Knowledge absorptive capacity and innovation performance in high-tech companies: A multi-mediating analysis

Building upon the knowledge-based view (KBV) and using data from 379 high-tech companies in China, we examine the underlying, mediating mechanisms in the relationship between knowledge absorptive capacity and firms' innovation performance. We find that there are positive relationships between f...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of business research 2018-07, Vol.88, p.289-297
Main Authors: Xie, Xuemei, Zou, Hailiang, Qi, Guoyou
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Innovation performance
Knowledge acquisition
Knowledge assimilation
Knowledge exploitation
Knowledge transformation
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Building upon the knowledge-based view (KBV) and using data from 379 high-tech companies in China, we examine the underlying, mediating mechanisms in the relationship between knowledge absorptive capacity and firms' innovation performance. We find that there are positive relationships between four dimensions of knowledge absorptive capacity (i.e., knowledge acquisition, knowledge assimilation, knowledge transformation, and knowledge exploitation) and firms' innovation performance. Additionally, we discover that both firms' knowledge transformation capacity and knowledge exploitation capacity mediate the relationship between knowledge acquisition and firms' innovation performance, as well as between knowledge assimilation and firms' innovation performance. Our results shed light on knowledge absorptive capacity research and knowledge management theory by theoretically and empirically demonstrating how knowledge absorptive capacity affects firms' innovation outputs from a multi-mediating perspective.
ISSN:0148-2963
1873-7978
DOI:10.1016/j.jbusres.2018.01.019