Autonomy and Innovation Ecosystem Development in Kampala’s Industrial Sector

Abstract

This study examined the effect of autonomy on innovation ecosystems in the industrial sector of Kampala, Uganda. It addressed a gap in research that has generally treated autonomy as an internal organisational condition while giving limited attention to its contribution to collaboration, knowledge exchange, and institutional engagement across an innovation ecosystem. Guided by Entrepreneurial Orientation Theory and Innovation Ecosystem Theory, the study adopted a pragmatic philosophy and an explanatory sequential mixed-methods design. The quantitative population comprised 1,450 industrial enterprises. A sample of 306 enterprises was selected, 261 questionnaires were returned, and five multivariate outliers were removed, leaving 256 valid cases for analysis. 20 innovation ecosystem stakeholders were purposively selected for follow-up interviews. Quantitative data were analysed using SPSS and SmartPLS 4, while interview data were analysed thematically. Autonomy had a positive and statistically significant effect on innovation ecosystems (β = 0.135, t = 2.270, p = 0.023), and its unique effect size was small (f² = 0.048). The full structural model explained 59.1% of the variance in innovation ecosystems (R² = 0.591; adjusted R² = 0.578). Qualitative findings showed that centralised approvals, strict standard operating procedures, and institutional dependencies reduced firms' ability to make timely decisions and form external partnerships. The study concludes that autonomy supports innovation ecosystem participation, but its contribution depends on whether firms convert formal decision-making freedom into practical authority. Industrial firms should delegate defined innovation decisions, shorten approval processes, and permit operational units to initiate partnerships within clear accountability limits.