Depth and breadth of external knowledge search and performance: The mediating role of absorptive capacity

By José Luis Ferreras-Méndez, S. Newell, Anabel Fernández-Mesa, Joaquín Alegre. 2015

323 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Nowadays it is commonly accepted that exploiting external knowledge sources is important for firms' innovation and performance. However, it is still not clear how this effect takes place and what internal capabilities are involved in the process. We propose to open the black box between external knowledge search strategies, and innovation and performance by proposing absorptive capacity (AC) as the mediating variable. A sample of 102 biotechnology firms from Spain is used to test the proposed theoretical model through structural equation modeling taking the partial least squares approach. Results suggest that AC acts as a full mediator in the relationship between the depth of external knowledge search and the innovation and business performance of the firm. Finally, some suggestions for managers and future lines of research are highlighted.

Subfields: Strategy and Management

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/baba7b483c7f892c20efc7c0c663a86610d2a424

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In Strategy and Management

Citations in the corpus

The relationship between knowledge search strategies and absorptive capacity: A deeper look (2016, background): “…researchers from different fields have identified various elements as antecedents of this concept, amongst which inter-organizational antecedents have received the most academic attention (Lane et al., 2006; Volberda et al., 2010; Enkel and Heil, 2014; Ferreras-Méndez et al., 2015; Roberts, 2015).”
External knowledge search, absorptive capacity and radical innovation in high-technology firms (2017, background): “…with respect to radical innovation, our findings regarding the non-significance of external search breadth are similar to results reported by Ferreras-Méndez et al. (2015) and are consistent with those described by Laursen & Salter (2006), who found that the more radical the innovation, the…”
Process innovation in small- and medium-sized enterprises: The critical roles of external knowledge sourcing and absorptive capacity (2020, methodology): “Searching broadly enables a firm to access a wide range of information, pertaining to aspects as diverse as new markets and technological advances (Ferreras-Méndez et al., 2015).”