Guillermo Antonio Dávila, Tatiana Andreeva, Alf Steiner Sætre
{"title":"Using social integration mechanisms to boost absorptive capacity: Walking a tightrope","authors":"Guillermo Antonio Dávila, Tatiana Andreeva, Alf Steiner Sætre","doi":"10.1111/emre.12667","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"With the increasing recognition of the value of external knowledge, organisations are interested in understanding how to boost their absorptive capacity. Social integration mechanisms have been theorised as a key predictor of absorptive capacity, both as a necessary condition for the development of its dimensions (knowledge acquisition, assimilation, transformation and application) and as a contingency factor that influences the relationships between these dimensions. However, the empirical evidence that explores these ideas is limited. To address this, we explore the survey data from 145 Brazilian firms and find that social integration mechanisms play a controversial role in absorptive capacity. Without a certain level of social integration mechanism usage, high levels of the absorptive capacity dimensions are not possible. However, social integration mechanisms also dampen the positive effects of knowledge acquisition on knowledge assimilation and transformation. Therefore, the highest level of usage of social integration mechanisms is not always beneficial for organisations.","PeriodicalId":47372,"journal":{"name":"European Management Review","volume":"61 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.4000,"publicationDate":"2024-07-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"European Management Review","FirstCategoryId":"91","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1111/emre.12667","RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"MANAGEMENT","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
With the increasing recognition of the value of external knowledge, organisations are interested in understanding how to boost their absorptive capacity. Social integration mechanisms have been theorised as a key predictor of absorptive capacity, both as a necessary condition for the development of its dimensions (knowledge acquisition, assimilation, transformation and application) and as a contingency factor that influences the relationships between these dimensions. However, the empirical evidence that explores these ideas is limited. To address this, we explore the survey data from 145 Brazilian firms and find that social integration mechanisms play a controversial role in absorptive capacity. Without a certain level of social integration mechanism usage, high levels of the absorptive capacity dimensions are not possible. However, social integration mechanisms also dampen the positive effects of knowledge acquisition on knowledge assimilation and transformation. Therefore, the highest level of usage of social integration mechanisms is not always beneficial for organisations.
期刊介绍:
The European Management Review is an international journal dedicated to advancing the understanding of management in private and public sector organizations through empirical investigation and theoretical analysis. The European Management Review provides an international forum for dialogue between researchers, thereby improving the understanding of the nature of management in different settings and promoting the transfer of research results to management practice. Although one of the European Management Review"s aims is to foster the general advancement of management scholarship among European scholars and/or those academics interested in European management issues.