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The social underpinnings of absorptive capacity: The moderating effects of structural holes on innovation generation based on external knowledge
Abstract
Building on absorptive capacity and social network research, in this paper I investigate how individuals inside the organization use external knowledge to generate innovations. Through original sociometric data collected from 276 scientists, researchers, and engineers from the Research and Development division of a large multinational high-tech company, I show that the effects of external knowledge on individuals’ innovativeness are contingent upon individuals’ position in the internal social structure. In particular, results indicate that the positive effects of external knowledge on innovation generation become more positive when individuals sourcing external knowledge span structural holes in the internal knowledge-sharing network.
... The recombination logic suggests that individuals with low network constraints can generate new ideas by recombining nonredundant information from different domains or disciplines (i.e. different and unique information from different fields or disciplines) because when consumers form weak ties with others, they are more likely to access unique, non-redundant information, increasing the possibility of recombination leading to good ideas (Tortoriello, 2015). The interrogation logic proposes that individuals with high network constraints can propose new solution ideas because highly constrained social networks are characterized by strong ties where consumers can focus their attention to fully understand the fine-grained information available. ...
... We propose a model of idea quality in OBCs that takes into account different levels of network constraints and attention allocation strategies based on previous studies (Kaplan and Vakili, 2015;Rhee and Leonardi, 2018;Tortoriello, 2015) (see Figure 1). As previously explained, highly constrained social networks can enable consumers to focus their attention and fully understand the fine-grained information available, where good ideas can be generated through interrogation logic (Kaplan and Vakili, 2015). ...
... As previously explained, highly constrained social networks can enable consumers to focus their attention and fully understand the fine-grained information available, where good ideas can be generated through interrogation logic (Kaplan and Vakili, 2015). Consumers with low network constraints can also form weak ties with others in order to access unique, nonredundant information, which increases the possibility of recombination leading to good ideas (Tortoriello, 2015). When consumers either only pay attention to a subset of poor social ties or spread their attention across all social ties, they may waste cognitive resources and fail to generate good ideas (Rhee and Leonardi, 2018). ...
Purpose
Online brand communities (OBCs) are important platforms to obtain consumers' ideas. The purpose of this study is to examine how peer influence and consumer contribution behavior simulate innovative behaviors in OBCs to increase idea quality.
Design/methodology/approach
Using a firm-hosted popular online brand community – Xiaomi Community (MIUI), the authors collected a set of data from 6567 consumers and then used structural equation modeling (SEM) and fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) to empirically test the impact of peer influence and consumer contribution behaviors on idea quality in OBCs.
Findings
The results of this study show that both peer influence breadth and depth have a positive effect on idea adoption and peer recognition, wherein proactive contribution behavior positively mediates these relationships, and responsive contribution behavior negatively mediates the impact of peer influence breadth and peer influence depth on peer recognition. A more detailed analysis using the fsQCA method further identifies four types of antecedent configurations for better idea quality.
Originality/value
Based on the attention-based view and the theory of learning by feedback, this study explores the factors that affect idea quality in the context of social networks and extends the research of peer influence in the digital age. The paper helps improve our understanding of how to promote customer idea quality in OBCs.
... We define the structural dimension of cross-legacy boundary spanning as the pattern of relationships between the boundary spanners and their coworkers. This dimension consists of the number of cross-legacy boundary-spanning ties (Mors et al., 2018), also referred to as the within legacy connectedness of the boundary spanner (Dahlander et al., 2016;Tortoriello, 2015). We propose that the number of crosslegacy ties can have a positive influence on the cross-boundary spanner, despite the downside of it taking time to develop. ...
... We define the structural dimension of boundary spanning as the pattern of relationships between the cross-legacy boundary spanners and their coworkers. Key facets of this dimension are the number of boundary-spanning ties (Mors et al., 2018) and within-legacy connectedness (Dahlander et al., 2016;Tortoriello, 2015). We define the sociocultural dimension of boundary spanning as the ability to understand, navigate, and leverage cross-legacy social interactions. ...
... Internal connectedness is important because employees who search for external knowledge and subsequently hand it over to their coworkers without processing it themselves are likely to gather knowledge and information that does not add value to the organization (Dahlander et al., 2016). Highlighting the importance of internal connectedness, Tortoriello (2015) shows that external knowledge has a stronger positive effect on innovation when the boundary spanner spans structural holes (i.e., connects otherwise unconnected others (Burt, 1992)) in the internal network. This finding is corroborated by Mors, Rogan, and Lynch (2018), who show that the positive effects of external boundary-spanning ties are stronger when the boundary spanner has more internal boundary-spanning ties. ...
Scholars typically view cross-legacy boundary spanners – employees who develop and maintain social relationships with coworkers from both legacy organizations – as the key integrators in mergers and acquisitions (M&As). Organizations even formally appoint employees with cross-legacy responsibilities to support the post-merger integration process. Recent research has started to emphasize, however, how difficult it can be to reap the benefits of a boundary-spanning position. Building and maintaining formal or informal boundary-spanning ties is costly because it requires time, attention, and political savviness. To better understand the perks and pitfalls of cross-legacy boundary-spanning, the authors identify and describe its structural and sociocultural dimensions and explain how they influence cross-legacy boundary-spanning in M&A contexts. The authors argue that the two dimensions can be seen as boundary conditions to the positive relationship between cross-legacy boundary spanning and post-merger integration. This chapter highlights the potential dark side of cross-legacy boundary-spanning and proposes a multi-dimensional model to explain how cross-legacy boundary spanners can avoid the pitfalls and promote the perks of their position in support of successful post-merger integration.
... In order to foster CE as an essential behavior in today's dynamic environment, firms need to focus on their absorptive capacity to assimilate, learn and employ new technological and product advancements (Kafouros et al., 2020;Vla ci c et al., 2019), as well as to integrate the various types of knowledge, relationships and resources (Rodrigo-Alarc on et al., 2018;Chuang et al., 2016;Zahra et al., 2009;Zahra and George, 2002). Absorptive capacity is a special capability that enables firms to recognize, value, assimilate and exploit the new external knowledge obtained from the external environment, and also from firms' various relationships (Mahmood and Mubarik, 2020;Rodrigo-Alarcon et al., 2018;Preston et al., 2017;Tortoriello, 2015;Zahra et al., 2009); enabling innovation (Reid, 2019;Preston et al., 2017;Tortoriello, 2015;Foss et al., 2013) and CE (Tortoriello, 2015;Zahra and George, 2002). As absorptive capacity capability is activated based on the recognition and exploitation of internal and external knowledge, it seems that social capital can play a fundamental role in enhancing absorptive capacity (Mahmood and Mubarik, 2020), and hence corporate entrepreneurial and innovative behaviors (Khan et al., 2020;Rodrigo-Alarc on et al., 2018;Preston et al., 2017;Li et al., 2014;Yim and Leem, 2013;Alguezaui and Filieri, 2010;Monnavarian and Ashena, 2009;Adler and Kwon, 2002). ...
... In order to foster CE as an essential behavior in today's dynamic environment, firms need to focus on their absorptive capacity to assimilate, learn and employ new technological and product advancements (Kafouros et al., 2020;Vla ci c et al., 2019), as well as to integrate the various types of knowledge, relationships and resources (Rodrigo-Alarc on et al., 2018;Chuang et al., 2016;Zahra et al., 2009;Zahra and George, 2002). Absorptive capacity is a special capability that enables firms to recognize, value, assimilate and exploit the new external knowledge obtained from the external environment, and also from firms' various relationships (Mahmood and Mubarik, 2020;Rodrigo-Alarcon et al., 2018;Preston et al., 2017;Tortoriello, 2015;Zahra et al., 2009); enabling innovation (Reid, 2019;Preston et al., 2017;Tortoriello, 2015;Foss et al., 2013) and CE (Tortoriello, 2015;Zahra and George, 2002). As absorptive capacity capability is activated based on the recognition and exploitation of internal and external knowledge, it seems that social capital can play a fundamental role in enhancing absorptive capacity (Mahmood and Mubarik, 2020), and hence corporate entrepreneurial and innovative behaviors (Khan et al., 2020;Rodrigo-Alarc on et al., 2018;Preston et al., 2017;Li et al., 2014;Yim and Leem, 2013;Alguezaui and Filieri, 2010;Monnavarian and Ashena, 2009;Adler and Kwon, 2002). ...
... In order to foster CE as an essential behavior in today's dynamic environment, firms need to focus on their absorptive capacity to assimilate, learn and employ new technological and product advancements (Kafouros et al., 2020;Vla ci c et al., 2019), as well as to integrate the various types of knowledge, relationships and resources (Rodrigo-Alarc on et al., 2018;Chuang et al., 2016;Zahra et al., 2009;Zahra and George, 2002). Absorptive capacity is a special capability that enables firms to recognize, value, assimilate and exploit the new external knowledge obtained from the external environment, and also from firms' various relationships (Mahmood and Mubarik, 2020;Rodrigo-Alarcon et al., 2018;Preston et al., 2017;Tortoriello, 2015;Zahra et al., 2009); enabling innovation (Reid, 2019;Preston et al., 2017;Tortoriello, 2015;Foss et al., 2013) and CE (Tortoriello, 2015;Zahra and George, 2002). As absorptive capacity capability is activated based on the recognition and exploitation of internal and external knowledge, it seems that social capital can play a fundamental role in enhancing absorptive capacity (Mahmood and Mubarik, 2020), and hence corporate entrepreneurial and innovative behaviors (Khan et al., 2020;Rodrigo-Alarc on et al., 2018;Preston et al., 2017;Li et al., 2014;Yim and Leem, 2013;Alguezaui and Filieri, 2010;Monnavarian and Ashena, 2009;Adler and Kwon, 2002). ...
Purpose
This paper studies the role of inter-firm supply chain social capital and intra-firm social capital in enabling Corporate Entrepreneurship ( CE ), and also investigates the moderating and mediating effect of absorptive capacity.
Design/methodology/approach
A correlational descriptive survey research is employed for 200 firms; adopting a 13-item Likert scale obtained from Wang and Li (2016) for measuring inter-firm social capital, and an eight item Likert scale for measuring absorptive capacity. This is in addition to a nine item Likert scale obtained from De Clercq et al. (2013) to measure the intra-firm social capital, and a nine item semantic differential scale developed by Covin and Slevin (1989) for measuring the level of corporate entrepreneurship. Statistical analysis packages SPSS V.24 and AMOS V.24 were used.
Findings
Results provide evidence that structural supply chain social capital has an effect on corporate entrepreneurship; mediated by potential absorptive capacity. Additionally, the effect of relational supply chain social capital on corporate entrepreneurship is fully mediated by potential absorptive capacity. Furthermore, the effect of cognitive supply chain social capital on corporate entrepreneurship is fully mediated by potential absorptive capacity. On the other hand, results show that both intra-firm social capital and realized absorptive capacity moderate the relationship between potential absorptive capacity and corporate entrepreneurship.
Research limitations/implications
The convenience sampling technique increases the probability of selection bias. In addition, the research focused on two aspects of intra-firm social capital, namely relational and cognitive dimensions, and overlooked the structural dimension of social capital.
Practical implications
Providing managers with insights about the critical role of developing social capital among supply chain partners to facilitate the transfer and exchange of crucial knowledge necessary for product development and innovation. This is in addition to the need to capitalize on intra-collaborations and cross-functional routines to facilitate CE.
Originality/value
This study provides a required extension to the previous literature, which has not empirically modeled the role of potential absorptive capacity as means by which supply chain social capital dimensions enable CE. Also, the research identifies contingency factors that enable the effect of potential absorptive capacity on CE; namely intra-firm social capital and realized absorptive capacity.
... The role of an organization is to develop decision-making structures and intrafirm relationship networks through which individual absorptive capacities can be harnessed and deployed (Tortoriello, 2015). Some research has noted the lack of a micro-foundation-based approach to discover the actions and agency of individuals in ACAP (Schweisfurth & Raasch, 2018). ...
... MIS includes providing incentives and a supporting organizational infrastructure that facilitates the teaching of complex knowledge and the position of individuals within the network of relationships (Tortoriello, 2015). ...
Purpose: This study evaluates the relationship between Individual Absorptive Capacity, Social Integration Mechanisms and Organizational Absorptive Capacity. This study provides empirical evidence about the conceptual absorptive capacity (ACAP) model through examining the full process systematically.
Two groups of moderating variables were studied—namely, social integration and appropriability—to examine their impact on the process.
Design/methodology/approach: This study employed a longitudinal study on metal mechanic companies in Brasil by using 427 survey responses and Structural Equation Modeling (SEM). Data analysis was performed considering: i) Cronbach’s alpha; ii) Composite Reliability; iii) Average Variance Extracted (AVE); iv) Fornell and Larcker criteria; v) Evaluation of Pearson Coefficients of Determination (R2); vi) Effect Size (f2) or Indicator of Cohen; vii) Predictive Validity (Q2); and viii) Student’s t-test. Following
the estimation of the structural model (path coefficients) using the Partial Least Squares method via SmartPLS software version 3.2.8.
Findings: The study confirms that social integration mechanisms are required from organizations to create a positive environment for individuals to develop knowledge in the organizational and individual absorptive capacity levels. Social integration mechanisms can have a direct or moderator effect on the
dimensions of the ACAP.
Originality/value: This study provides support to the learning theory and to the organization-learning concept. It also reveals empirical evidence that the social integration mechanisms play a key role in facilitating both individual and organizational knowledge transfer process. The findings of this study provide functional suggestions and highlight areas for future research.
... Specifically, the higher the centrality of the interlocking director network of a company, the more relationships it establishes with other companies, the shorter the transmission path of information and resources, and the faster the company has access to core resources and effective information. In addition, enterprises occupying structural holes function as information dissemination "bridges" in the network, which can connect enterprises that are not directly connected to access heterogeneous resources and key information needed for risk-taking behavior (Tortoriello, 2015). Second, the root of the resource constraint problem faced by enterprises lies in the information asymmetry among enterprises. ...
... The calculation methods of the structural hole index include effective size, efficiency, constraint and hierarchy, among which the constraint index is more widely used. Following the study of Tortoriello (2015), this paper measured the richness of the structural holes (SH) of the interlocking director network by the difference between 1 and Constraint. SH is calculated as follows: ...
The interlocking director network can not only help achieve low-cost information sharing and exchange learning among enterprises, but also provide essential resource support for corporate risk-taking behavior. This study aims to empirically analyze the impact, mechanism of action, and boundary of influence of interlocking director network (NET) on corporate risk-taking (RISK) using data of Chinese A-share listed companies from 2007 to 2020.The results show: (1) There is a significant positive correlation between NET and RISK, and the above results are still established after a series of robustness tests. (2) Mechanistic tests show that the NET can promote RISK through two channels: alleviating financing constraints and increasing R&D investment. (3) Further analysis reveals the promotion of NET on RISK is more significant in non-state-owned enterprises and enterprises with higher industry competition intensity. These findings have positive implications for the construction of an inter-enterprise interlocking director network and the enhancement the of the risk-taking level.
... Additionally, inventors with rich structural holes have more opportunities for creative knowledge recombination, enhancing the ability to communicate and share knowledge with partners. This provides access to a wider range of knowledge and resources and increases the intellectual capital of the company [58]. However, the heterogeneous knowledge acquired by inventors through cooperative networks requires them to have the appropriate knowledge processing capabilities [59]. ...
... Inventors who occupy structural holes provide firms with more opportunities for creative knowledge recombination and easy knowledge sharing and acquisition [58]. Additionally, inventors have advantages in acquiring architectural knowledge through collaborative network structural holes. ...
With the intensification of artificial intelligence (AI) industry competition, innovation has become an important practical way for companies to achieve sustainable development. In this context, it is important to study the transmission paths affecting the development of ambidextrous innovation in AI firms from the perspectives of inventor cooperation networks and technological knowledge base variety. This study uses a sample of 399 of China’s AI organizations from 2008 to 2017. We explore the impact of an inventor cooperation network on ambidextrous innovation and dissect the mediating role of technological knowledge base variety between inventor cooperation network and ambidextrous innovation. We find that inventor cooperation network structural hole and centrality have an inverted U-shape relationship with a firm’s ambidextrous innovation. Additionally, inventor cooperation network centrality has a positive effect on technological knowledge base variety. In addition, there is an inverted U-shaped relationship between inventor cooperative network structure holes and technological knowledge base variety. Meanwhile, the research also finds that the unrelated variety of technological knowledge base mediates the relationship between the inventor cooperation network and ambidextrous innovation. The related variety of technological knowledge base mediates the relationship between the inventor cooperation network and exploitative innovation. However, the related variety of technological knowledge base cannot play a mediating role between inventor cooperation network and exploratory innovation.
... Second, external search offers opportunities for inventors to expose themselves to external knowledge (Tortoriello, 2015). Inventors may be motived to search externally by attending meetings in the industry-or discipline-wide environment (Acedo et al., 2006). ...
... In contrast, inventors who prioritise external search are likely to be more effective in solving problems and generating innovation (Cross and Cummings, 2004). They can make their knowledge visible both in the technical community and in the organisation and may engage in more knowledge-sharing activities in a bid to internalise external knowledge elements to organisational knowledge that can support more innovations (Tortoriello, 2015). Thus, the intrinsic benefits of knowledge combinations, and hence, combinational potential for engaging in knowledge search activities, are considerably lower for internal search than for external search. ...
This study conceptualises inventors as agents that connect knowledge elements within a knowledge network. Inventors’ searches thus focus on a knowledge element’s combinatorial potential–its suitability for combination with other knowledge elements to generate innovation. Using a survey-based network approach with scientists in the R&D department of a leading US oil and gas company, we find that internal search on combinatorial potential in a knowledge network has an inverted U-shaped relationship with innovation but external search on combinatorial potential has a positive relationship with individual innovation performance. No reinforcement effect between internal and external search was found. Instead, our study reveals the search strategy through knowledge networks that inventors are likely to reduce their effort on internal search but maintain external search to identify the combinatorial potential of knowledge elements, making them more likely to create fruitful knowledge combinations for innovation.
... Simultaneously, effective resource integration enables the incorporation of customers' ideas and suggestions into the output, leading to greater psychological satisfaction and pleasure [73], thus improving tourists' emotional value. Conversely, if service personnel cannot obtain and integrate resources properly, they may fail in effectively addressing tourists' issues, resulting in the wastage of customer resources [74] and a decrease in value perception [75]. The following hypothesis is proposed: ...
Sustainability has emerged as a critical concern in the tourism industry. In sustainable tourism, the question of how to engage tourists in value co-creation has started to receive attention. Based on service-dominant logic, this paper develops an integrated model to reveal the impact of tourist operant resources on online citizenship behavior from the perspective of interactions between tourists and online travel agencies (OTAs). Empirical research is conducted using data collected from 301 tourists with customized sustainable tourism experiences. The results show that tourist operant resources are positively associated with online citizenship behavior, with the perceived value (functional value and emotional value) playing a partially mediating role in this relationship. Knowledge distance between tourists and OTA service personnel exerts an inverted U-shaped moderating effect on the relationship between tourist operant resources and functional values, but it does not have a moderating effect on the relationship between tourist operant resources and emotional values. Resource integration capability positively moderates the impact of tourist operant resources on functional and emotional values. This study reveals the contingency role of tourist operant resources in the entire value co-creation process in the context of sustainable tourism and provides practical guidance for OTAs to promote tourists’ online citizenship behavior to develop sustainable tourism.
... Prior studies have investigated the relationship between knowledge absorptive capacity and innovation performance (e.g. Kostopoulos et al., 2011;Tortoriello, 2015). For instance, Drejer (1997) proposed that absorptive capacity can stimulate technical innovation. ...
Purpose-The advantages of applying big data analytics for organizations to boost innovation performance are enormous. By collecting and analysing substantial amounts of data, firms can discern what works for their customer needs and update existing products while innovating new ones. Notwithstanding the evidence about the effects of big data analytics, the link between big data analytics and innovation performance is still underestimated. Especially in today's fast-changing and complicated environments, companies cannot simply take big data analytics as one innovative technical tool without fully understanding how to deploy it effectively. Design/methodology/approach-This study tries to investigate this relationship by building on the knowledge absorptive capacity perspective. The authors conceptualized effective use of big data analytics tools as one general absorptive capacity rather than a simple technical element or skill. Specifically, effectively utilize big data analytics tools can provide values and insights for new product innovation performance in a turbulent environment. Using online survey data from 108 managers, the authors assessed their hypotheses by applying the structural equation modelling method. Findings-The authors found that big data analytics capacity, which can be conceptualized as one absorptive capacity, can positively influence product innovation performance. The authors also found that environmental turbulence has strong moderation effects on these two main relationships. Originality/value-These results establish big data analytics can be regarded as one absorptive capacity, which can positively boost an organization's innovation performance.
... Cohesion. Scholars of innovation often consider how a firm interacts with different types of externals (Laursen & Salter, 2006) and how people within an organization differ in their propensity to integrate those ideas depending on how connected they are inside the organization (Tortoriello, 2015). We focus on the degree to which externals outside the organization are connected (e.g., through social interactions in the form of commenting on and refining each other's work, see Faraj & Johnson, 2011). ...
... Knowledge transfer is conducive to enterprises for accumulating knowledge and expanding the platform for knowledge exchange, as well as significantly affecting the development of process technology and technological innovation. Knowledge transfer activities between enterprises within an organization promote the progress of enterprises and organizations (Guo et al., 2007), thereby enabling enterprises to gain a significant amount of scientific knowledge and industry knowledge; therefore, the knowledge stock of enterprises and alliances will increases (Tortoriello, 2015), thereby promoting the innovation performance of enterprises. In short, it enables personnel within an organization to quickly grasp the knowledge relevant to the standard and ensures the effectiveness of the benefits of standard implementations, thereby guaranteeing knowledge innovation. ...
As technical standards are increasingly driving the market development, the competition among enterprises is shifting from the traditional product competition to the technical standard competition. The technology standard alliance is an important organizational form for enterprises to participate in the competition of technology standards. In fact, the process of developing and implementing standards is a process of knowledge collaboration. Does knowledge collaboration in the technology standard alliance have an impact on the benefits of standard implementation? What is the impact mechanism? Based on the comprehensive process of knowledge evolution, this study constructs a theoretical model of knowledge collaboration impacting on benefits of standard implementation and introduces strategic flexibility as the intermediary variable to explore the mechanism inside. As for methodology, 203 valid questionnaires filled by 124 enterprises are collected to acquire primary data, and then SPSS 21.0 and SmartPLS 3.0 are applied to build a PLS structural equation model to verify the path relationship between the variables. The results show that the absorption, integration, application, and innovation of enterprise knowledge have a direct impact on the benefits of standard implementation and verify the mediating effect of strategic flexibility in some certain phases of knowledge collaboration. In order to improve the benefits of standard implementation, enterprises should strengthen knowledge collaboration and accelerate the dissemination and diffusion of knowledge, and the government should optimize the governance of market-led standardization organizations and deepen standardization reform.
... Also, the study of Müller et al. (2020) reveals a positive and significant influence of acquisition and assimilation of external knowledge on exploratory and exploitative innovation strategy; and a positive and significant effect of transformation and exploitation of external knowledge on exploratory and exploitative innovation strategy of industry enterprises in Germany. Xie et al. (2018) in their study of high-tech companies in China realized positive relationships between the four dimensions of Absorptive Capabilities (acquisition, assimilation, transformation, and exploitation) and firms' innovation performance, which agrees with the study of Kostopoulos et al. (2011), Sciascia et al. (2014, and Tortoriello (2015). Therefore, based on the Absorptive Capability theory that posits that when organizations identify, acquire, and assimilate information or knowledge from the environment (internal or external), for transformation and exploitation, it brings about innovation and achievement of organizational goals (which leads to sustainability of the organization), and also considering the conceptual and empirical review, this study puts forth the following hypotheses; ...
Purpose – Drawing from the Absorptive Capabilities theory, this paper examines the role played by dimensions of absorptive capabilities (i.e., knowledge acquisition, knowledge assimilation, knowledge transformation, and knowledge exploitation) on the economic sustainability of SMEs in Nigeria. Design/methodology/approach – This study uses a cross-sectional research design to collect quantitative data from 343 owners/managers of SMEs in Plateau State. Structural equation modeling through the use of the Analysis of Moments of Structures (AMOS) software, version 23 was employed to test the hypotheses. Findings – Research results indicate that all the dimensions of absorptive capabilities exert significant influence on the economic sustainability of SMEs. Thus the dimensions of absorptive capabilities serve as the antecedents of the economic sustainability of SMEs could be realized. Limitations- The focus of this study is on SMEs in Plateau State alone. The use of a cross-sectional design may also undermine the results of the study. Implications – This work adds to existing research on the subject of sustainability by revealing that dimensions of absorptive capabilities are necessary for the attainment of economic sustainability. Originality – Based on current literature, studies on the dimensions of absorptive capabilities as predictor variables are limited. No study has been conducted on the influence of absorptive capabilities using four dimensions, on the economic sustainability of SMEs. Thus it is a pioneering study in terms of both content and context.
... To span organisational boundaries, firms require exploration behaviour for external knowledge beyond local searches (Rosenkopf and Nerkar, 2001). Using a questionnaire survey and patent data, Tortoriello (2015) confirmed that structural holes within an internal network strengthened the positive connection between external scientific knowledge and innovative ability of employees. ...
... Due to the practice of ACAP, routines become more precise in the assessment of tangible and intangible assets that can be used for the development of new improved products or processes and to take advantage of the new knowledge of the environment, improving sustainable performance to develop new products or services as a result of the innovations. Thus, the present empirical research agrees with the hypothetical model (H1-H2-H3) and prior studies conducted by Gao et al. [96] and Valentim et al. [101], who found that ACAP substantially influenced the innovation process, but it depends on the ability of companies to have strategies that enable the constant monitoring of innovation activities with their partners for a new entry of goods or services into the markets, which requires leveraged efforts in research and advertising [102,103]. ...
Absorptive capacity and innovation strategies are determining issues for the survival of organizations in current contexts. While organizations are immersed in the knowledge society, managers face great challenges to respond to market needs and performance in innovation ecosystems. This article aims to analyze the effects of absorptive capacity on the implementation of innovation strategy. A quantitative research study was conducted with a sample of 51 SMEs, and the construct model was analyzed using the SEM method. The results indicate that there is a high correlation between the level of absorptive capacity and innovation strategies. Even though firms in this specific sector work with advanced technologies, there is a basic level of development of absorptive capacity, generating some difficulties for the design and implementation of innovation strategies. Furthermore, by using the acquisition, assimilation, transformation, and exploitation of knowledge from the competitive landscape, firms improve their adaptability in the technological environment. The effects of absorptive capacity on innovation strategy contribute to the development of the extant literature on innovation management strategy and provide some managerial implications and future research areas.
... Potential absorptive capacity facilitates a company's capability to receive knowledge from the external environment, whereas realised absorptive capacity is a reflection of the ability of the company to leverage the knowledge it has absorbed and then convert it into an innovation result. Absorptive capacity is necessary for both collaborative and competitive innovation endeavours so that the organisations that work together can acquire, assimilate, convert and employ the knowledge in the creation of new services, products or management innovation (Khosravi et al., 2012;Ritala and Hurmelinna-Laukkanen, 2013;Singh et al., 2020;Tortoriello, 2015). Hence, the idea of absorptive capacity is critical for comprehending how management innovation can be successfully adopted. ...
Purpose
Management innovation is one of the most vital practices underpinning economic growth and is considered to be one of the fundamental components of gaining a superior business position in market conditions that are continually fluctuating. Drawing upon neo-institutional theory as well as absorptive capacity, the current empirical study unpacks the relationships between external institutional forces (i.e. regulative, mimetic and normative pressures) and management innovation through investigating the role of absorptive capacity as a mediator.
Design/methodology/approach
The research model is tested using survey data from Australian organisations. The study used Partial Least Squares (PLS), a component-based structural equation modelling (SEM) method, in order to perform the data analysis.
Findings
The results confirm that the various dimensions of institutional forces have diverse influences on management innovation. The authors found mimetic and normative pressures have positive influences on realised and potential absorptive capacity of an organisation. In addition, realised absorptive capacity mediates the relations between institutional forces and management innovation.
Originality/value
Dissimilar to preceding studies, this research shows that organisations not only innovate to pursue higher performance but sometimes strive for legitimacy. In addition, the significant associations between absorptive capacity and management innovation and the mediation role clearly signify that institutional forces and absorptive capacity play significant roles in the adoption of management innovation.
... Organizations interacting within relationship networks provide higher connectivity with knowledge sharing and networking competencies (Ferraris, Santoro & Bresciani, 2017), thus, generating and transferring knowledge to application sites and ultimately positively affect firms' innovation performance (Camisón & Forés, 2011). Inter-organizational associations comprised of collections of outputoriented firms, in which yield is primarily focused on knowledge generation and using knowledge as input in the transformation process (Tortoriello, 2015). Opportunely, knowledge systems, comprised of agglomeration of organizations, are extraordinarily proficient in establishing new industries, thus serve as pivotal point for creation and dissemination of knowledge (Del Giudice & Maggioni, 2014;Delgado, Porter & Stern, 2014). ...
... Organizations interacting within relationship networks provide higher connectivity with knowledge sharing and networking competencies (Ferraris, Santoro & Bresciani, 2017), thus, generating and transferring knowledge to application sites and ultimately positively affect firms' innovation performance (Camisón & Forés, 2011). Inter-organizational associations comprised of collections of outputoriented firms, in which yield is primarily focused on knowledge generation and using knowledge as input in the transformation process (Tortoriello, 2015). Opportunely, knowledge systems, comprised of agglomeration of organizations, are extraordinarily proficient in establishing new industries, thus serve as pivotal point for creation and dissemination of knowledge (Del Giudice & Maggioni, 2014;Delgado, Porter & Stern, 2014). ...
This study aims to analyze the role of inter-organizational relationship in boosting innovative performance of ICT enterprises through knowledge sharing supported by social capital. Gaining sustenance from Dynamic Capability View (DCV), the study investigates perceived enterprises' innovation performance as a result of inter-organizational relationships embedded with social ties and knowledge sharing among each other. Cross-sectional data were collected from managerial level employees working in ICT enterprises in Pakistan. The study findings based on Process Hayes Macro regression analysis using SPSS stated that the ICT businesses in knowledge hub are collaborating to build strong social relationships while sharing practical experiences and support each other through abstract resources for achieving higher levels of innovative outcomes. Inter-organizational relationships have an affirmative impact on innovation performance, invariably, knowledge sharing mediates the correlation between both. The influence of inter-organizational relationships on innovation performance through knowledge sharing is significant for firms with strong social capital. Consistently, social capital considerably moderates the relationships, as such organizations coordinate and work jointly with other organizations for driving service and product improvements. The research contributes by steers focus towards developing relationships among ICT enterprises, building ties based on faith and exchanging key information consistently to help and polish each other's innovation capabilities. Strong social ties among ICT enterprises will help acquire and capitalize on diverse knowledge to improve their innovation performance.
... Organizations interacting within relationship networks provide higher connectivity with knowledge sharing and networking competencies (Ferraris, Santoro & Bresciani, 2017), thus, generating and transferring knowledge to application sites and ultimately positively affect firms' innovation performance (Camisón & Forés, 2011). Inter-organizational associations comprised of collections of outputoriented firms, in which yield is primarily focused on knowledge generation and using knowledge as input in the transformation process (Tortoriello, 2015). Opportunely, knowledge systems, comprised of agglomeration of organizations, are extraordinarily proficient in establishing new industries, thus serve as pivotal point for creation and dissemination of knowledge (Del Giudice & Maggioni, 2014;Delgado, Porter & Stern, 2014). ...
This study aims to analyze the role of inter-organizational relationship in boosting innovative performance of ICT enterprises through knowledge sharing supported by social capital. Gaining sustenance from Dynamic Capability View (DCV), the study investigates perceived enterprises' innovation performance as a result of inter-organizational relationships embedded with social ties and knowledge sharing among each other. Cross-sectional data were collected from managerial level employees working in ICT enterprises in Pakistan. The study findings based on Process Hayes Macro regression analysis using SPSS stated that the ICT businesses in knowledge hub are collaborating to build strong social relationships while sharing practical experiences and support each other through abstract resources for achieving higher levels of innovative outcomes. Inter-organizational relationships have an affirmative impact on innovation performance, invariably, knowledge sharing mediates the correlation between both. The influence of inter-organizational relationships on innovation performance through knowledge sharing is significant for firms with strong social capital. Consistently, social capital considerably moderates the relationships, as such organizations coordinate and work jointly with other organizations for driving service and product improvements. The research contributes by steers focus towards developing relationships among ICT enterprises, building ties based on faith and exchanging key information consistently to help and polish each other's innovation capabilities. Strong social ties among ICT enterprises will help acquire and capitalize on diverse knowledge to improve their innovation performance.
... Pérez et al. (2019b) definen la diversidad como cuando una entidad económica se encuentra inmersa en las líneas nuevas de producción apoyando el desarrollo de la compañía. Según Grant (1991) citado por Tortoriello (2015) cuando los procesos productivos suelen ser más complicados, estos provocan en consecuencia una mayor cantidad de conocimiento empleado, esto quiere decir, derivado de los mismos recursos se puede comenzar el proceso de elaboración de nuevos productos, o también especializarse en los que ya se cuenta y que se desarrollen productos con un diferenciador para el cliente aminorando el grado de ubicuidad de dichos productos. ...
Actualmente las economías se encuentran en entornos dinámicos provocados por los avances rápidos tecnológicos y diversos factores exógenos que impactan tanto a nivel mundial como nacional, por lo tanto, las economías deben permanecer a la vanguardia de aprovechar los recursos y desarrollar capacidades a su alcance. La teoría de complejidad económica permite a las economías medir sus niveles de competitividad desde una perspectiva no tradicional la cual genera una nueva medida de desempeño macroeconómico. El objetivo de la investigación es calcular el índice de complejidad económica de los 6 municipios más representativos del estado de Nuevo León con análisis de las variables diversidad y ubicuidad mediante la aplicación del método de matrices binarias mediante la fórmula de ventajas comparativas reveladas. Los resultados indican que el municipio de Monterrey con valores de 174 en diversidad y 3.24 en ubicuidad es el municipio con mayor complejidad económica en Nuevo León, por lo tanto, es el municipio más competitivo y el que más aprovecha sus recursos a nivel estatal.
... Exploiting new knowledge to create new products, services, or work process, and applying new knowledge to improve self-works are reflected in the form of individual absorptive abilities. Prior literature has elaborated individual absorptive capacity is helpful to the outcome of knowledge utilization, organizational learning productivity, and organizational innovation performance (Salter et al., 2015;Schweisfurth & Raasch, 2018;Tortoriello, 2015). Hence, we aim to explore whether the individual absorptive capacity plays a role in the relationship between new knowledge diffusion and firms' open innovative performance in organizational contexts. ...
Open innovation within an organization focuses on the dissemination of new knowledge among employees in different departmental units. When the willingness to share knowledge with colleagues increases, new knowledge dissemination can be achieved. Therefore, it is vital to understand which factors can influence knowledge flow in an organization. Human behavior is strongly influenced by internal and external motivations. The technology-organization-environment (TOE) framework can be considered an extrinsic motivation associated with the sharing behavior and the diffusion of new knowledge. Furthermore, individuals have innate psychological needs that support knowledge exchange, making them eager to interact with others. Based on the internal and external motivations and the TOE model, this study proposes an innovative and complete research model to explore the factors which affect open innovation capability within an organization. There were 217 responses to this research questionnaire from 600 organizations, and PLS was used to validate the model. Empirical findings indicate: (1) the importance of extrinsic motivation such as organizational culture and disruptive technology, having strong effects as intrinsic motivation like interactive desire is also concerned; (2) new knowledge diffusion has a significant effect on open innovation capability; (3) the moderating factor of individual absorptive capacity may strengthen the connection between new knowledge diffusion and open innovation capability. The results increase our understanding for what motivations actually drive new knowledge diffusion in transmitting open innovation capability in organizations.
... Furthermore, the efficiency of KS will be enhanced if more employees are trained in a specified technology aspect [32]. Management should ensure the method of training instruction is compatible, as ineffective training on technology caused employees to be unable to gather and analyse knowledge [41]. ...
Knowledge sharing (KS) enable employees exchanging necessary knowledge for their work such as perceptions, views, and ideas, then consequently creating a strong relationship between each other. Obstacles can be avoidable through a better understanding and determination of barriers which are able to increase organization business competitiveness and greater value creation. In this research, the result is to identify the factors that influencing the KS process in an organisation in terms of barriers. Thus, the obtained knowledge and findings will provide to the company management an idea of which barriers are significant to focus on in order to enhance KS levels.
... In a coherent context, Feldman and Audretsch (1999) find that the existence of diverse industries with the same science base in a city leads to more innovation. In short, various technological profiles facilitate more knowledge spillovers within a cluster only when they share a common root (Tortoriello, 2015); that is, the same science base. If clusters' technological profiles are too distant from those of overseas R&D laboratories, it is less likely that they share the same science base. ...
We discuss the effect of cluster and firm heterogeneity on knowledge sourcing in an overseas research and development (R&D) lab. Building on agglomeration economies, absorptive capacity view, and social capital theory, this paper proposes theories that explain certain conditions under which the enjoyment of benefits from the knowledge source can be maximised. This paper suggests that 1) the level of knowledge absorption from a region by an overseas R&D lab is likely to increase as the region contains more diverse technological profiles with a similar science base; 2) the level of knowledge absorption from a region by an overseas R&D lab is likely to increase as the lab enhances its technological capabilities; and 3) the level of knowledge absorption from a region by an overseas R&D lab is likely to increase as the lab becomes older in the cluster. We simultaneously suggest that cluster traits and firm heterogeneity influence the learning of overseas R&D labs. The consideration of both factors will provide a better understanding of knowledge spillover and its contribution to firms in the cluster.
... Through CSC, firms can obtain external resources such as technological capabilities to augment their existing resources to address market and environmental needs. Admittedly, in a dynamic environment, firms with robust technological capabilities are linked with a greater return on innovation (Tortoriello, 2015) to provide value. Hence, incorporating external resources obtained from multiple parties are essential factors to synthesize digital innovation (e.g., Earley, 2014;Maedche, 2016). ...
Digital transformation is critical to enhancing the firms’ sustainable growth, but this association is rarely explored, especially in the emerging market literature. Building upon the dynamic capabilities perspective, we address how digital transformation affects firms’ sustainable growth. Particularly, we examine the moderating effects of cross-border search capability and managerial digital concerns on the digital transformation and firms’ sustainable growth link. Using a survey dataset by 289 firms from Chinese manufacturing and service industries, we perform a hierarchical linear model (HLM) analysis to test our hypotheses. Our results reveal that (1) digital transformation positively enhance firms’ sustainable growth; (2) cross-border search capability moderates the effects of digital transformation on firms’ sustainable growth; and (3) managerial digital concerns moderate the effects of digital transformation on firms’ sustainable growth. Our findings illustrate how cross-border search and managerial digital concern matters in firms’ sustainable growth. It further extends the scope of digital transformation research.
... Firms are embedded in networks (Wang et al., 2014;Guan and Liu, 2016), which can provide external knowledge for them to generate innovation (Powell et al., 1996;Tortoriello, 2015; Xiaowei Ju, Guanhua Wang and Yu Fu are all based at the School of Business and Management, Jilin University, Changchun, China. Inkpen and Tsang, 2016). ...
Purpose
From the perspective of social networks and knowledge networks, this study aims to empirically examine an updated four-dimension networking capability (NC) construct and test the relationships between it and innovation strategies through knowledge application activities in the context of Chinese manufacturing firms.
Design/methodology/approach
Data analysis is conducted on a quantitative survey of 219 manufacturing firms in China with a mixed method of partial least squares structural equation modeling and fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis.
Findings
The results indicate that knowledge assimilation application (KAA) and knowledge transformation application (KTA) fully mediate the relationships between NC and ambidextrous innovation strategies. KAA has a stronger association with exploitative innovation (EL) than with exploratory innovation (ER), and KTA has a stronger association with ER than with EL.
Research limitations/implications
The authors develop the conceptualization of NC and examine its role in knowledge application activities within a firm. Further, the authors adopt an alternative perspective to highlight the importance of KAA and KTA in mediating the relationships between NC and exploratory and exploitative innovation strategies.
Practical implications
The findings indicate that firms should build NC based on their knowledge requirements and knowledge network structure. Additionally, managers should possess in-depth insights regarding an effective knowledge application toward different types of external knowledge from partners. More specific, firms are more likely to conduct KAA for a high degree of knowledge relatedness, while for a low degree of knowledge relatedness, firms are more likely to conduct KTA.
Originality/value
The authors provide a novel alternative insight into knowledge application activities. From the perspective of knowledge networks, the authors argue that there are two distinct and parallel activities (i.e. KAA and KTA). The authors empirically examined the mediating roles of KAA and KTA in the NC–ambidextrous innovation strategies relationships as well as enriched the literature on their relationships.
... The literature recognizes that firms implement strategies that allow them to have access to different external sources of knowledge and thus develop their innovation capability (Tortoriello, 2015); for example, Röd (2019) analyzed family businesses and found that these firms sought out many different sources of knowledge that allowed them to carry out incremental and radical innovations at the same time. ...
This paper aims to evaluate the relationship between external sources of knowledge and innovation ambidexterity and then analyze how innovation ambidexterity improves product innovation. This study presents evidence based on a sample of 355 low-medium-tech (LMT) firms participating in the National Survey of Innovation in the Manufacturing Industry and Knowledge-Intensive Service Firms in Peru. A structural equation model approach was applied. The results indicate a positive relationship between external sources of knowledge and exploration and exploitation, and technological innovation improves product innovation. These results provide more profound knowledge about how LMT firms in an emerging economy can apply open innovation practices to develop innovation ambidexterity, thus enhancing their product innovation capability.
... Cohesion. Scholars of innovation often consider how a firm interacts with different types of externals (Laursen & Salter, 2006) and how people within an organization differ in their propensity to integrate those ideas depending on how connected they are inside the organization (Tortoriello, 2015). We focus on the degree to which externals outside the organization are connected (e.g., through social interactions in the form of commenting on and refining each other's work, see Faraj & Johnson, 2011). ...
... However, as implied by recombinant search theory and further discussed in the knowledge-based view, search behavior may increase the complexity of the knowledge base, and the integration of knowledge components involves complex recombinations of individuals' specialized knowledge (Kogut and Zander, 1992;Grant, 1996b;Fleming, 2001 Second, this study developed an environmentally contingent view of knowledge search by studying the moderating effects of government support and technological turbulence. Unlike previous studies that looked at various intra-organizational contingent factors such as internal knowledge networks (Grigoriou and Rothaermel, 2017), structural holes (Tortoriello, 2015) and firm age (Li et al., 2019) in the context of knowledge search, the theorization of government support and technological turbulence complement this literature by investigating environmental conditions within which knowledge behaviors take place. ...
Purpose
Knowledge search is considered a broad concept and semi-intentional behavior. The path and boundary conditions through which search strategies affect intra-organizational knowledge creation remain elusive. Drawing on recombinant search theory and knowledge-based view, the authors seek to identify knowledge complexity as an important intermediate variable between knowledge search and innovation performance, such as research and development (R&D) output and R&D output quality. A second goal of this study is to examine the moderating roles of government support and technological turbulence.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors employed a longitudinal panel of 609 global pharmaceutical firms and obtained the firms' patent records from 1980 to 2015 for the analysis. The authors used generalized estimating equations (GEE) to evaluate the models and tested the consistency via panel fixed-effects estimations.
Findings
The authors' findings show that organizational routine-guided search has a negative effect on knowledge complexity, while routine-changing search exerts a positive impact on knowledge complexity. Governmental support and technological turbulence moderate these relationships. Notably, knowledge complexity has an inverted U-shaped relationship with innovation performance.
Research limitations/implications
The authors' research context, the pharmaceutical industry, may constrain the generalizability of our findings. In addition, potential types of routine-guided and routine-changing search behaviors were not considered.
Practical implications
Despite these limitations, this study offers important implications. First, knowledge complexity transmits the effects of knowledge search on innovation performance. Practitioners should balance routine-guided and routine-changing search processes to build and manage complex knowledge. Second, a moderate level of knowledge complexity is the key to good R&D output and R&D output quality.
Originality/value
The study identifies knowledge complexity as one important intermediate variable between knowledge search behaviors and intra-organizational knowledge creation.
... This conclusion joins, and strengthens, nascent related work finding that intermittent interaction (the on-off cycling of connectivity in a network over time) can produce superior solutions in collective problem-solving (Bernstein et al. 2018). It also connects with established work in innovation-related tasks showing that networks that enable both diversity and learning (including small world networks and other structures that combine local clustering with ties to different knowledge pools) are most conducive to success for individual nodes within the network (Schilling and Phelps 2007, Tortoriello 2015, Ter Wal et al. 2016) (without investigating, as we do, the collective success of the whole network). ...
We study the connection between communication network structure and an organization’s collective adaptability to a shifting environment. Research has shown that network centralization—the degree to which communication flows disproportionately through one or more members of the organization rather than being more equally distributed—interferes with collective problem-solving by obstructing the integration of existing ideas, information, and solutions in the network. We hypothesize that the mechanisms responsible for that poor integration of ideas, information, and solutions would nevertheless prove beneficial for problems requiring adaptation to a shifting environment. We conducted a 1,620-subject randomized online laboratory experiment, testing the effect of seven network structures on problem-solving success. To simulate a shifting environment, we designed a murder mystery task and manipulated when each piece of information could be found: early information encouraged an inferior consensus, requiring a collective shift of solution after more information emerged. We find that when the communication network within an organization is more centralized, it achieves the benefits of connectivity (spread of novel better solutions) without the costs (getting stuck on an existing inferior solution). We also find, however, that these benefits of centralization only materialize in networks with two-way flow of information and not when information only flows from the center of the network outward (as can occur in hierarchical structures or digitally mediated communication). We draw on these findings to reconceptualize theory on the impact of centralization—and how it affects conformity pressure (lock-in) and awareness of diverse ideas (learning)—on collective problem-solving that demands adaptation.
... There is a broad consensus that the ability to react quickly to the turbulences that ventures encounter in the early phases of their life cycle (Eisenhardt & Martin, 2000) is associated with increased innovativeness (Cosh et al., 2012) and, ultimately, with improved performance (Camuffo et al., 2020). Finally, gender diversity has been associated with increased absorptive capacity and knowledge recombination (Ruiz-Jiménez et al., 2016;Tortoriello, 2015;Vasudeva & Anand, 2011). As such, it may facilitate ventures in absorbing nonredundant and non-overlapping external knowledge, which may allow them to offset technological uncertainty (Sirmon et al., 2007;Vassolo et al., 2004) and develop better products and services (Baum et al., 2000;Powell et al., 1996;Vasudeva & Anand, 2011). ...
Building upon the gender role congruity theory, in this paper, we propose that the association between gender diversity and venture performance changes when roles played by individuals are not coherent with the gender-derived expectations of their ascribed social group. We test our theory in the context of early stage financing, investigating how gender diversity between entrepreneurs and VC managers influences the investment performance of VC-backed firms. Our sample consists of 5800 VC managers, who invested in 5075 different ventures in the period 2000–2019 and of 16,713 venture founders. We find that gender diversity is associated with better performance only when a female entrepreneur is matched to a male VC manager. Our analysis sheds light on the presence of several factors that moderate the observed association, related to the VC’s ability to provide value-added services to the invested ventures.
... For example, Tsai (2001) researched two large MNEs and found organizational units can produce more new products than other internal units when they are central to the knowledge transfer network of the MNE. Tortoriello (2015) certified that in the internal MNE network, when individuals (e.g., employees) were located in rich structural holes, they could leverage knowledge from others more effectively toward the generation of new patents. ...
In this paper we perform a systematic literature review of the diverse and somewhat fragmented current state of research on firms’ internationalization and innovation. We analyze 207 key works from 1989 through 2020 and synthesize them into an internationalization process framework that conceptually maps key internationalization-related antecedents and moderators that influence innovation behaviors and outcomes. Through an internationalization process framework, we categorize existing relevant studies into three key stages: (a) the pre-internationalization stage, (b) the internationalization entry stage, and (c) the post-internationalization stage. Furthermore, we review how firms’ various strategic decisions and operations in different stages influence their innovations by elaborating the moderating role of external country/region institutions and firm internal characteristics. Building on this review, we provide suggestions for future research to advance the developments of this domain.
... To develop our arguments, we anchor on a rich stream of literature that has emphasized the role of external technology sources on innovation performance [8]- [15]. The extant literature on open innovation has highlighted the importance of the interplay between external technology and in-house innovation routines. ...
... In case firms have already developed some ACAP in a specific sector, they will be able to further explore the external knowledge available (Cohen and Levinthal, 1990;Zahra and George, 2002); thus, firms are not capable of evaluating new information without having previous general knowledge about it (Sjödin et al., 2019). Thus, without prior knowledge and ability to access and evaluate external knowledge, these firms stop embodying such factors (Cohen and Levinthal, 1990;Tortoriello, 2015). ...
... In addition to focusing on the network attributes of R&D networks, scholars also actively explore the impact of R&D networks. Marco and Tortoriello found that the impact of external knowledge on individual innovation ability depends on the position of individuals in internal social networks [7] . Yang et al. explored the impact of relationship risk on enterprise knowledge flow from the perspective of network power [8] . ...
Collective creativity and innovation are key determinants of various important outcomes ranging from competitiveness of an organization to GDP growth of a country. As a result, this topic has attracted widespread scholarly interest from different disciplines, including strategic management, entrepreneurship, production and operations management, information systems, marketing, organizational behavior, sociology, economics, and psychology. However, this research remained isolated within disciplinary boundaries, which presents a major barrier for knowledge accumulation and cross-disciplinary learning. In this review, building on a new taxonomy of collectivity, we develop an integrative framework that organizes and synthesizes the fragmented research on the topic. The framework shows how antecedents related to the cognitive, social, and organizational architecture of a collective impact innovation depending on the collectivity type: attention-based, divergence-based, and convergence-based collectives. As a whole, our framework builds an integrative understanding of drivers of collective creativity and innovation and sets the stage for further theory development by facilitating communication across different disciplines. We conclude our review with an agenda for future research.
Despite the importance of institutions in the cluster literature, scholarship has struggled with its conceptualization of institutions, resulting in an incomplete portrait of diverse phenomena. In response, we crystallize a hybrid stream of institutionalism that has emerged in the economic geography literature and propose the construct of institutional interactions to provide structural and relational insight into cluster‐wide resistance to innovation. By pairing network analysis with a genealogical study of the Montreal translation cluster, we isolate the impact of institutional interactions and find preliminary support for the redundancies created by institutional brokers and institutional network characteristics. We demonstrate how to use the construct of institutional interactions to diagnose constraints to innovation in an institutional environment.
What happens to old competences in organizations when new competences are acquired? In this paper, we propose a competence attrition theory to explain the effects of acquiring new competences on previously acquired ones. While the presumed positive role of available competences for the acquisition of new competences has been the subject of extensive research, the potentially negative effect of the acquisition of external competences on the availability and use of existing competences has not been sufficiently theorized. We aim to do so by extending existing learning and absorptive capacity theories with insights from linguistics on competence attrition. Specifically, informed by parallel patterns in language acquisition and attrition, we develop a set of focused propositions on competence acquisition and attrition in organizations. We end the paper by discussing the implications of our theorizing for existing theory and research.
Purpose
This study aims to reveal the contribution mechanism of various types of intrafirm networks formed among inventors to firms’ searching for new knowledge. This study also intends to show how this mechanism is influenced by the geographic dispersion of inventors and the external alliance of firms.
Design/methodology/approach
This study develops an analytical framework building on social network theory to explain the collective search among inventors within the firm. The authors validate the hypotheses using the data from 316 publicly traded biotechnology firms in the USA.
Findings
As demonstrated by the findings, intrafirm network clustering facilitates the search for new knowledge. The geographic dispersion of inventors’ location has a negative moderating effect on this relation, whereas the number of alliance partners has a positive moderating effect on this relation. By contrast, the search for new knowledge is hampered by the intrafirm network average path length. The geographic dispersion of inventors positively moderates this relation, whereas a firm’s alliance partner number negatively moderates this relation.
Originality/value
To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first to examine the joint effect of intrafirm networks, inventors’ geographic locations and external alliances on the new knowledge-searching process. This study points out that new knowledge acquired through inventors’ geographic locations and alliance partners is internalized efficiently according to different types of internal networks.
This study adopts a temporal perspective to investigate how boundary spanners can increase the inflow of external knowledge by engaging with both external and internal parties. We add to prior work on knowledge transfer by shifting the focus from engagement levels to investigating engagement dynamics, especially the degree of switching between external and internal engagement across consecutive time periods. Drawing from a cognitive perspective, we argue that switching strongly between engagement types is associated with a segmented knowledge structure that enables quick and efficient categorical processing when knowledge can simply be “channeled” from source to recipient units. In contrast, weak or no switching is associated with a blended knowledge structure and more reflective processing, which is particularly helpful when knowledge transfer requires more translation and transformation. Correspondingly, we adopt a contingency perspective and theorize that the cognitive advantages associated with stronger versus weaker switching weigh differently, contingent on the stickiness of knowledge to be transferred and the nature of boundary-spanning activities that vary in importance over time. Fixed effects models of eight waves of original survey data reveal that, in line with our theorizing, the association between switching and knowledge transfer becomes increasingly negative (1) the more boundary spanners access knowledge that is transspecialist in nature, (2) the greater the organizational distance between source and recipient units, and (3) in later phases of the boundary-spanning process.
Funding: This work was supported by the Swiss Competence Center for Energy Research–Competence Center for Research in Energy, Society and Transition (SCCER CREST) [Grant 1155000154]. The work was also financially supported by a seed grant from the Bits and Watts Initiative within the Precourt Institute for Energy at Stanford University.
Supplemental Material: The online appendix is available at https://doi.org/10.1287/orsc.2023.1677 .
This chapter deals with organizational issues pertaining to the management of innovation and technical development activities within firms. The discussion is based on the classic—and mostly still valid—results deriving from Tom Allen’s research, which include the use of codified knowledge, the role of gatekeepers and the influence of physical space. The discussion is enriched with recent research findings, which consider the role of innovators, the impact of contemporary information and communication technology. Finally, the chapter discusses issues pertaining to organizational design of development teams, along with their staffing in an international setting.
Purpose
This paper aims to explore the effects of director network on open innovation. As an informal institutional arrangement, the director network is an important source for the enterprise to obtain external information, which provide resource basis for open innovation. Chief Executive Officer (CEO) as the top of management team could make short-sighted decisions for personal interests; this paper also investigates the moderating role of CEO short-sightedness between director network and open innovation.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper takes 4,102 Chinese listed companies from 2007 to 2020 as the research sample. By introducing network centrality and structural hole to measure director network and using data mining to extract key words related to CEO short-sightedness from annual reports, this paper constructs several multiple linear regression models to analyze the impact of director network on open innovation and the moderating role of CEO short-sightedness.
Findings
The analysis finds that director network can facilitate corporate open innovation. Enterprises can acquire more external resources in high centrality and structural hole of director network and promote ability for corporate open innovation. The relationship between director network and open innovation is negatively moderated by CEO short-sightedness. When the level of corporate governance and analyst attention is high, the negative effect of CEO short-sightedness on the innovation effect of directors’ networks is suppressed.
Originality/value
This is the first empirical paper to investigate the promotion effect of director network on open innovation as well as the negative moderating role of CEO short-sightedness. The findings bring new perspectives to the open innovation and enlightenments for practical activities from social relationship aspect.
Creativity in teams is spurred by members’ access to diverse knowledge, often from interactions with external sources. However, not all teams that have the capabilities to acquire such external knowledge are equally creative. Integrating theories of absorptive capacity and creative synthesis in teams, we propose that teams’ external knowledge acquisition capabilities in securing a wide variety of knowledge resources need to be complemented by internal knowledge integration capabilities that facilitate balanced/equal participation of all team members in the creative problem-solving process. In turn, this combination enables effective information elaboration processes underlying the generation of truly creative team outcomes. We test these ideas in two field studies. First, in a sample of 81 research and development teams in three organizations in science and technology fields, we find that teams’ connections with a wide range of external parties—indicating their external knowledge acquisition capability—benefit their creativity, but only when the team’s internal team member problem-solving network structure—an indicator of the team’s knowledge integration capability—is less centralized (i.e., not controlled by one or few members). We further demonstrate that these effects are more salient when the team’s task is more complex. Replicating these findings in a second sample of 57 project teams in an energy manufacturing and services firm, we show that these effects are mediated by the team’s information elaboration processes. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.
Funding: This research was supported by grants received by C. Tang and her colleagues at UCAS, from the National Natural Science Foundation of China [Projects 71974178, 71932009], MOE Social Science Laboratory of Digital Economic Forecasts and Policy Simulation at UCAS, and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities [Project E2E40806X2].
Supplemental Material: The online appendix is available at https://doi.org/10.1287/orsc.2023.1661 .
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of two dimensions of technological relatedness, namely technological similarity and complementarity, on collaborative performance, plus the mediating role of collaboration network stickiness and the moderating role of partner expertise and geographical distance in interfirm collaboration contexts.
Design/methodology/approach
This study takes Chinese Scientific and Technological Achievements (STA) of inter-firm collaboration in five high-tech fields in 2010–2020 as the sample and uses OLS regression to test the hypothesis.
Findings
Technological similarity and complementarity positively affect collaborative performance. Partner expertise negatively moderates the relationship between similarity, complementarity and collaborative performance. Geographical distance positively moderates the relationship between similarity and collaborative performance while negatively moderates that between complementarity and collaborative performance. Collaboration network stickiness partly mediates the relationship between similarity and collaborative performance.
Originality/value
This study expands literature on inter-firm collaboration, especially research on the antecedents of collaborative performance. Moreover, this study not only compensates for lack of empirical analysis in partner selection research, but also utilizes second-hand data to enhance the objectivity of analysis. Additionally, we enrich the research on the moderating role of partner expertise and geographical distance as well as the mediating role of collaboration network stickiness.
The primary goal of this research is to identify how and whether knowledge distance influences multinational enterprises’ innovation performance. Although international business scholars have acknowledged the importance of knowledge distance, the research question is under-explored. Based on the distance approach, this study provides a theoretical foundation for knowledge distance and empirically examines its impact on the innovation performance of multinational enterprises engaging in cross-border acquisitions. Furthermore, we investigated whether internationalization breadth and depth moderate knowledge distance-innovation performance. We examined Chinese-listed firms that made international acquisitions from 2010 to 2016 and found a negative relationship between knowledge distance and innovation performance. We also discovered that internationalization breadth and depth moderate the negative relationship between knowledge distance and innovation performance. Our study contributes to international business studies by providing the theoretical foundation and empirical results of knowledge distance in the international business context.
Interpersonal networks can be conceptualized not only as actual social structures surrounding individuals but also as cognitive social structures stemming from individuals’ perceptions of those relationships. Yet most research on social networks adopts either a structural or a perceptual perspective. In this article, I blend these two traditions to examine how actual and perceptual brokerage jointly determine innovation performance. I hypothesize that while actual brokerage benefits individuals by exposing them to nonredundant information, socially perceived brokerage—being perceived to bridge groups regardless of one’s actual network configuration—may trigger skepticism of brokers’ motives that could hinder their ability to innovate. Thus I argue that others’ perceptions of a focal actor’s brokerage opportunities constitute a critical contingency underlying network advantage. Using a multimethod approach, including a field study in a global consulting firm and a preregistered experiment, I find that individuals spanning structural holes achieve higher innovation performance when their colleagues perceive them to have closed rather than open networks, and that trust is the underlying mechanism driving this effect. Integrating insights from cognitive social structures into structural holes theory, this study illustrates the importance of considering both structural and perceptual mechanisms in modeling how individuals reap the benefits of brokerage.
Purpose
Prior research on supply chain management has advanced substantially our understanding of how suppliers’ knowledge affects manufacturers’ green innovation. However, overlooking the suppliers’ diverse green knowledge in supplier networks, namely, green knowledge diversity, has limited our understanding of both supply chain management and green innovation development. To address this important issue, this study aims to rely on social network theory as the overarching framework and knowledge-based view as the underlying theoretical foundation to examine how green knowledge diversity contributes to manufacturers’ green innovation performance, while considering three types of supplier network properties (network strength, network heterogeneity and network density).
Design/methodology/approach
This study collects both survey and secondary proxy data from 209 manufacturing firms over three time periods (mid-2018, mid-2019 and mid-2020). PROCESS macro is applied to test the research hypotheses.
Findings
The results provide compelling evidence that green knowledge management processes partially mediate the effect of green knowledge diversity on manufacturers’ green innovation performance. The effect of green knowledge diversity is strengthened by supplier network strength and supplier network heterogeneity, but hindered by supplier network density.
Practical implications
This study provides a practical guide to help manufacturers enhance green innovation performance by properly managing and leveraging their suppliers’ diverse green knowledge domains in supplier networks.
Originality/value
This study contributes to the supply chain management and green innovation literature by offering novel theoretical and empirical insights into how manufacturers can use their supplier networks to strengthen green innovation.
Purpose
This study focuses on resolving empirical inconsistencies in the relationship between external search breadth and innovation performance. Based on research on the knowledge-based view and innovation barriers, three internal barriers that weaken the effectiveness of external search breadth are discerned: information, rigidity and financial barriers.
Design/methodology/approach
For empirical analysis, the Korean Innovation Survey 2016 of manufacturing firms was utilized. This study defines innovation performance as the number of patent applications and new product introduction that are analyzed through zero-inflated negative binomial and logistic regressions, respectively.
Findings
The empirical analysis showed three findings. First, external search breadth has a positive relationship with the number of patent applications but not with new product introduction. Second, financial barrier weakens the positive association of external search breadth with the number of patent applications. Third, the interactions of external search breadth with the three internal barriers are negatively related to new product introduction.
Originality/value
This study makes two theoretical contributions. First, by examining barriers to external knowledge search, this research helps identify potential bottlenecks in this search. Second, the study reveals that the effectiveness of external search breadth may have a boundary in firm innovation by showing that this search affects patent application and new product introduction differently.
A key premise in innovation literature suggests that individuals enabling contact between pairs of otherwise disconnected others (i.e., holding open triads) are more innovative, as they benefit from more opportunities for knowledge recombination. Such benefits also come with a cost, as conducting innovative action from open triads requires finding common ground to coordinate and integrate disparate knowledge and efforts from unconnected others. However, it is yet unclear which specific open triadic structures offer the greatest net value to facilitate individual innovativeness. We contribute to this debate by going beyond a homogeneous conceptualization of open triads, examining the relation between different brokerage roles and individual innovativeness. We theorize that some roles are more balanced than others in terms of access to knowledge novelty and integration costs. Specifically, we find that balanced open triads (gatekeepers and itinerant roles) are crucial to facilitate individual innovativeness, as compared to unbalanced open triads (coordinator and liaison roles). We also propose that brokers obtain the greatest innovation benefits from balanced open triads when they are embedded in institutional settings that are distant from knowledge applicability. We test our ideas through a large‐scale study of 1.010 biomedical scientists.
The mechanism of knowledge diffusion in collaborative innovation projects has long been a controversial topic, partly due to the lack of attention to actors. The characteristics of actors in projects directly affect individual diffusion behaviour and, in turn, the whole process of knowledge diffusion. The interactions among actors in knowledge diffusion can be abstractly expressed as a network. In prior research, the network characteristics related to knowledge diffusion are confined to the dimensions of network relationships, and the attributes of network nodes have received limited attention. For this reason, this paper focuses on two characteristics, network density and project roles, which are argued to have a considerable correlation with knowledge diffusion in collaborative innovation projects. As knowledge diffusion in a project is a complex and dynamic process, an agent-based modelling approach was employed to construct a simulation model of knowledge diffusion. A case study was conducted that included three parallel simulation experiments with different network characteristics. The results show that (a) the adjustment of network density within a specific range is positively correlated with the extent of knowledge diffusion; (b) the role division of network nodes has a negative impact on the overall extent of knowledge diffusion; and (c) the role division of network nodes has a particular moderating effect on the relationship between density and the extent of diffusion. This research reveals the mechanism of knowledge diffusion in collaborative innovation projects, which provides theoretical guidance for designing the relational structure and the roles of actors in practice.
Much of the prior research on interorganizational learning has focused on the role of absorptive capacity, a firm's ability to value, assimilate, and utilize new external knowledge. However, this definition of the construct suggests that a firm has an equal capacity to learn from all other organizations. We reconceptualize the Jinn-level construct absorptive capacity as a learning dyad-level construct, relative absorptive capacity. One firm's ability to learn from another firm is argued to depend on the similarity of both firms' (1) knowledge bases, (2) organizational structures and compensation policies, and (3) dominant logics. We then test the model using a sample of pharmaceutical-biotechnology RED alliances. As predicted, the similarity of the partners' basic knowledge, lower management formalization, research centralization, compensation practices, and research communities were positively related to interorganizational learning. The relative absorptive capacity measures are also shown to have greater explanatory power than the established measure of absorptive capacity, R&D spending. (C) 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Explanations of productivity differences between men and women in science tend to focus on the academic sector and the individual level. This article examines how variation in organizational logic affects sex differences in scientists' commercial productivity, as measured by patenting. Using detailed data from a sample of academic and industrial life scientists working in the United States, the authors present multivariate regression models of scientific patenting. The data show that controlling for education- and career-history variables, women are less likely to patent than men. However, in biotechnology firms—industrial settings characterized by flatter, more flexible, network-based organizational structures— women scientists are more likely to become patent-holding inventors than in more hierarchically arranged organizational settings in industry or academia. The authors discuss how the organization of scientists'work settings may influence enduring disparities between men and women in science and the implications of these findings for future work.
This paper presents a model of innovation, knowledge brokering, that explains how some organizations are able to routinely innovate by recombining their past knowledge in new ways. While existing theories of organizational learning and innovation are useful, the links between them are crucial for understanding how existing knowledge becomes the raw materials from which individuals in organizations construct innovative solutions. This model develops these links by grounding processes of learning and innovation in the larger social context within which they occur. Using a microsociological perspective, this article draws together research spanning levels of analysis to explain innovation as the dissembling and reassembling of extant ideas, artifacts, and people. Previous research has suggested that firms spanning multiple domains may innovate by moving ideas from where they are known to where they are not, in the process creating new combinations of existing ideas. This paper more fully develops this process by linking the cognitive, social, and structural activities it comprises. Knowledge brokering involves exploiting the preconditions for innovation that reside within the larger social structure by bridging multiple domains, learning about the resources within those domains, linking that knowledge to new situations, and finally building new networks around the innovations that emerge from the process. This article also considers the origins of knowledge brokers as firms committed to this innovation strategy, the structural and cultural supports for the knowledge brokering process, and several obstacles to the process that these firms experience. Finally, I discuss the implications of this model for further research on innovation and learning, and the implications for other organizations seeking to establish their own capabilities for brokering knowledge.
A critical factor in industrial competitiveness is the ability of firms to exploit new technological developments. We term this ability a firm's absorptive capacity and argue that such a capability not only enables a firm to exploit new extramural knowledge, but to predict more accurately the nature of future technological advances. We develop a stylized model in which we focus exclusively on firms' decisions to invest in their absorptive capacities. We first examine a monopolist's investment decision, analyzing the path dependence of its investment and the effect of uncertainty. We then consider the effect of competition by modeling the impact of entry on an incumbent's investment behavior. Implications for management and public policy are then discussed.
This paper examines interfirm knowledge transfers within strategic alliances. Using a new measure of changes in alliance partners' technological capabilities, based on the citation patterns of their patent portfolios, we analyze changes in the extent to which partner firms' technological resources ‘overlap’ as a result of alliance participation. This measure allows us to test hypotheses from the literature on interfirm knowledge transfer in alliances, with interesting results: we find support for some elements of this ‘received wisdom’—equity arrangements promote greater knowledge transfer, and ‘absorptive capacity’ helps explain the extent of technological capability transfer, at least in some alliances. But the results also suggest limits to the ‘capabilities acquisition’ view of strategic alliances. Consistent with the argument that alliance activity can promote increased specialization, we find that the capabilities of partner firms become more divergent in a substantial subset of alliances.
The field of strategic management is predicated fundamentally on the idea that managements' decisions are endogenous to their expected performance implications. Yet, based on a review of more than a decade of empirical research in the Strategic Management Journal, we find that few papers econometrically correct for such endogeneity. In response, we now describe the endogeneity problem for cross-sectional and panel data, referring specifically to management's choice among discrete strategies with continuous performance outcomes. We then present readily implementable econometric methods to correct for endogeneity and, when feasible, provide STATA code to ease implementation. We also discuss extensions and nuances of these models that are sometimes difficult to decipher in more standard treatments. These extensions are not typically discussed in the strategy literature, but they are, in fact, highly pertinent to empirical strategic management research.
In this article, we study the conditions under which having ties that span organizational boundaries (bridging ties) are conducive to the generation of innovations. Whereas previous research has shown that bridging ties have a positive impact on innovative performance, our analysis of 276 R&D scientists and engineers reveals that there are no advantages associated with bridging per se. In contrast, our findings suggest that the advantages traditionally associated with bridging ties are contingent upon the nature of the ties forming the bridge—specifically, whether these bridging ties are Simmelian. Funding for this research was provided by the Ewing
We conduct a detailed analysis of 289 absorptive capacity papers from 14 journals to assess how the construct has been utilized, examine the key papers in the field, and identify the substantive contributions to the broader literature using a thematic analysis. We argue that research in this area is fundamentally driven by five critical assumptions that we conclude have led to its reification and that this reification has led to stifling of research in this area. To address this, we propose a model of absorptive capacity processes, antecedents, and outcomes.
A central part of the innovation process concerns the way firms go about organizing search for new ideas that have commercial potential. New models of innovation have suggested that many innovative firms have changed the way they search for new ideas, adopting open search strategies that involve the use of a wide range of external actors and sources to help them achieve and sustain innovation. Using a large-scale sample of industrial firms, this paper links search strategy to innovative performance, finding that searching widely and deeply is curvilinearly (taking an inverted U-shape) related to performance. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
The purpose of this Perspective Paper is to advance understanding of absorptive capacity, its underlying dimensions, its multi-level antecedents, its impact on firm performance and the contextual factors that affect absorptive capacity. Nineteen years after the Cohen and Levinthal 1990 paper, the field is characterized by a wide array of theoretical perspectives and a wealth of empirical evidence. In this paper, we first review these underlying theories and empirical studies of absorptive capacity. Given the size and diversity of the absorptive capacity literature, we subsequently map the existing terrain of research through a bibliometric analysis. The resulting bibliometric cartography shows the major discrepancies in the organization field, namely that (1) most attention so far has been focused on the tangible outcomes of absorptive capacity; (2) organizational design and individual level antecedents have been relatively neglected in the absorptive capacity literature; and (3) the emergence of absorptive ccapacity from the actions and interactions of individual, organizational and inter-organizational antecedents remains unclear. Building on the bibliometric analysis, we develop an integrative model that identifies the multi-level antecedents, process dimensions, and outcomes of absorptive capacity as well as the contextual factors that affect absorptive capacity. We argue that realizing the potential of the absorptive capacity concept requires more research that shows how “micro antecedents” and “macroantecedents” influence future outcomes such as competitive advantage, innovation, and firm performance. In particular, we identify conceptual gaps that may guide future research to fully exploit the absorptive capacity concept in the organization field and to explore future fruitful extensions of the concept.
In this paper, we argue that the ability of a firm to recognize the value of new, external information, assimilate it, and apply it to commercial ends is critical to its innovative capabilities. We label this capability a firm's absorptive capacity and suggest that it is largely a function of the firm's level of prior related knowledge. The discussion focuses first on the cognitive basis for an individual's absorptive capacity including, in particular, prior related knowledge and diversity of background. We then characterize the factors that influence absorptive capacity at the organizational level, how an organization's absorptive capacity differs from that of its individual members, and the role of diversity of expertise within an organization. We argue that the development of absorptive capacity, and, in turn, innovative performance are history- or path-dependent and argue how lack of investment in an area of expertise early on may foreclose the future development of a technical capability in that area. We formulate a model of firm investment in research and development (R&D), in which R&D contributes to a firm's absorptive capacity, and test predictions relating a firm's investment in R&D to the knowledge underlying technical change within an industry. Discussion focuses on the implications of absorptive capacity for the analysis of other related innovative activities, including basic research, the adoption and diffusion of innovations, and decisions to participate in cooperative R&D ventures.
Research indicates that certain boundary spanning individuals, labelled gatekeepers, can be an important linking mechanism between organizations and their external environments. This study investigates the role of gatekeepers in the transfer of information in a single R&D setting by comparing directly the performance of project groups with and without gatekeepers. Results indicate that gatekeepers perform a linking role only for projects performing tasks that are locally oriented, while universally oriented tasks were most effectively linked to external areas by direct project member communication. Evidence also suggests that gatekeepers do more than mediate external information; they appear to facilitate the external communication of their more local project colleagues. Direct contact and contact mediated by gatekeepers, then, are two contrasting ways to link project groups with their external areas. The relative effectiveness of these linking mechanisms is contingent on the nature of the project's work.
The authors assume that firms invest in R&D not only to generate innovations, but also to learn from competitors and extraindustry knowledge sources (e.g., university and government labs). This argument suggests that the ease of learning within an industry will both affect R&D spending, and condition the influence of appropriability and technological opportunity conditions on R&D. For example, they show that, contrary to the traditional result, intraindustry spillovers may encourage equilibrium industry R&D investment. Regression results confirm that the impact of appropriability and technological opportunity conditions on R&D is influenced by the ease and character of learning. Copyright 1989 by Royal Economic Society.
Investigating the implications of sharing different types of knowledge for task performance in a study of 164 sales teams in a management consulting company, we find that the benefits are complementary but distinct: while sharing of codified knowledge improves task efficiency, sharing of personalized knowledge improves task quality and signals competence to clients.
This article argues that individual performance in knowledge intensive work is impacted by both relational and structural network characteristics. Egocentric and bounded network data from 101 engineers within a petrochemical company and 125 consultants within a strategy-consulting firm support the contention that both relational and structural network characteristics matter for individual performance in knowledge intensive work. Implications for a relational view of social capital as well as the integration of information processing and social network literatures are discussed. It is found that characteristics of relationships in networks are correlates of performance in models that control for structure. In this sense, not all relationships are equal--who one is connected to can matter for performance beyond a given relationship's contribution to network structure. Second, it is found that position in both information and awareness networks are uniquely predictive of individual performance. While position in an information network might allow one to learn of opportunities early, position in an awareness network might allow one to take action on opportunities by leveraging others' expertise.
This study investigates the role of certain boundary spanning individuals, labelled gatekeepers, in the transfer of information in an R&D setting by comparing the performance of project groups with and without gatekeepers. Results indicate that gatekeepers perform a linking role only for projects performing tasks that are locally oriented while universally oriented tasks were most effectively linked to external areas by direct project member communication. Evidence also suggests that gatekeepers do more than mediate external information; they may facilitate the external communication of their more local project colleagues.
Internationalizing research and development is often advocated as a strategy for fostering the development of technological capabilities. Although firms conduct international R&D to tap into knowledge bases that reside in foreign countries, we argue that in order to benefit from international R&D investments firms must already possess research capabilities in underlying or complementary technologies. We examine the international R&D expansion activities, research capabilities, and patent output of 65 Japanese pharmaceutical firms from 1980 to 1991. We find that firms benefit from international R&D only when they possess existing research capabilities in the underlying technologies. In addition to refining our understanding of when international R&D enhances firm innovation, our results integrate asset-seeking and asset-based theories of foreign direct investment. Internationalizing R&D to tap into foreign knowledge bases is consistent with asset-seeking theories of foreign direct investment, while the contingent nature by which firms benefit from international R&D is consistent with asset-based theories of foreign direct investment and the notion of absorptive capacity. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Prior research has emphasized the importance of boundary spanners in facilitating the transfer of knowledge between organizational units. The successful transfer of knowledge between organizational units is critical for a number of organizational processes and performance outcomes. The empirical evidence on the success of boundary spanners is mixed, however. Research findings indicate boundary spanners can either facilitate or inhibit the flow of knowledge between organizational units. We develop and test a theoretical argument emphasizing the importance of the broader network context in which boundary spanning occurs. In particular, we consider how tie strength, network cohesion, and network range affect the level of knowledge acquired in cross-unit knowledge transfer relationships. An analysis of knowledge transfer relationships among several hundred scientists indicates that each network feature had a positive effect on the level of knowledge acquired in cross-unit knowledge transfer relationships. Our findings illustrate how network features contribute to the flow of knowledge between organizational units and, therefore, how network context contributes to heterogeneity in boundary-spanning outcomes.
Technical communication patterns in two research and development laboratories were examined using modified sociometric techniques. The structure of technical communication networks in the two laboratories results from the interaction of both social relations and work structure. The sociometric "stars" in the technical communication network who provide other members of the organization with information either make greater use of individuals outside the organization or read the literature more than other members of the laboratory.
The research described in this article focuses on one important aspect of the innovation process - the need for the innovating system to gather information from and transmit information to several external information areas. Special boundary roles evolve in the organization's communication network to fulfill the essential function of linking the organization's internal network to external sources of information. These boundary roles occur at several organizational boundaries, and their distribution within the organization is contingent on the nature of the organization's work. This research supports literature on boundary spanning in general and highlights the importance of boundary roles in the process of innovation.
Data on social networks may be gathered for all ties linking elements of a closed population (“complete” network data) or for the sets of ties surrounding sampled individual units (“egocentric” network data). Network data have been obtained via surveys and questionnaires, archives, observation, diaries, electronic traces, and experiments. Most methodological research on data quality concerns surveys and questionnaires. The question of the accuracy with which informants can provide data on their network ties is nontrivial, but survey methods can make some claim to reliability. Unresolved issues include whether to measure perceived social ties or actual exchanges, how to treat temporal elements in the definition of relationships, and whether to seek accurate descriptions or reliable indicators. Continued research on data quality is needed; beyond improved samples and further investigation of the informant accuracy/reliability issue, this should cover common indices of network structure, address the conseque...
This field study investigates the characteristics of internal communication stars for different tasks, the characteristics of boundary spanning individuals specializing in particular information areas, and the extent to which boundary spanning individuals span multiple c cation boundaries. The characteristics of these key individuals are contingent on the nature of the subunit's work and on the information boundary they span. In addition, there is substantial boundary role overlap.
This research considers how different features of informal networks affect knowledge transfer. As a complement to previous research that has emphasized the dyadic tie strength component of informal networks, we focus on how network structure influences the knowledge transfer process. We propose that social cohesion around a relationship affects the willingness and motivation of individuals to invest time, energy, and effort in sharing knowledge with others. We further argue that the network range, ties to different knowledge pools, increases a person's ability to convey complex ideas to heterogeneous audiences. We also examine explanations for knowledge transfer based on absorptive capacity, which emphasizes the role of common knowledge, and relational embeddedness, which stresses the importance of tie strength. We investigate the network effect on knowledge transfer using data from a contract R&D firm. The results indicate that both social cohesion and network range ease knowledge transfer, over and above the effect for the strength of the tie between two people. We discuss the implications of these findings for research on effective knowledge transfer, social capital, and information diffusion.
Integrating creativity and social network theories, I explore the direct and interactive effects of relationship strength, network position, and external ties on individual creative contributions. Results from a study of research scientists suggest that weaker ties are generally beneficial for creativity, whereas stronger ties have neutral effects. I also found that centrality is more positively associated with creativity when individuals have few ties outside of their organization and that the combination of centrality and many outside ties is not optimal. I discuss the implications of these findings for creativity and social network research.
We argue that individual performance in knowledge-intensive work is associated with properties of both networks and ties. Relationships crossing organizational boundaries, physical barriers, or hierarchical levels can, like networks, provide unique information and diverse perspectives to individuals completing tasks at work. Egocentric and bounded network data from 101 engineers in a petrochemical company and 125 consultants in a strategy-consulting firm support our contention that both networks and ties are related to individual performance in knowledge-intensive work.
This article outlines the mechanism by which brokerage provides social capital. Opinion and behavior are more homogeneous within than between groups, so people connected across groups are more familiar with alternative ways of thinking and behaving. Brokerage across the structural holes between groups provides a vision of options otherwise unseen, which is the mechanism by which brokerage becomes social capital. I review evidence consistent with the hypothesis, then look at the networks around managers in a large American electronics company. The organization is rife with structural holes, and brokerage has its expected correlates. Compensation, positive performance evaluations, promotions, and good ideas are disproportionately in the hands of people whose networks span structural holes. The between-group brokers are more likely to express ideas, less likely to have ideas dismissed, and more likely to have ideas evaluated as valuable. I close with implications for creativity and structural change.
Includes bibliographical references (p. 24-27).
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Homophily in social relations results from both individual preferences and selective opportunities for interaction, but how these two mechanisms interact in large, contemporary organizations is not well understood. We argue that organizational structures and geography delimit opportunities for interaction such that actors have a greater level of discretion to choose their interaction partners within business units, job functions, offices and quasi-formal structures. This leads us to expect to find a higher proportion of homophilous interactions within these organizational structures than across their boundaries. We test our theory in an analysis of the rate of dyadic communication in an e-mail data set comprising thousands of employees in a large information technology firm. These findings have implications for research on homophily, gender relations in organizations, and formal and informal organizational structure.
Much of the prior research on interorganizational learning has focused on the role of absorptive capacity, a firm's ability to value, assimilate, and utilize new external knowledge. However, this definition of the construct suggests that a firm has an equal capacity to learn from all other organizations. We reconceptualize the firm-level construct absorptive capacity as a learning dyad-level construct, relative absorptive capacity. One firm's ability to learn from another firm is argued to depend on the similarity of both firms' (1) knowledge bases, (2) organizational structures and compensation policies, and (3) dominant logics. We then test the model using a sample of pharmaceutical–biotechnology R&D alliances. As predicted, the similarity of the partners' basic knowledge, lower management formalization, research centralization, compensation practices, and research communities were positively related to interorganizational learning. The relative absorptive capacity measures are also shown to have greater explanatory power than the established measure of absorptive capacity, R&D spending. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
This paper proposes and tests a model of IJV learning and performance that segments absorptive capacity into the three components originally proposed by Cohen and Levinthal (1990). First, trust between an IJV's parents and the IJV's relative absorptive capacity with its foreign parent are suggested to influence its ability to understand new knowledge held by foreign parents. Second, an IJV's learning structures and processes are proposed to influence its ability to assimilate new knowledge from those parents. Third, the IJV's strategy and training competence are suggested to shape its ability to apply the assimilated knowledge. Revisiting the Hungarian IJVs studied by Lyles and Salk (1996) 3 years later, we find support for the knowledge understanding and application predictions, and partial support for the knowledge assimilation prediction. Unexpectedly, our results suggest that trust and management support from foreign parents are associated with IJV performance but not learning. Our model and results offer a new perspective on IJV learning and performance as well as initial insights into how those relationships change over time. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Multidivisional firms often fail to take advantage of innovations that involve combining resources from distinct divisions. This failure of cross-line-of-business innovation is a consequence of design choices employed to execute the firm's strategy: in organizing around its core businesses, the firm renders interdependence between divisions residual to the formal structure. As a result, those innovations which involve cross-line-of-business interdependence are trumped by the firm's articulated strategy and structure. Social structures could, potentially, fill this coordination gap. But social structures associated with the initiation of interdependent innovation are inversely associated with their execution. We build a dynamic, corporate-level, evolutionary model in which individuals autonomously initiate cross-line-of-business projects not through the formal structure of the firm, but using contacts from their own social networks. Some of these projects are selected and actively supported by senior executives; this support sends clear signals about what collaboration is valued by the firm, which gives other actors powerful, albeit informal, incentives to connect with others across the interunit boundary. As a result, the sparse interunit social structure that was conducive to initiation changes, becoming much more cohesive (at least locally) and is able to support execution and retain these interdependent innovations. Thus, where intra-divisional innovations are primarily driven by organizational structure, we suggest that interdivisional innovations are driven primarily by social networks. Copyright © 2007 Strategic Management Society.
In a recent issue of this journal, Glenn Hoetker proposes that researchers improve the interpretation and presentation of logit and probit results by reporting the marginal effects of key independent variables at theoretically interesting or empirically relevant values of the other independent variables in the model, and also by presenting results graphically (Hoetker, 2007: 335, 337). In this research note, I suggest an alternative approach for achieving this objective: reporting differences in predicted probabilities associated with discrete changes in key independent variable values. This intuitive approach to interpretation is especially useful when the theoretically interesting or empirically relevant changes in independent variables values are not very small, and also for models that contain interaction terms (or higher-order terms such as quadratics). Although the graphical presentations recommended by Hoetker implicitly embody this approach, they typically fail to include appropriate measures of statistical significance, and may therefore lead to erroneous conclusions. In order to calculate such measures, I recommend and demonstrate an intuitive simulation-based approach to statistical interpretation, developed by King et al. (2000), that has gained widespread adherence in the field of political science. Throughout the article, I provide a running example based on research that has previously appeared in the Strategic Management Journal. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Recognition of the firm's tendency toward local search has given rise to concepts celebrating exploration that overcomes this tendency. To move beyond local search requires that exploration span some boundary, be it organizational or technological. While several studies have encouraged boundary‐spanning exploration, few have considered both types of boundaries systematically. In doing so, we create a typology of exploration behaviors: local exploration spans neither boundary, external boundary‐spanning exploration spans the firm boundary only, internal boundary‐spanning exploration spans the technological boundary only, and radical exploration spans both boundaries. Using this typology, we analyze the impact of knowledge generated by these different types of exploration on subsequent technological evolution.
In our study of patenting activity in optical disk technology, we find that exploration that does not span organizational boundaries consistently generates lower impact on subsequent technological evolution. In addition, we find that the impact of exploration on subsequent technological evolution within the optical disk domain is highest when the exploration spans organizational boundaries but not technological boundaries. At the same time, we find that the impact of exploration on subsequent technological development beyond the optical disk domain is greatest when exploration spans both organizational and technological boundaries. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
We develop a differentiated productivity model of knowledge sharing in organizations proposing that different types of knowledge have different benefits for task units. In a study of 182 sales teams in a management consulting company, we find that sharing codified knowledge in the form of electronic documents saved time during the task, but did not improve work quality or signal competence to clients. In contrast, sharing personal advice improved work quality and signaled competence, but did not save time. Beyond the content of the knowledge, process costs in the form of document rework and lack of advisor effort negatively affected task outcomes. These findings dispute the claim that different types of knowledge are substitutes for each other, and provide a micro-foundation for understanding why and how a firm's knowledge capabilities translate into performance of knowledge work. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Theories of absorptive capacity propose that knowledge gained from prior experience facilitates the identification, selection, and implementation of related profitable practices. Researchers have investigated how managers may develop absorptive capacity by building internal knowledge stocks, but few have focused on the distribution of this knowledge within the firm and the role managers play in administering information to organizational subunits. In this paper, we explore the degree to which managers can develop absorptive capacity by directly providing information to agents in the organization that might potentially adopt a new practice. We find that the effectiveness of managerial information provision depends on the degree to which potential adopters have information from other sources. We find that information from previous adopters and past events reduces the effect of information provision, while experience with related practices amplifies it. Our research helps clarify when absorptive capacity may provide a sustained competitive advantage. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
In this paper we propose a new variance estimator for OLS as well as for nonlinear estimators such as logit, probit and GMM, that provcides cluster-robust inference when there is two-way or multi-way clustering that is non-nested. The variance estimator extends the standard cluster-robust variance estimator or sandwich estimator for one-way clustering (e.g. Liang and Zeger (1986), Arellano (1987)) and relies on similar relatively weak distributional assumptions. Our method is easily implemented in statistical packages, such as Stata and SAS, that already offer cluster-robust standard errors when there is one-way clustering. The method is demonstrated by a Monte Carlo analysis for a two-way random effects model; a Monte Carlo analysis of a placebo law that extends the state-year effects example of Bertrand et al. (2004) to two dimensions; and by application to two studies in the empirical public/labor literature where two-way clustering is present.
Recent research suggests that, due to organizational and relational constraints, firms are limited contextually—both geographically and technologically—in their search for new knowledge. But distant contexts may offer ideas and insights that can be extremely useful to innovation through knowledge recombination. So how can firms reach beyond their existing contexts in their search for new knowledge? In this paper, we suggest that two mechanisms—alliances and the mobility of inventors—can serve as bridges to distant contexts and, thus, enable firms to overcome the constraints of contextually localized search.
Through the analysis of patent citation patterns in the semiconductor industry, we first demonstrate both the geographic and technological localization of knowledge. We then explore if the formation of alliances and mobility of active inventors facilitate interfirm knowledge flows across contexts. We find that mobility is associated with interfirm knowledge flows regardless of geographic proximity and, in fact, the usefulness of alliances and mobility increases with technological distance. These findings suggest that firms can employ knowledge acquisition mechanisms to fill in the holes of their existing technological and geographic context.
In this paper we propose a variance estimator for the OLS estimator as well as for nonlinear estimators such as logit, probit and GMM. This variance estimator en- ables cluster-robust inference when there is two-way or multi-way clustering that is non-nested. The variance estimator extends the standard cluster-robust variance es- timator or sandwich estimator for one-way clustering (e.g. Liang and Zeger (1986), Arellano (1987)) and relies on similar relatively weak distributional assumptions. Our method is easily implemented in statistical packages, such as Stata and SAS, that already o�er cluster-robust standard errors when there is one-way clustering. The method is demonstrated by a Monte Carlo analysis for a two-way random ef- fects model; a Monte Carlo analysis of a placebo law that extends the state-year e�ects example of Bertrand et al. (2004) to two dimensions; and by application to studies in the empirical literature where two-way clustering is present.
This paper contributes with empirical findings to European co-inventorship location and geographical coincidence of co-patenting networks. Based on EPO co-patenting information for the reference period 2000-2004, we analyze the spatial con figuration of 44 technology-specific co-inventorship networks. European co-inventorship (co-patenting) activity is spatially linked to 1259 European NUTS3 units (EU25+CH+NO) and their NUTS1 regions by inventor location. We extract 7.135.117 EPO co-patenting linkages from our own relational database that makes use of the OECD RegPAT (2009) files. The matching between International Patent Classification (IPC) subclasses and 44 technology fields is based on the ISI-SPRU-OST-concordance. We con firm the hypothesis that the 44 co-inventorship networks differ in their overall size (nodes, linkages, self-loops) and that they are dominated by similar groupings of regions. The paper offers statistical evidence for the presence of highly localized European co-inventorship networks for all 44 technology fields, as the majority of linkages between NUTS3 units (counties and districts) are within the same NUTS1 regions. Accordingly, our findings helps to understand general presence of positive spatial autocorrelation in regional patent data. Our analysis explicitly accounts for different network centrality measures (betweenness, degree, eigenvector). Spearman rank correlation coefficients for all 44 technology fields confirm that most co-patenting networks co-locate in those regions that are central in several technology-specific co-patenting networks. These findings support the hypothesis that leading European regions are indeed multi- filed network nodes and that most research collaboration is taking place in dense co-patenting networks. --
This paper discusses the bias that results from using nonrandomly selected samples to estimate behavioral relationships as an ordinary specification error or "omitted variables" bias. A simple consistent two stage estimator is considered that enables analysts to utilize simple regression methods to estimate behavioral functions by least squares methods. The asymptotic distribution of the estimator is derived.