External Knowledge Acquisition Research Articles

Linking absorptive capacity to project success via mediating role of customer knowledge management capability: the role of environmental complexity

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship between the absorptive capacity (AC) of a firm and project success (PS), with particular attention to the mediating role of customer knowledge management capability (CKMC) and the moderating role of environmental complexity (EC). By using data collected from Turkish SMEs across different sectors, the study seeks to understand how AC impacts project success, how CKMC mediates this relationship, and how EC moderates the link between AC and CKMC. The research contributes to both theory and practice by providing insights into these relationships and suggesting future research directions.Design/methodology/approachThis study focuses on Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) in Turkey, specifically within the cities of Istanbul, Ankara, Izmir, and Konya. To gather data, the researchers utilized a non-probabilistic convenience sampling method and distributed self-administered surveys to a selected pool of 918 respondents including shift supervisors, project managers, and team members within these SMEs. The surveys were translated to Turkish to avoid language issues. Out of the surveys distributed, 401 valid responses were collected, resulting in a response rate of 43.68%.FindingsThe main findings of the study indicate that a firm’s absorptive capacity (AC) positively impacts project success and customer knowledge management capability (CKMC). Furthermore, CKMC plays a mediating role, positively influencing project success. Additionally, the study reveals the moderating effect of environmental complexity (EC) on the relationship between AC and CKMC, suggesting that as EC becomes more complex, it strengthens the link between AC and CKMC. Moreover, CKMC was found to mediate the moderating effect of EC on the relationship between AC and project success, emphasizing the significance of environmental complexity in this interaction.Research limitations/implicationsThis study’s limitations stem from its cross-sectional approach, which limits the ability to establish causal relationships between the constructs of absorptive capacity (AC), customer knowledge management capability (CKMC), and project success. It does not examine other potential mediators, such as customer relationship capability and innovation capability. Furthermore, the existing literature on this topic is scarce, suggesting a need for further research, particularly on constructs like team skills for managing CKMC. There is also an unexplored area around the effects of different forms of complexity, such as resource and technical complexity. Finally, further research is needed to understand how SMEs, which often face resource constraints, leverage AC in different functional domains for successful new product development.Practical implicationsThe study’s findings have significant practical implications for SMEs, highlighting the importance of absorptive capacity (AC) and customer knowledge management capability (CKMC) in promoting project success, particularly under conditions of environmental complexity. As businesses navigate uncertain environments, external knowledge acquisition becomes crucial for improvement and innovation. Efficient transformation of this knowledge can enhance project success rates. Thus, firms should cultivate a proactive, innovative, and risk-taking climate. Also, firms should regularly assess their AC and CKMC in the face of shifting stakeholder expectations and market competition. The ability to detect, integrate, and apply external knowledge in product and service development can significantly enhance project success rates.Originality/valueThis study’s originality lies in its exploration of the complex interplay between a firm’s absorptive capacity (AC), customer knowledge management capability (CKMC), environmental complexity (EC), and project success (PS). By examining Turkish SMEs across various sectors, the study uncovers the mediating role of CKMC and the moderating role of EC in the relationship between AC and PS. Furthermore, it reveals how the effect of AC on PS through CKMC strengthens with increasing environmental complexity. These findings offer fresh insights into the complexity theory and the factors influencing project success, providing a unique perspective for both academics and practitioners, with practical implications for managing SMEs in complex environments.

Boosting firms’ absorptive capacity: the digital technologies edge

PurposeThis study aims to explore how firms can enhance their innovation processes by effectively utilizing external knowledge and employing digital technologies. Specifically, it emphasizes the role of absorptive capacity (ACAP) in external knowledge acquisition and assimilation (potential ACAP), as well as transformation and exploitation (realized ACAP), highlighting the necessity of equipping firms with digital technologies to support ACAP activities.Design/methodology/approachTo achieve the research purpose, we conducted a structured literature review of academic papers sourced from Scopus-Elsevier.FindingsThe key findings encompass the identification of common digital technologies supporting ACAP and explore how these technologies contribute to knowledge acquisition, assimilation, transformation and exploitation. The main results show that social media and online communities are the most studied technologies in relation to ACAP activities. Research predominantly centres on potential ACAP – with acquisition activity more studied than assimilation – rather than realized ACAP – with only social media and online communities demonstrating full support for transformation and exploitation activities.Research limitations/implicationsThis research represents a pioneering joint study of ACAP and digital technologies, advancing understanding beyond organizational perspectives and expanding open innovation literature by integrating ACAP role in technology collaborations. A call for qualitative investigations into the relationship between digital technologies and ACAP emerged.Practical implicationsThe findings offer valuable guidance to innovation managers, aiding them in selecting appropriate digital technologies to strengthen ACAP activities.Originality/valueThis work’s uniqueness lies in bridging the gaps between open innovation, ACAP and digital technologies, which are often studied in isolation.

Direct and moderating effects of public R&D support on external knowledge acquisition: the interaction with performance feedback

ABSTRACT We argue that public R&D support may not only lead firms to increase their technological cooperation breadth, enhancing knowledge acquisition, but also influence how firms frame and approach R&D alliance decisions in response to their innovation performance feedback. From a behavioural perspective it is firms performing above or below innovation aspirations the ones that are more willing to gain access to new sources of external knowledge. We argue that while public funding of a firm’s R&D activities has a positive direct effect on cooperation breadth, it also exerts a negative moderating influence when firms deviate from their innovation aspirations, because managers’ external knowledge acquisition strategies tend to align with the objectives of subsidised projects. Using a panel of technological-intensive Spanish firms, we find support for our hypotheses, showing the importance of incorporating performance feedback as a key factor when analysing the impact of public R&D instruments on firms’ collaborative behaviour.

How to promote ambidextrous innovation through integration with supply chain partners? The role of external knowledge acquisition and cooperative goal interdependence

ABSTRACT In today’s fiercely competitive environment, integration with supply chain partners and the acquisition of external knowledge have become increasingly important strategies for mitigating the resource tension between exploration and exploitation. The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between supply chain external (suppliers and customers) integration and ambidextrous innovation, with a focus on the mediating effect of external knowledge acquisition and the moderating effect of cooperative goal interdependence based on Chinese firm-level data. The empirical results of this study reveal several important findings. First, supplier integration and customer integration have positive effects on ambidextrous innovation. Second, supplier integration and customer integration are more beneficial for ambidextrous innovation in firms holding higher cooperative goal interdependence with both suppliers and customers than in firms holding lower cooperative goal interdependence with both suppliers and customers. Finally, external knowledge acquisition partially mediates the effects of supplier integration and customer integration on ambidextrous innovation. These findings provide top managers with important insights into the role of supply chain external integration in the promotion of ambidextrous innovation. This research also contributes to the literature on ambidexterity theory and enriches the knowledge management literature within the supply chain management framework.

Enterprise Social Media Use and Employee Creativity: Moderating Role of Innovative Culture

As an emerging collaboration platform based on web 2.0 technologies, enterprise social media can provide opportunities and challenges for information acquisition and creativity development. However, existing research on the ways in which enterprise social media use affects employee creativity from both internal and external team perspectives is rather limited. Using communication visibility theory (CVR), this paper proposes a research model for investigating the relationship between enterprise social media (ESM) usage and employee creativity. Drawing on an analysis of 218 employees’ data, this study found that ESM, when used for both work and social purposes, has a positive effect on internal information exchange within teams and external knowledge acquisition across teams, which further contributes to employee creativity. Innovative culture can weaken the relationship between work-related ESM usage and internal team information exchange, and strengthen the relationship between social-related ESM usage and internal team information exchange. The findings suggest means of using enterprise social media for specific purposes to increase creativity and innovation in organizations.

고객맞춤형 전략의 한계와 잠재력

This study analyzes the impact of a firm's customization strategy on its internal and external innovation activities. Specifically, I analyze R&D investment as an internal innovation activity and external knowledge search as an external innovation activity. To do so, I conducted an empirical study using 3,982 firm data from 2020 Korean Innovation Survey. The results show that firms adopting strong customization strategy are likely to have lower R&D intensity because they pursue incremental innovation to meet the needs of existing customers. However, they are likely to increase external knowledge search breadth and depth by acquiring relational capability and external knowledge acquisition experience from customer interactions. Current study not only explain the unique nature of customization strategy, but also provide practical implications for firms choosing customization strategy.

How External Knowledge Acquisition Contribute to Innovation Performance: A Chain Mediation Model

It has become a common way for enterprises to use external knowledge to reduce the development bottleneck caused by internal resource constraints. How does external knowledge develop inside enterprises and then promote the innovation performance? Drawing upon resource-based view and dynamic capability theory, this study proposes a chain mediation model of how firms’ opportunity identification and R&D, as two distinctive microfoundations of dynamic capabilities, mediate the relationship between external knowledge acquisition and firms’ innovation performance. Through the questionnaire survey of Chinese high-tech enterprises, the results show that both external market knowledge acquisition and external technological knowledge acquisition influence the level of opportunity identification and internal R&D activities, so that the internal knowledge base of the enterprise can be updated or reconstructed, and the innovation performance can be improved. This further confirms that enterprises transform external knowledge with the role of dynamic capabilities, which enriches the research on open innovation from the perspective of dynamic capabilities.

Proactive boundary‐spanning search, organizational resilience, and radical green innovation

AbstractRadical green innovation has emerged as an effective strategy for firms to achieve sustainable development in the volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity (VUCA) environment. Although the importance of external knowledge acquisition has been recognized, the mechanism of how proactive boundary‐spanning search affects radical green innovation is still blurred. Drawing on the resource‐based view and dynamic capabilities theory, this research discusses the impact of two types of proactive boundary‐spanning search on radical green innovation and considers the mediating role of organizational resilience and the moderating role of big data analytics capability. Based on data collected from 294 manufacturing firms in China, the results show that both value‐chain‐based proactive search and industry–university‐based proactive search positively influence radical green innovation. Furthermore, organizational resilience fully mediates the relationship between value‐chain‐based proactive search and radical green innovation, and partially mediates the relationship between industry–university‐based proactive search and radical green innovation. Moreover, we demonstrate that big data analytics capability moderates the relationship between industry–university‐based proactive search and radical green innovation. This research clarifies not only the mechanism of proactive boundary‐spanning search driving radical green innovation by highlighting the mediating role of organizational resilience and the moderating role of big data analytics capability, but also provides theoretical and managerial implications for manufacturing firms and other stakeholders to carry out radical green innovation.

Knowledge and Innovation Performance in Czech Firms: The Influence of Decision-Making Structure

There are plenty of factors that influence a company's innovation performance. They include, for example, the firm's strategy, organizational culture, size, and availability of resources. Besides these factors, a lot depends on the firm's leadership, attitude towards innovation, experience, and knowledge. The influence of external knowledge, like patents and inventions from other businesses, has been studied by researchers many times. However, previous scientific publications contain mixed evidence on the impact of external knowledge on a firm's innovation performance. Many of them defined separate factors, like innovation orientation or knowledge sources, as influential for the firm's innovativeness. However, not enough studies were made on firms' decision-making structure. Scholars suggested that decentralized companies are more likely to experiment in their innovation activities than centralized ones. We aim to determine the role of the decision-making structure in innovation performance by gaining external knowledge among firms in the Czech Republic. We contribute to the existing literature by distinguishing the firms by their legal statuses (sole proprietorship, partnership, shareholding company) and the presence/absence of a supervisory board. Our research is done by applying a quantitative method with empirical data. We use multiple linear regression and SPSS software to determine the influence of external knowledge acquisition and other related factors (R&D inside and outside the firm, age, size) on innovation performance, with decision-making structure indicators included. We divide innovations into process and product ones. The study uses the World Bank Enterprise Survey data for the Czech Republic. The results of this paper present important outcomes for practitioners. They will prompt more efficient innovation strategies for firms, depending on their management type.

The influence of open innovation on the synergistic innovation capability of Chinese manufacturing firms: the mediating role of tacit knowledge acquisition

PurposeChina has climbed from 22nd in the Global Innovation Index Rankings in 2017 to 11th in the 2022 due to the transition of its manufacturing firms from assemblers to system integrators. This paper examines how firms can enhance their innovation capability through inbound and outbound open innovation.Design/methodology/approachThis paper applies both open innovation and a knowledge-based view and proposes a conceptual framework that encompasses innovation capability and the significance of tacit knowledge acquisition. A questionnaire was designed to collect relevant data from 139 Chinese manufacturing firms in six regions to test this framework.FindingsThe authors found that inbound open innovation has a stronger impact than outbound open innovation on synergistic innovation capability. The acquisition of skill-based tacit knowledge has a slightly stronger intermediary role between open innovation (no matter inbound or outbound) and synergistic innovation capability than cognitive tacit knowledge does.Practical implicationsFirms should improve external tacit knowledge acquisition efforts to generate new knowledge, inspire the innovation passion of employees and implement ambidextrous open innovation.Originality/valueThis paper makes a good first step to analyze the effect of ambidextrous open innovation on the synergistic innovation capability of Chinese manufacturing firms. It verifies the role of skill-based and cognitive tacit knowledge acquisition and provides new reflections on open innovation strategy in emerging economies, thus enriching open innovation and knowledge-based theories.

The discovery of absorptive capacity and the practice of intellectual capital mobilization within change management processes

PurposePrevious studies have argued that improvement in organizational performance though change management processes is grounded in external knowledge acquisition and assimilation. However, there is ambiguity in how existing knowledge, in the form of intellectual capital (IC), is mobilized in this context. In response, this paper develops a context-based mediator model depicting the relationship between IC processes, absorptive capacity (AC) and organizational performance following the introduction of external knowledge.Design/methodology/approachA qualitative longitudinal case study approach is adopted, collecting data over three phases of a quality improvement program over a three-year period.FindingsWith the development of relational capital facilitated thorough changes in the work environment and the structured enhancement of knowledge-processing capabilities, the study identified the mediating role of AC on the relationship between IC mobilization and improved organizational performance.Originality/valueWhilst there have been studies of relationships between IC and organization performance, to the best of the “authors” knowledge, this is one the few empirical studies to explore associations between IC types, existing knowledge sharing processes and IC mobilization, mediated by the AC of a firm, to exploit external knowledge.

External Knowledge Acquisition and Green Innovation in Chinese Firms: Unveiling the Impact of Green Dynamic Capabilities

Within the context of low-carbon development and drawing on the resource-based and dynamic capability theories, this paper provides a conceptual model of the relationship between external knowledge acquisition, green dynamic capability and corporate green innovation. Then, using 416 samples of firms in China collected from January 2018 to September 2018, the model was tested using the hierarchical regression analyses. The empirical results show that external technical knowledge acquisition and market knowledge acquisition have a positive influence on corporate green innovation. Additionally, the results show that green integration capability and green dynamic configuration capability positively moderate the relationship between technical knowledge acquisition and green innovation. The results also show that green learning capability, green integration capability and green dynamic configuration capability positively moderate the relationship between market knowledge acquisition and green innovation. This study supports the resource-based view, enriches the application of external knowledge acquisition in sustainable development, and extends the theory of green dynamic capability from causal prediction to situational factors. This paper provides theoretical support and practical guidance for firms seeking to effectively conduct open innovation, implement green innovation, and realize low-carbon development.

Tacit knowledge acquisition and incremental innovation capability: Proximity perspective

Knowledge, especially tacit knowledge (TK), has become the most strategic resource for firms' innovativeness and competitiveness. However, most agricultural firms struggle to effectively manage TK to improve their innovation capability. This study aims to examine the relationships between firms’ proximity, including geographic proximity (GP), cognitive proximity (CP), social proximity (SP) and organizational proximity (OP), external tacit knowledge acquisition (ETKA) and incremental innovation capacity (IIC). The study also examines the mediating role of ETKA in the relationship between proximity dimensions and FFF's IIC. The paper draws on the theoretical framework of knowledge-based view and knowledge management (KM) and adopt structural modeling equation for research hypothesis testing. Primary data are collected between October and November 2021 through face-to-face interviews at 320 FFF level. The results reveal that SP and OP positively affect ETKA and IIC of FFF, while GP and CP failed. The evidence further shows that ETKA significantly improves FFF' IIC. The results also highlight the partial mediating effect ETKA. The study suggests that FFF owner-managers can improve ETKA and boost IIC by building and optimizing strong close relationships between FFFs based on trust and shared goals. The finding provides useful implications for policymakers and agricultural firms managers regarding the adoption of embedded open innovation paradigm based on proximity dimensions. This study extends the literature on agricultural innovation by providing evidence of the link between proximity-KM-IIC.

When Does External Knowledge Benefit Team Creativity? The Role of Internal Team Network Structure and Task Complexity

Creativity in teams is spurred by members’ access to diverse knowledge, often from interactions with external sources. However, not all teams that have the capabilities to acquire such external knowledge are equally creative. Integrating theories of absorptive capacity and creative synthesis in teams, we propose that teams’ external knowledge acquisition capabilities in securing a wide variety of knowledge resources need to be complemented by internal knowledge integration capabilities that facilitate balanced/equal participation of all team members in the creative problem-solving process. In turn, this combination enables effective information elaboration processes underlying the generation of truly creative team outcomes. We test these ideas in two field studies. First, in a sample of 81 research and development teams in three organizations in science and technology fields, we find that teams’ connections with a wide range of external parties—indicating their external knowledge acquisition capability—benefit their creativity, but only when the team’s internal team member problem-solving network structure—an indicator of the team’s knowledge integration capability—is less centralized (i.e., not controlled by one or few members). We further demonstrate that these effects are more salient when the team’s task is more complex. Replicating these findings in a second sample of 57 project teams in an energy manufacturing and services firm, we show that these effects are mediated by the team’s information elaboration processes. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed. Funding: This research was supported by grants received by C. Tang and her colleagues at UCAS, from the National Natural Science Foundation of China [Projects 71974178, 71932009], MOE Social Science Laboratory of Digital Economic Forecasts and Policy Simulation at UCAS, and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities [Project E2E40806X2]. Supplemental Material: The online appendix is available at https://doi.org/10.1287/orsc.2023.1661 .

The enterprise's external knowledge acquisition capability and technological diversification: From the perspective of intellectual property strategy.

Enterprises need intellectual property rights to protect their core knowledge, and technological diversification is an important strategic measure for enterprises to improve innovation performance. From the perspective of external resource acquisition, this study explores the mechanism of external knowledge acquisition capability (internal absorptive capability and external relational learning) on firm's technological diversification. It considers the impact of firm's innovation capability and external environmental uncertainty. The survey data of 258 Chinese pharmaceutical companies were obtained through questionnaire surveys, and various theoretical hypotheses were validated using regression analysis methods. The results show that internal absorptive capacity, external relational learning, and their interaction have a significant positive impact on technological diversification; the innovation capacity and the uncertainty of the external environment also affect enterprises' technological diversification.

R&D synergy between local and foreign-owned enterprises in post-communist economies

This study examines how internal research and development (R&D), external knowledge acquisition, and R&D contracted with other companies interact in local and foreign-owned enterprises in post-communist economies. A large sample of firm-level data from the Business Environment and Enterprise Performance Survey (BEEPS) across 26 post-communist countries (including European Union (EU) members and non-EU states of Eastern Europe, Caucasian countries, and Central Asian countries) and country-level data from the Global Innovation Index and the International Property Rights Index were used. The findings show that enterprises with majority foreign ownership are relatively more likely to acquire external R&D. We demonstrate that the R&D behavior of enterprises with majority foreign ownership and local firms are interrelated, that is, we find a synergy effect. According to the results, decisions on internal R&D and the purchase of external knowledge for enterprises with majority foreign ownership are similar to those of local firms. However, enterprises with foreign ownership contract R&D with other companies more often if local firms conduct internal R&D. These results indicate the presence of knowledge spillover and cross-learning effects in both types of enterprises in post-communist countries. Finally, we find that the national innovation environment is not significant for the R&D intensity of enterprises with majority foreign ownership, which suggests their high dependence on the parent structures of multinational enterprises.

EXPLORING THE IMPACT OF DIGITAL ECONOMY ON AMBIDEXTROUS INNOVATION CAPABILITIES OF FIRMS: MEDIATING EFFECT OF KNOWLEDGE ACQUISITION

Although recognised as useful, ambidextrous innovation also presents unique managerial challenges particularly when exploration and exploitation are pursued simultaneously. The paper aims to explore the forming mechanisms of firm’s ambidextrous innovation capabilities using the main approaches in strategic management. The authors theoretically examine the direct effects of the digital economy (DE) on ambidextrous innovation capabilities and the mediating effect of knowledge acquisition (KA) and use the stepwise regression method to conduct an empirical analysis of 178 high-tech companies listed in China’s A-share market from 2013 to 2019. The empirical results show that DE has significantly promoted the ambidextrous innovation capabilities of firms, and also has a significant positive impact on the balance effect between exploratory innovation and exploitative innovation; DE has a significant positive impact on both external knowledge acquisition (EKA) and internal knowledge creation; KA has a significantly positive effect on exploratory innovation, exploitative innovation and their balance effect, and the effect of KA on exploratory innovation is greater than that on exploitative innovation. Furthermore, KA plays a significantly mediating role in the relationship between DE and exploratory innovation/exploitative innovation. The findings of our study provide insights for knowledge management research and have important guiding significance for promoting ambidextrous innovation capabilities of firms in DE.

The choice and acquisition of external knowledge in startups: matching improvisation to strategic flexibility

PurposeAlthough knowledge has become a decisive factor in the development of firms, there has been no detailed investigation into how start-ups acquire external knowledge. In order to narrow the research gap, this paper attempts to explore the mechanism of acquiring external knowledge in start-ups from the perspective of “environment–[sic.] structure” interaction.Design/methodology/approachThis research develops a conceptual model regarding improvisation as an independent variable, strategic flexibility as a mediator, knowledge acquisition as the dependent variable and environmental mutation as a moderator between improvisation and strategic flexibility. Furthermore, this study collects the survey data from 277 firms and uses structural equation modeling (SEM) to empirically test the model and hypotheses.FindingsThe results show that creativity-bricolage and spontaneity-persistence have significantly positive effects on both capability flexibility and coordination flexibility. However, the positive effects of pressure-stress on capability flexibility and coordination flexibility are not supported. Meanwhile, the mediating roles of capability flexibility and coordination flexibility are supported. Finally, environmental mutation only positively moderates the relationship between creativity-bricolage and capability flexibility.Originality/valueImprovisation can be seen as a core antecedent for start-ups to acquire external knowledge in environmental mutation. More specifically, the significant mediator is strategic flexibility to promote the relationship between improvisation and knowledge acquisition. The findings provide practical inspiration for start-ups to effectively utilize improvisation in emergencies.

Interplay of External and Internal Knowledge: Business Model Innovation Analysis in Chinese Publicly Traded Film Companies

The application of business model innovation (BMI) generally creates more competent and flexible enterprises in changeable markets and helps to achieve competitive advantages. Especially in a post-pandemic age, BMI has a particular significance. As such, in this study, based on the resource-based view theory, we aimed to explore how Chinese publicly traded film companies apply BMI from the perspective of the interplay of external and internal knowledge acquisition. Our focus was examining the influence of the search for external knowledge and the creation of internal knowledge on the BMI of Chinese film companies. On the basis of interviews and field observation, we selected environmental volatility and management attention as the independent variables in the study model. We analyzed the data collected from 36 Chinese publicly traded film companies by correlation and regression. The results showed that external knowledge search and internal knowledge creation substantially influenced the BMI of Chinese film companies. In addition, environmental volatility and management attention positively influenced BMI. The findings provide practical information motivating Chinese publicly traded film companies to apply BMI in the post-pandemic era.

Multi-level antecedents of public sector innovation? An ethnography of a large UK postal services organization

Abstract This paper examines professional and organizational-level antecedents of public sector innovation using findings from a 9-month ethnography conducted within the marketing department of a large UK postal organization. The analysis centres on vignettes of two cross-functional projects to develop product and service innovations that involved external design agencies. The data are based on observation of the marketing teams, semi-structured interviews, and documentary analysis. The study highlights that social practices characteristic of communities of practice are antecedent to the generation of absorptive capacity, but also shows that the learning produced by communities of practice is mediated by relations of power associated with these groups and interaction with organizational absorptive capacity. This paper develops the theory of absorptive capacity by shifting attention away from ‘prior knowledge’ in enabling acquisition of external knowledge to highlighting the role of intensive interaction, organizational context, and power relations in shaping knowledge creation for learning and innovation.