AI Entrepreneurship Integration and Firm Financial Performance: The Mediating Role of Entrepreneurial Creativity / Innovation Capability (A Quantitative Mediation Analysis)

Abstract

This study investigates whether the relationship between AI entrepreneurship integration and firm financial success is mediated by entrepreneurial creativity and innovative capability. During the quantitative study, 200 questionnaires were distributed; however, 195 employees in Pakistan's manufacturing industry responded.  The data were analyzed using ordinary least squares regression in Hayes' (2022) PROCESS macro (Model 4). The findings demonstrate a substantial, statistically significant direct impact of AI entrepreneurship integration on firm financial performance (b = .833, p < .001) and a strong correlation between the two variables (r = .803, p < .001). However, after controlling for AI integration, there was no significant correlation between entrepreneurial creativity/innovation capability and financial performance (b =.005, p =.932) or between AI entrepreneurship integration and entrepreneurial creativity/innovation capability (b =.083, p =.125). There was no statistical support for mediation because the bootstrapped indirect impact was small and its confidence interval covered zero (effect =.0004, 95% CI [-.0100,.0108]). In light of the resource-based approach and dynamic capabilities theory, the results indicate that AI's contribution to company financial performance in this sample acts through a direct pathway rather than through a creativity/innovation-capability mechanism. Future research directions, constraints, and theoretical and managerial implications are examined.