000K utf8 1100 2022$c2022-02 1500 eng 2050 urn:nbn:de:hbz:465-20220224-105839-3 2051 10.17185/duepublico/75466 3000 Zugcic, Michael 3010 Borchert, Margret 4000 Role of Executive Directors’ Autonomous Motivation and Creativity in Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises’ Dynamic Capabilities [Zugcic, Michael] 4209 This article analyzes the importance of executive directors’ autonomous motivation and creativity in small and medium-sized enterprises when identifying new market opportunities. The article is connected with current research on the dynamic capabilities microfoundation and considers the influences of individual behavior on sensing. In the Dynamic Capabilities Approach, sensing represents the organizational capability to identify new market opportunities. Based on the ability-motivation-opportunity (AMO) concept, according to which individual behavior results from ability, motivation, and situation, a new model was designed to explain sensing. This structural equation model was based on a sample of 539 executive directors in Germany and showed that the executive directors’ autonomous motivation and creativity, as well as technical progress, have a significantly positive influence on sensing. By far the strongest influence is the executive directors’ autonomous motivation, while the influence of their creativity is less important than originally assumed. Apart from technical progress, further aspects of environmental dynamics do not indicate any significant influence in the study’s empirical findings. The investigation model explains almost a quarter of sensing variance. It also demonstrates that the satisfaction of the executive directors’ basic psychological needs has a significantly positive influence on their autonomous motivation. In particular, the satisfaction of autonomy plays a crucial role in executive directors’ autonomous motivation. 4950 https://doi.org/10.17185/duepublico/75466$xR$3Volltext$534 4950 https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:hbz:465-20220224-105839-3$xR$3Volltext$534 4961 https://duepublico2.uni-due.de/receive/duepublico_mods_00075466 5051 330 5550 autonomous motivation 5550 creativity 5550 dynamic capabilities 5550 executive director 5550 microfoundation 5550 sensing