Managerial temporal focus and SME sustainable growth: moderating effects of environmental dynamism and slack resources

In dynamic environments characterised by rapid innovation and iterative changes, small and medium-sized enterprises characterised by Specialised, Refined, Differentiated and Innovative (SRDI SMEs) often struggle to adapt to evolving temporal demands, which highlights the critical role of managerial temporal focus for sustainable growth. This paper draws on upper echelons theory and uses a sample of Chinese SRDI SMEs listed companies from 2012 to 2022 to examine the influence of managerial temporal focus on SME sustainable growth, as well as the moderating effects of environmental dynamism (ED) and financial slack resources (FS). Results show the following: (1) Managerial future focus (FU) positively influences SRDI SME sustainable growth, whereas managerial present focus (PR) has a negative effect. (2) ED strengthens the positive influence of FU and mitigates the negative effect of PR on SRDI SME sustainable growth. (3) FS strengthens the positive effect of FU and weakens the negative effect of PR on SRDI SME sustainable growth.