Innovations in a relational context: Mechanisms to connect learning processes of absorptive capacity

Abstract

Companies increasingly regard relationships with other companies as a source of competitive advantage. Relationships constitute a context in which the firm may learn and build absorptive capacity. This study provides an in-depth explanation of the key mechanisms that interlace the different learning processes leading to innovations in a relational context. A theoretical elaboration of these mechanisms precedes their empirical study within four customer-supplier dyads, centred on two focal customer organizations.The article contributes by discussing how the mechanisms act and interact to create absorptive capacity for a focal firm across relationships. We find that structural learning mechanisms, while necessary are not sufficient to explain variation in the presence of absorptive capacity across different learning contexts. Cultural, psychological and policy learning mechanisms complement the picture. From the empirical analysis we derive propositions to guide further research into the creation of absorptive capacity in a relational context.

Inter‐Organizational Learning in Supply Chains: A Focus on Logistics Service Providers and Their Customers

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The Mediating role of Market Orientation on Entrepreneurial Orientation, Absorptive Capacity and Technological Innovation Capabilities

“…It is worth mentioning that wide stream of studies dealt with behavioral factors through investigation of human capital (HC) role in promoting technological innovation capabilities (TIC) (Gallié & Legros, 2011;González-Loureiro & Pita-Castelo, 2013;Guo, Zhao, & Tang, 2013;Suying, Rong, Zhang, & Zhang, 2011). Nevertheless, these studies did not give adequate attention to some of the behavioral factors within the concept of HC such as entrepreneurial orientation (EO) (Atuahene-gima & Ko, 2001;Todorovic & Ma, 2008), absorptive capacity (ACAP) (Andersén, 2012;García-Morales, Bolívar-Ramos, & Martín-Rojas, 2013;Knoppen, Saenz, & Johnston, 2011), and market orientation MO (Adhikari & Gill, 2012;Atuahene-gima & Ko, 2001), despite their effective role in achieving innovation; due to the fact that HC ranks as most important resources and represents the main body of technological innovation (Guo et al, 2013;Xia, Yu, Xia, & Li, 2011).…”

Processual Antecedents of Perceived Channel Conflict in Franchising

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