Abstract
Organizational innovation is increasingly mandatory for firms to overcome their competitors. Organizational innovation is especially relevant in today’s dynamic and turbulent environments, where other internal variables—such as technological assets, employee training, coordination of new management capabilities, and new flexible human resources and more adaptable organizational designs—must be encouraged to create value and competitive advantage. The purpose of our research is to analyse whether technological assets influence absorptive capacity (potential and realized absorptive capacity) and how absorptive capacity influences internal labour flexibility, organizational innovation and performance. We achieve these goals by analysing the interrelations among internal labour flexibility, organizational innovation and performance, using the theory of resources and capabilities. A quantitative study was carried out with data gathered by personal interview using a structured questionnaire. Relationships proposed in the theoretical model were estimated through a structural equation model, using a sample of 160 European technology companies. The results show that support for technology and improvement of technological skills and technological distinctive competencies promote improvement in organizational performance through their positive influence on the processes of potential and realized absorption capacity. Potential absorptive capacity influences realized absorptive capacity, which impacts not only internal labour flexibility but also organizational innovation and organizational performance. Further, internal labour flexibility influences organizational performance through organizational innovation. This issue is of particular interest when considering the dynamic nature of turbulent technological environments in which the organization operates. Technological assets thus identify new sources of flexibility and organizational innovation based on deeper contextual knowledge and tools that aid knowledge capacity in the company.
Highlights
Organizations make strategic decisions in competitive global environments in which development of technology and technological processes is important to maintaining levels of competitiveness [1]
Bearing the importance of the topic and the problem companies currently face in mind, the research gaps we aim to fill are as follows: (i) Identify the impact of specific technological assets on potential and realized absorptive capacity [6], which enable the firm to increase the number of employees knowledgeable in both technology and fields of learning. (ii) Identify requirements in policies and strategies that help to promote potential and realized absorptive capacity as mechanisms for improving the organization’s performance [2,8,9] and clarifying the relationship between these two concepts [10]
Our research focuses on the tools available to the organization that permit it to develop an ability to achieve competitive advantage based on technological skills, internal labour flexibility and absorptive capacity
Summary
Organizations make strategic decisions in competitive global environments in which development of technology and technological processes is important to maintaining levels of competitiveness [1]. One of the most important strategic decisions facing management in today’s globally competitive environment involves technology development [1]. The greater the firm’s technology capabilities, the more quickly the firm will acquire technology [2] and exploit other complementary assets important to providing firms with the high levels of internal variety needed to fundamentally reshape traditional business strategy [3]. The company must have distinctive technological assets to face the dynamism of today’s knowledgeable society [4]. This study will analyse the importance of the technological assets indicated above to contribute to the literature on technological knowledge [5]
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