Knowledge Sharing and Co-Opetition: Turning Absorptive Capacity into Effectiveness in Consumer Electronics Industries

Xiao-Bing Zhang,Che-Hung Lin,Rung-Tai Wu,Fu-Sheng Tsai,Kou-Chang Chung

doi:10.3390/su11174694

Abstract

Despite the literature regarding the potential effects of absorptive capacity on performance, a problem in the extant literature is that few researchers have reported on how such potential effects could be realized. To resolve the problem, we argued that there are chained mediating relationships among other factors in the absorptive-performance relationship. Data were collected from 522 new product development teams in top 30 consumer electronics manufacturers in Taiwan. Structural equation modeling results revealed that: first, absorptive capacity positively influences team knowledge sharing, which positively influences both cooperation and competition (sharing-stimulated co-opetition), which then lead to increased team effectiveness. This study is among the first to contribute by investigating absorptive capacity’s impact on team-level effectiveness; it achieved this by examining the abovementioned mediating relationships. Practically, we found that absorptive capacity could be influential on team effectiveness, if the team exercise good knowledge sharing activities that in turn stimulate co-opetition relations among workers. Collectively, the dynamics of absorptive capacity, knowledge sharing, and co-opetition can form a positive circle for a team’s sustainable effectiveness.

Highlights

A considerable number of studies have addressed team effectiveness [1,2,3,4,5,6,7]
We argue that absorptive capacity should be better studied from a dynamic perspective [13], to link with its implications for team effectiveness sustainability
To fill up such research gaps, we focused on literature of knowledge- and social-based interactions (e.g., [16,17,18,19,20]) to investigate knowledge sharing and co-opetition as two interrelated, chained mediating mechanisms that may turn the effect of absorptive capacity into sustainable team effectiveness

Summary

Introduction

A considerable number of studies have addressed team effectiveness [1,2,3,4,5,6,7]. With increasing attentions toward knowledge-based organizational value creation and advantages [8], scholarly interests have been put under the influence of learning related factors on team effectiveness [9,10]. Absorptive capacity is an organization’s (or its internal unit’s) capability to identify, acquire, assimilate, and apply external knowledge [11,13] In such a sense, absorptive capacity is a base of external knowledge internalization for improving team effectiveness [14]. Even less have articulated on such effectiveness’s sustainability (i.e., sustainable effectiveness) In this present study, we argue that absorptive capacity should be better studied from a dynamic perspective [13], to link with its implications for team effectiveness sustainability. We argue that absorptive capacity should be better studied from a dynamic perspective [13], to link with its implications for team effectiveness sustainability Such a research objective demands an in-depth understanding of the mediating factors that might transform the effects of absorptive capacity and realize more endured effectiveness. We need to understand more of the detailed mediating processes to ensure the effects of absorptive capacity on effectiveness and with no waste of resources (e.g., focusing on non-functional mechanisms)

Methods

Results

Conclusion