereby contributing to the economic growth and development of their economies.