The impact of managerial goal attention alignment on dynamic capabilities: Insights from Taiwanese social enterprises

This study adopts an attention-based view (ABV) to examine how a congruent and an incongruent managerial attention focus between social and commercial goals influences the development of dynamic capabilities (DCs) in social enterprises (SEs). We examine the effects of managerial attention structures on DCs by using a polynomial regression and response surface methodology on survey data from 169 SEs in Taiwan. The results highlight that DCs are higher when attention in SEs is congruently focused on both social and commercial goals. Additionally, SEs with lower levels of attention focus congruence show a higher degree of DCs. Finally, attention focus incongruence between the dual goals fosters DCs, especially when the attention focus on social goals is higher than on commercial goals. Hence, the research framework connecting ABV to DCs in SEs enriches the existing literature, offering insight into reinforcement by SEs of DCs amidst dual-goal tensions.