Absorptive capacity (AC) has been identified as the ability of firms to acquire, assimilate, and apply external knowledge, and thus as a precondition for learning from external knowledge. However, extant literature has focused on AC as (1) a static and (2) a firm-centred concept. In particular, there is little conceptual framing and empirical evidence of how AC develops over time and across boundaries. Taking R&D consortia as the unit of analysis and based on insights from three in-depth case studies of collaborative R&D, our contribution is a framework for AC development over time and across inter-organizational, intraorganizational, and practice boundaries at different stages of collaboration in R&D consortia. Using this framework, we identify a set of mechanisms which enable the development of AC and we discuss the preconditions for these mechanisms. For R&D managers, our research implies that in order to enhance effectiveness of knowledge transfer and learning in R&D consortia they need to develop a strategy that (1) supports learning and AC development throughout the whole cycle of the collaboration, not only by focusing on intra-firm capabilities, but in particular by providing flexible interfaces for overcoming a variety of interaction and learning boundaries between heterogeneous R&D partners, and (2) enables the integration of created and acquired knowledge within the organization once the collaboration is over.
Since its introduction by Jean Lave and Etienne Wenger in Situated Learning: Legitimate Peripheral Participation in 1991, the concept of communities of practice has been widely adopted by researchers and practitioners in different fields. This has been accompanied by continuous expansion and development of the theory behind the concept. In this interview, Professor Etienne Wenger-Trayner discusses the evolution of the theory of communities of practice in his own work over the past two decades. He talks about the origins of communities of practice as a theoretical approach, identifies three phases through which this theory has evolved, and reflects on his professional trajectory as a theorist and consultant. Using his career as an example, Wenger-Trayner elaborates on the notion of knowledgeability as a relationship individuals establish with respect to a landscape of practice that makes them recognizable as legitimate actors in complex social systems.
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The role of power and agency in the development of organizational routines is undertheorized. In this paper, we draw on an in-depth qualitative case study of a merger between two academic institutions, a college of art and a university, and examine the diverging responses of two organizational routines (admissions and budgeting) during the course of the merger to understand how power dynamics contribute to resistance/compliance of routines. Our findings suggest that the differences in routines' responses to a merger initiative can be explained by applying Bourdieu's theory of practice and by employing the concepts of field and symbolic capital to unpack power relations in the context of organizational routines, and to disclose why some routine participants can exercise their agency while others cannot. We find that (a) the field within which a routine operates and (b) the actors' symbolic capital and position-taking during change implementation shape routines' responses to organizational change initiatives.
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