Organizational forgetting, absorptive capacity, and innovation performance

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine how the organizational forgetting affect innovation performance under the consideration of the environmental turbulence as a moderating factor of the analysis framework. Design/methodology/approach This study constructs and verifies a moderated mediating model of organizational forgetting to innovation performance, using the exploratory factor analysis and the hierarchical regression analysis based on a survey sample of 320 Chinese companies. Findings The organizational forgetting is a critical determinant for improving innovation performance of an enterprise. A more detailed analysis reveals that first organizational forgetting cannot promote organization’s innovation performance without absorptive capacity. Second, the mediating effect of absorptive capacity is more positive when environmental turbulence is higher. Practical implications This study provides empirical evidence about the importance of organizational forgetting in the firm innovation. Originality/value This paper adds to the existing literature by providing a clear explanation of the impacts of organizational forgetting on innovation performance through a comprehensive empirical study. Contrasting with previous research, this research clarifies the boundary conditions under which organizational forgetting enhances innovation performance. In particular, the authors find that organizational forgetting is not equally positive but instead increases with the level of environmental turbulence.

The Path to Innovation: The Antecedent Perspective of Intellectual Capital and Organizational Character

“…First, environmental uncertainty. Previous studies have shown that the environmental uncertainty can have a significant impact on business model innovation (Camisón and Villar-López, 2014; Huang et al, 2017). For most of the time, organizations continue to innovate business models (Desarbo et al, 2005) to better fit the changes of market demand in external environments.…”

How New HRM Practices, Organizational Innovation, and Innovative Climate Affect the Innovation Performance in the IT Industry: A Moderated-Mediation Analysis

“…From the theoretical examination of the above literature, this investigation proposed the model of a moderated mediation to further explain in detail that the innovation performance is supported by NHRM practices in the Pakistani semi-government organization context. This model has been developed in the light of earlier HRM studies [94] where the role of innovation climate is proposed as a moderator that adjust the first path of organizational innovation, the structural model presents that the mediating impact of organizational innovation between the NHRM practices and innovation performance is regulated by an innovative climate. The model of study is shown as in Figure 1.…”

“…However, to support the result of condition 4, this study followed the guidelines of earlier studies. Huang, et al [94] accepted condition 4 with a low coefficient of 0.02 where innovation performance was regressed on organizational forgetting and absorptive capacity.…”

The Impact of Organization Forgetting and Organization Culture on Knowledge Management in Electro Manufacture Industry

“…Organizational forgetting is the process of disposing of old practices and setting new specifications [13]. Organizational forgetting can also be defined as leaving outdated routines, norms, beliefs, procedures, policies, values and methods while acquiring and assimilating new ones to adapt to changing environments [14]. Then it can be concluded that organizational forgetting is an individual view of a positive consequence that occurs with changes in the company that occur due to loss of knowledge with indicators : intentional loss of knowledge, unintentional loss of knowledge, changes.…”