Intra-Organizational Social Capital and Product Innovation: The Mediating Role of Realized Absorptive Capacity

Abstract

This paper examines the influence on product innovation of factors based on a company’s transformation and exploitation of knowledge gathered from its intra-organizational relationships. Specifically, this paper analyses the influence of intra-organizational social capital (SC) (i.e., comprised of structural, relational, and cognitive dimensions) on realized absorptive capacity (RACAP). Moreover, it analyses the mediating role of RACAP on the relationship between internal SC and product innovation. Based on a sample of companies from the Spanish biotechnological and pharmaceutical industries, two hypotheses were tested using a structural equations model and the partial least squares (PLS) technique. The results support both hypotheses, suggesting that the development of strong and tightly knit links based on a common understanding and trust among company members lead the firm to develop dynamic capabilities for transforming and exploiting knowledge acquired externally, which fosters innovation based on new product development. Research limitations, implications and future research are also discussed by the authors of the paper.

SMEs innovating in collaborative networks: how does absorptive capacity matter for innovation performance in times of good partnership quality?

“…From an intraorganizational network perspective, higher ACAP of business units is associated with higher innovation performance (Ortiz et al, 2020). This observation is in line with the proposition of Zahra and George (2002) that PACAP and RACAP act as a source of a firm's innovativeness.…”

Enhancing the impacts of absorptive capacity on interorganizational collaboration in BIM-enabled construction projects – an SLT perspective

“…According to Pinkse et al (2010), shared AC of workers can facilitate their common understanding of the collaborative tasks in the specific context. Moreover, a common understanding of the collaborative tasks will foster trust and strong links between different workers (Ortiz et al, 2021). Similar to the processes, whereby AC occurs at the organizational level mentioned in H1, individual AC processes also correspond to those of participating, establishing identity and practicing in a community of practice.…”

Product Creativity as an Identity Issue: Through the Eyes of New Product Development Team Members

“…Previous literature has revealed the multilevel nature of NPD team's creativity nested from organizational/structural level to individual/psychological level. For example, Ortiz et al ( 2021 ) demonstrated that organizational factors such as internal social capital and absorptive capacity improved the creativity of NPD teams, which in turn had a positive effect on the bottom line of firms. Such nested creativity within an organization was also addressed with the notion of person-environment fit (Wang and Wang, 2018 ), suggesting that the congruency between supportive environment for creativity of an organization and creativity of employees improved the process and outcome of NPD.…”