Equifinal pathways to management innovation in ethnic craft enterprises: Configurational and structural evidence from Northern Thailand

Ethnic weaving community enterprises in Upper Northern Thailand pursue management innovation under joint pressures of cultural preservation, market competition, and digital transformation, yet the mechanisms remain under-theorised. Integrating five literatures (cultural entrepreneurship, craft entrepreneurship, indigenous and ethnic entrepreneurship, effectuation and bricolage, and dynamic capabilities), this study uses a sequential mixed-methods design: in-depth case study and fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis of forty enterprises, then partial least squares structural equation modelling of a 180-firm survey with multi-group analysis. The configurational evidence identifies five equifinal trajectories anchored in different ethnic groups, showing that comparable innovation outcomes arise from different combinations of conditions. The structural model explains 46.6 percent of the variance in management innovation; the pattern of indirect effects is consistent with dynamic capabilities transmitting the effects of effectuation and bricolage, and digital leadership amplifies digital-craft integration. Equifinality is a salient feature of innovation here, implying that policy support should be configurationally tailored rather than uniform.