THE EFFECTS OF COGNITIVE DIVERSITY AND COHESIVENESS ON ABSORPTIVE CAPACITY

Abstract

While investigating organisational factors related to a firm’s ability to innovate, this study identifies two new antecedents of absorptive capacity. Drawing from literatures on innovation management and organisational studies, the paper puts forward a model linking absorptive capacity to a unit’s cognitive diversity and cohesiveness, empirically testing their effects on potential absorptive capacity (PACAP) and realised absorptive capacity (RACAP). Statistical tests are conducted using original survey data collected in the healthcare industry. Future research and implications for practitioners are discussed.