Do Individual Employees' Learning Goal Orientation and Civic Virtue Matter? A Micro‐Foundations Perspective on Firm Absorptive Capacity

Abstract

Research summary: In this study, we build on the micro-foundations perspective and investigate how individual characteristics contribute to the development of firm absorptive capacity. In particular, we assess how individual learning goal orientation affects firm potential and realized absorptive capacity. Furthermore, we study how individuals' civic virtue acts as a micro-level social integration mechanism that moderates the effect from firm realized absorptive capacity to potential absorptive capacity. Using the multilevel structural equation modeling technique and data from 871 core-knowledge employees nested in 139 high-technology firms, we find support to our major hypotheses. Together, this study finds support for the micro-foundations' perspective and generates novel insights on how individual-level factors could be linked with firm-level heterogeneity in absorptive capacity. Managerial summary:We study how employees' characteristics contribute to a firm's absorptive capacity, that is, the ability of a firm to identify, assimilate, and exploit knowledge from the environment. Because firms have increasingly tapped into external resources to foster innovation over the past two decades, absorptive capacity is crucial to firm learning and success. Using data from 871 core-knowledge employees in 139 high-technology firms, we find that individual employees' learning goal orientation, the tendency to seek improvements in employees' competence and to understand or master new things advances the development of a firm's potential and realized absorptive capacity. More important, individual employees' civic virtue, the discretionary involvement in company issues, serves as a social integration mechanism that reduces the gap between firm potential and realized absorptive capacity.Location: Nanjing = 0; Shenzhen = 1. 5Gender: Female = 0; Male = 1.

Innovating via building absorptive capacity: Interactive effects of top management support of learning, employee learning orientation and decentralization structure

“…The result suggests that employees’ commitment and motivation to engage in learning activities are critical and have beneficial effects on the development of organizational AC. In both organizational learning and AC literature, scholars have noted that organizational AC relies on organizational members’ individual learning endeavour and called for more research to examine the micro‐antecedents of AC (e.g., Kim, ; Volberda et al, ; Yao & Chang, ). Our study thus responds to this call by identifying employee learning orientation as a micro‐antecedent of AC.…”

“…Because organizations ultimately learn via their employees (Cohen & Levinthal, 1990;Yao & Chang, 2017), employee learning orientation may serve as a major resource that advances organizational AC. By definition, employee learning orientation places greater emphasis on successful learning.…”

“…We respond to Sun and Anderson's (2010) call for more research in this area by explicitly specifying the nature of these relationships. Our consideration of organizational members' learning-related variables (e.g., learning-supportive managerial actions and learning-oriented employee attitude) adds to the AC literature as previous studies have paid very little attention to this area (e.g., Sun & Anderson, 2010;Volberda et al, 2010;Yao & Chang, 2017).…”

Absorbing Partner Knowledge in R&D Collaborations – The Influence of Founders on Absorptive Capacity

“…ACAP has been linked to general firm performance (Lane et al, 2001;Tsai, 2001) and organizational responsiveness (Liao et al, 2003), as well as to innovation success (Lane and Lubatkin, 1998;Escribano et al, 2009;Tortoriello, 2015). More recent works have begun to highlight the important role of individuals for a firm's ACAP (Tortoriello, 2015;Yao and Chang, 2017). More recent works have begun to highlight the important role of individuals for a firm's ACAP (Tortoriello, 2015;Yao and Chang, 2017).…”

“…Tortoriello (2015) shows that individuals occupying a brokering position in the organization are more likely to translate external knowledge into innovation success, while Yao and Chang (2017) investigate how an individual employee's learning goal orientation and civic virtue influence a firm's ACAP. First, we add to the emerging research stream which investigates the role of individuals for a firm's ACAP.…”