Organization Isomorphism and the Search for Knowledge and its Influence on Innovative Performance: A Study at APL Taquaral Goiás, Brazil

This research sought to analyze the occurrence of organizational isomorphism and search for knowledge among the companies participating in the Local Productive Arrangement of Confections of Taquaral - GO, observing the effects of these elements on the innovative performance of the arrangement. As a methodological path, the exploratory and descriptive nature is recognized. As for the research design, it is understood as a survey, using the scale created by Zhang & Hu (2017). The practice of imitation (organizational isomorphism) by companies was observed, taking into account the two types of knowledge: exploratory and exploitative. It was found that there are institutional practices and strategic actions by the cluster organizations that have isomorphic characteristics, both for coercive and normative nature and for mimetics, in individual and also integrated formats. A framework was developed that demonstrated how organizational isomorphism influences the search for knowledge (Exploratory and Exploitative) in which it was seen that companies are able to innovate in models and materials through imitation, but innovation of processes and new technologies is quite incipient, due to technical and financial incapacity.


Introduction
Local productive arrangements (APLs) are the subject of different academic studies in Brazil stakeholders who have an interest in the organization, in which full efficiency and professionalism are sought (DiMaggio & Powell, 1983;Zhu et al., 2010).
Coercive pressures occur through the influence exerted by norms, laws, and government agencies (DiMaggio & Powell, 1983;Kilbourne et al., 2002;Zhu et al., 2010). These pressures are linked, above all, to issues of political influence and legitimacy problems arising from the results of formal or informal pressures (Quinello, 2007). Such pressures are a powerful driver for the inclusion of management practices in organizations. Government demands are everyday examples that can influence an organization's actions in terms of its practices (Rivera, 2004).
Mimetic pressures occur when an organization imitates the actions of successful competitors in the market by performing a benchmarking of organizational practices (Aerts et al., 2002;DiMaggio & Powell, 1983;Zhu et al., 2010). Thus, mimetic pressures are mainly linked to the patterns of certain social groups as a response to environmental uncertainties and often represent a powerful force in the imitation process (Quinello, 2007). Figure 1 presents the model of the isomorphic pressures suffered by organizations.

Organizational Isomorphism and the Search for Exploratory Knowledge
For an entity to operate in an active and uncertain environment, knowledge about innovation inside and outside the company can help the organization to perform special tasks or non-structural events, adapting to the impositions and restrictions of the market (Jackson, 1992;Hambrick & Chen, 1996). Cluster companies are then more willing to seek exploratory knowledge, and if some central members with dominant power in the industrial network accept heterogeneous knowledge from outside the industry, they may require partners to cooperate (Abrahamson & Rosenkopf, 1993).
Thus, the integrated effect of internal and external forces can lead to a high degree of dissemination of exploratory knowledge in the organizational system of an APL, whether on the part of government policies or  on the initiative of the members themselves.

Organizational Isomorphism and the Search for Exploitative Knowledge
Organizational isomorphism results from imitating other organizations in adapting to the environment and learning from such imitation depends mainly on communication and transmission of information and knowledge (Haunschild & Miner, 1997). When company members in an industrial network recognize their own poor operating performance or are unable to maintain cooperation with other members, they may decide to use their existing relationships in the network system to consult and learn from members of the same or similar companies rather than seeking help from other heterogeneous organizations (Brown & Eisenhardt, 1997).
To reduce the risk created by new strategic orientations, companies seek homogeneous knowledge, which can be more beneficial for their future performance (McDonald & Westphal, 2003). As the result of this organizational isomorphism shows, in the search for exploitative knowledge, companies may be more prepared and willing to acquire homogeneous knowledge within the system of which they are part.

Mediating Effect of Isomorphism in the Quest for Knowledge
Organizational isomorphism has strong influences on the acquisition of knowledge by companies and on external learning activities, but the innovation performance will depend mainly on the behaviors of conscious knowledge search during the interaction processes by the organization (Singh, 2005).
As they develop, organizations collect professional knowledge regarding norms and institutional rules, which can improve their performance in innovation. Because they are aware of the normative framework, organizations are able to set their objectives and goals, in addition to knowing the limitations imposed on them, thus being able to clearly define their objectives in pursuit of innovative knowledge (Singh, 2005;Kee-Hung et al., 2006).

Innovation
From a historical perspective, innovative processes have accompanied the social development of humanity. First, as an informal process, based on empiricism (present in the 17th century). From the industrial evolution of the 18th century, with the use of scientific knowledge as a source of problem solving, innovation has gained autonomy and is no longer related to execution activity (Zawislak, 1995).
Innovation is more than simply designing a new idea, it involves a process of developing its practical use (Tidd et al., 2008). There has been an increase in studies on innovation in recent decades. Although research has highlighted many accumulated certainties, several doubts are still to be addressed, for example, regarding its concept (Moreira & Queiroz, 2007).
Since Schumpeter's studies, companies treat innovations as a way to achieve additional gains by means of competitive advantages resulting from the development of new products or by innovating processes that add value for the client, having the economic approach at the center of activities (Dariot & Nascimento, 1990). Schumpeter (1997) characterizes innovation as responsible for the dynamic impulse of the capitalist

Organization Isomorphism and the Search for Knowledge and its Influence on Innovative Performance: A Study at APL Taquaral Goiás, Brazil
International Journal for Innovation Education and Research Vol. 11 No. 2 (2023), pg. 93 economy, in which these innovations reflect the essence of capitalism, composing its organization and internal performance. Since innovation is creation, which when placed in the market is capable of changing the existing order, an innovation can be understood as a new product, a change in the quality of an existing product, or a new method of production, for example. Cassiolato et al. (2007) characterize innovation as an interactive phenomenon, endogenous to competitive processes and inherent to specific technological regimes. "Its introduction accelerates the obsolescence of the means of production and of consumer goods themselves" (TIGRE, 2006, p. 29), transforms technological standards, the productive process, and generates competitiveness for companies (Tidd et al., 2008). Cassiolato et al. (2007) suggest that innovation goes beyond radical changes in products and processes, also relating to incremental and organizational changes. In this respect, it is worth mentioning that Schumpeter did not see innovation only in terms of product and process, but also in terms of opening new markets, acquiring a new source of raw material supply and in terms of the emergence of a new company in a given industry (Isidro & Guimarães, 2010).
For Setyanti and Troena (2013), to innovate is to successfully implement a new idea through the mobilization of knowledge, technological skills, and experience to create products, processes, and services. In this sense, innovation is the opening and use of new knowledge, technology, and creative processes to create a product/service according to the wishes of customers.  Damanpour & Wiscnevsky, 2006;Cillo et al., 2010;Wen-Cheng et al., 2011, IBGE-PINTEC, 2016. In this way, innovation is related to the innovative degree of the new product or service compared to the previous ones and can be considered new for an individual, an institution, or even the world. It can also be associated with the clothing industry, since the use of new materials, combined with the fact that new machines are incorporated into production, whether for cutting, stamping, or sewing, would enter within the context acceptable for innovation.

Imitation as a Form of Innovation in the Clothing Industry
Innovation is a key factor in supporting economic growth, as companies can achieve considerable competitive advantages through it, even if they are surrounded by risks and uncertainties in the mix of information, knowledge, and creativity (Brum & Scherer, 2006;Damanpour & Wiscnevsky, 2006).
Imitation is one of several means of disseminating innovation, so it is possible to obtain skills to innovate and develop innovations by adopting imitative strategies (Niosi, 2012). From this perspective, Macedo and Bataglia (2012) argue that innovation and imitation are complementary phenomena and the search for competitive advantage is responsible for what is being put on the market.

Organization Isomorphism and the Search for Knowledge and its Influence on Innovative Performance: A Study at APL Taquaral Goiás, Brazil
Innovation in the clothing industry is characterized by differentiating what is new based on recent models (Caulkins et al., 2007). However, due to the transience and versatility of fashion, as well as the need to meet consumer demands, the fashion industry faces innovation challenges in the following areas: aesthetics, in minimal details that involve colors, designs, lengths, and competitors' prices. This implies a constant search for productive quality to meet the market that is characterized by high power of adaptation and flexibility (MDIC & IEL, 2005;Pinheiro & Araújo, 2006;Rüthschilling, 2009).
Fashion is inseparable from innovation, since its transience allied to its short life cycle imposes constant transformation, which can be in mere details, such as in the modeling of clothing, hence the importance of always having novelties for the consumer. In this industry, many authors defend the predominant existence of strategic imitation because it accompanies a simpler strategy and lower costs through the adaptation of products to conform to the main names in fashion at the time (Caulkins et al., 2007). Imitation is the great diffuser of innovation (Niosi, 2012). Moreover, through the imitation strategy, it is possible to acquire knowledge to innovate and also to develop innovations. Macedo and Bataglia (2012) consider that the phenomena of innovation and imitation are complementary and that the caution regarding what is being inserted in the market is caused by the search for competitive advantage.
To define the types of imitation, Niosi (2012) lists forgeries, clones, creative adaptations, design copying, technology adaptation for another industry, simplification of the original product, and repositioning of the original product to another segment. Valdani and Arbore (2007) propose other forms: clone, and marginal, incremental, and creative imitations. Carvalho and Serra (1999) and Garcia et al. (2005) highlight the fact that in the Brazilian industry, the presentation of new collections and models is insignificant and is generally chosen to imitate models from the major international fashion broadcasters, in the case of Europe and/or the United States, but adapting these models to local individualities of climate and availability of raw materials.
In a survey conducted by Calíope and Da Silva filho (2016) at a clothing fair in the state of Ceará, it was

Characterization and Type of Survey
This research can be characterized as exploratory and descriptive since it clarifies the problem, enhancing the knowledge of the researcher, serving as a starting point for future studies (Collis & Hussey, 2005) Furthermore, it establishes relationships between the variables (GIL, 2010), and sheds further light on a given phenomenon or problem (TRIVINÖS, 1990).
This study adopted the mixed design strategy, in which the researcher collects and analyzes the data, integrates the findings, and extracts inferences using quantitative and qualitative methods (Creswell & Tashakkori, 2007).

Population and Sample
This study is based on the population of clothing companies belonging to APL Taquaral in Goiás. The sample was selected for the following reasons. First, because apparel companies present characteristics of organizational isomorphism, those of this APL belong to endogenous industrial clusters, where the scale of most companies is the same, with a small degree of product differentiation and a relatively clear degree of homogeneity (Zaccarelli et al., 2008).
The study population is comprised of companies that make up the APL Taquaral in Goiás cluster. As this is a relatively small geographical region and with the companies grouped together, the questionnaire was expected to be applied to the entire population or as large a number as possible. However, of a total of 144 companies, it was applied to 109 companies that can be considered representative of the sample.
This study employed a survey classified using the scale created by Zhang and Hu (2017). Their model was considered adequate to the study proposal, but the original scale (1 "nothing" to 7 "in great measure") was adjusted to 1 "no way" to 7 "in great measure." The questions were also adjusted to ensure interviewees understood that these were clusters/agglomerations, because it was feared that the term "industry" may cause confusion. With this procedure, direct questioning was employed with the companies that make up APL.

Results and Discussion
To validate the model, it is important to validate the data through statistical tests. Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) tests were performed, with the elaboration of a structural model, using the statistical programs SPSS 21 and SmartPLS 3.

Outcome and Discussion of Exploratory Factorial Analysis (EFA)
The reliability and validity were estimated following the guidelines suggested by Anderson and Gerbing (1988 , 1977). An analysis of main components also tests the validity of the measurement scales; these results showed that the values of all KMO variables were higher than 0.70.
Bartlett's sphericity test was significant (p < 0.0001), indicating that the correlation between the questions is statistically significant (Kaiser & Rice, 1974). Therefore, the data are adequate for factor analysis. The load factors of all indicators were above 0.5, the cumulative variance explained by all indicators exceeds 74%. The

Organization Isomorphism and the Search for Knowledge and its Influence on Innovative Performance: A Study at APL Taquaral Goiás, Brazil
International Journal for Innovation Education and Research Vol. 11 No. 2 (2023), pg. 98 sample suitability measures (MAS) were above 0.5 for all variables. The communalities above 0.57 demonstrate that the total variance of each variable is explained by all the analyzed factors. These results demonstrate the consistency of the data.
Using the analysis of main components to form linear combinations of the questions, we obtained five combinations that maintain the response variability of the information of the 5 scores, with a proportion of the variance of 70.45%, summarizing the 5 scores in 2 new variables (Johnson, 1992) (see Table 1).  Figure 2 visualizes the application of Kaiser's criterion in the selection of the number of main components to be maintained in the analyses, that is, main components whose eigenvalues are higher than 1, indicating that the first five components should be maintained (Johnson, 1992). By this criterion, the number of factors that will be extracted from the EFA is also defined. That is, two factors that account for 70.45% of the variance of the whole set of explanatory variables.
Source: Prepared by the author

Outcome and Discussion of Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA)
Second, CFA was performed to evaluate convergent and discriminant validity using SmartSPLS 3. Table   3 reports the results of measurement analysis.  (1981) is used, which indicates convergent validity when the mean extracted variance (AVE) is higher than 50% (or 40% in the case of exploratory surveys). (Nunnally & Bernstein, 1994).
As can be seen in Table 4, the AVEs quadratic values of all latent constructions are higher than the values of the correlations, and one can conclude that there is discriminant validity.

Mimetic
Isom. For the area of social and behavioral sciences, R 2 = 0.25 is suggested as a weak effect, R 2 = 0.50 as a moderate effect, and R 2 = 0.75 as a substantial effect (Henseler et al., 2009;Hair et al., 2011).

Normative
The degree of explanation of the variable Innovative Performance is verified as 0.611, since it allows the conclusion that the five latent variables explain 61.1% of the variance of this construct in a moderate way. These analyses provide input for the development of a framework of the influence of organizational isomorphism and knowledge search in the innovative performance of the APL.

Organization Isomorphism and the Search for Knowledge and its Influence on Innovative Performance: A Study at APL Taquaral Goiás, Brazil
International Journal for Innovation Education and Research Vol. 11 No. 2 (2023), pg. 101 The significance of the pointed relationships was tested through the Bootstrapping module (re-sampling technique) available in SmartPLS. This test allows us to evaluate if the correlations and regression coefficients are significant, different from zero, rejecting the null hypothesis. These relationships are significant when p ≤ 0.05 . The test was performed with 5,000 subsamples and the results are reported in Figure   4 and Table 5.
After Bootstrapping, relationships between the variables that were negative or with little significance were adjusted, as can be seen in Figure 4. However, this adjustment has not yet allowed the level of significance to reach the values recommended by the literature .  Table 5 (in bold), the significance level was lower than 0.05, with t test higher than 1.96, the minimum recommended in a bicaudal significance test. It is concluded that, in these situations, there was a strong relationship between the independent and dependent latent variables. However, a strong relationship was not detected between five independent variables and the dependent latent variables, even after Bootstrapping. There was a significant improvement, but they did not reach the values recommended in the literature. Based on the results obtained in the previous steps, Figure 5 illustrates the framework for organizational isomorphism and the search for knowledge and its influence on the innovative performance in APL clusters. From the results, it was possible to elaborate the framework presented in Figure 10. This seeks to influences the innovative performance with emphasis on the latter, which is more significant in the model.
The model indicates that, to a greater or lesser extent, the organizational isomorphism influences the search for knowledge, which together affect the innovative performance of Taquaral companies.

Conclusion
This study examined APL Taquaral de Goiás to verify how organizational isomorphism occurred (coercive, normative, and mimetic) and search for knowledge (exploratory and exploitative) and constructed a model (framework) of such relationships.
In relation to the organizational isomorphism, it is found to manifest in its three forms (DiMaggio & Powell, 1983), but is in a certain way emerging, considering that the coercive isomorphism negatively influences the search for exploratory and exploitative knowledge. From the data and theories, normative isomorphism appears to directly influence the search for exploratory and exploitative knowledge and innovative performance, mimetic isomorphism directly influences the search for exploratory knowledge and the search for exploitative knowledge indirectly in innovative performance.
The results of the questionnaire indicated that mimetic isomorphism is present, with great intensity, in around 67% of the relationships of creation and production of garments within the APL. The mechanism that makes this happen apparently comes together on the internet, through social networks (Instagram, Facebook, WhatsApp), which allow companies to obtain information from competitors' products due to the ease of access and the lack of barriers. This mimetic behavior brings some advantage to companies in terms of human action