Abstract
PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine the link between relative absorptive capacity and suppliers' operational performance.Design/methodology/approachThe paper uses structural equation modelling of survey data from 218 Canadian manufacturers referring to a particular relationship with one of their customers.FindingsResults suggest that only the first dimension of the relative absorptive capacity – knowledge sharing routines – influences the knowledge transferred from the customer to the supplier. Knowledge transfer acts as a mediator between knowledge sharing routines and the supplier's operational performance improvement.Research limitations/implicationsThe absence of a significant association between the second dimension of relative absorptive capacity – overlapped knowledge bases – and knowledge transfer is a surprising result that should be further investigated.Originality/valueThis appears to be the first study to operationalise and empirically test relative absorptive capacity and its consequences in the particular context of customer‐supplier relationships.
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