The Determinants of the Individual Absorptive Capacity in the Context of the SME: The Case of Tourism Small or Medium-sized Enterprises in the City of Agadir

Abstract

Individual absorptive capacity is the individual's ability to innovate in his or her work. It is determined by the individual's ability to acquire, assimilate, transform and exploit information into knowledge and applicable skills. This work proposes to study the contribution of each of these dimensions to absorption capacity. From a sample of 37 tourism SMEs in the city of Agadir, and by controlling the different associations between the dimensions as well as the endogeneity of these dimensions concerning the absorptive capacity, our results show that the innovation of the individual in his work depends essentially on his ability to turn the information received into knowledge and to make it applicable knowledge. As both dimensions are essentially based on training and experience, this suggests the importance of specific professional training and experience in the company's innovation. Moreover, the exercise of an evolving job, characterized by non-repetitive tasks, reinforces the individual's knowledge and makes him more capable of innovating in his work.