6533b859fe1ef96bd12b82c7

RESEARCH PRODUCT

Absorptive capacity and its impact on innovation and performance: findings from SEM and fsQCA

Sonia Cruz-rosDiana L. Guerrero-sánchezMaria-jose Miquel-romero

subject

Service delivery frameworkQualitative comparative analysismedia_common.quotation_subject05 social sciences06 humanities and the artsCompetitor analysis0603 philosophy ethics and religionGeneral Business Management and AccountingCompetitive advantageStructural equation modelingEmpresesAbsorptive capacityService (economics)0502 economics and business060301 applied ethicsBusiness050203 business & managementIndustrial organizationTourismmedia_common

description

Innovation can provide sustainable competitive advantages to service companies that consider the absorption of external knowledge a key strategic issue. Using the four dimensions of absorptive capacity, this study examined the impact of absorptive capacity on innovation in service delivery processes and explored how this innovation influences business performance. Structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) and fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) were applied to a sample of 134 companies drawn from the Colombian tourism sector. The results of the SEM indicate that innovation in service delivery processes is positively influenced by two of the four dimensions of absorptive capacity: knowledge transformation and knowledge exploitation. Also, innovation in service delivery processes encourages outstanding performance and mediates the relationship between absorptive capacity and business performance. These findings are supported by the results of the fsQCA. Furthermore, although the SEM results indicate that knowledge exploitation has the greatest direct influence on innovation, the fsQCA results suggest that knowledge assimilation and transformation are necessary conditions for companies to outperform competitors.

https://hdl.handle.net/10550/80345