IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/jbrese/v118y2020icp431-440.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The relationship between R&D, the absorptive capacity of knowledge, human resource flexibility and innovation: Mediator effects on industrial firms

Author

Listed:
  • Martínez-Sánchez, Angel
  • Vicente-Oliva, Silvia
  • Pérez-Pérez, Manuela

Abstract

This paper analyzes data from 1666 Spanish industrial firms to test how some human resource (HR) flexibility dimensions mediate the relationship between research and development (R&D) efforts and the absorptive capacity of knowledge (AC). The results show that external R&D experts and core employee training partially mediate the relationship between R&D effort and AC, whereas temporary employment does not mediate that relationship. These findings seem to suggest that HR flexibility dimensions that are more knowledge-intensive are more influential on the development of absorptive capabilities. Another finding is that the mediator effects of HR and AC are positively related to innovation performance, suggesting that firms may combine them more effectively with R&D efforts to enhance innovation.

Suggested Citation

  • Martínez-Sánchez, Angel & Vicente-Oliva, Silvia & Pérez-Pérez, Manuela, 2020. "The relationship between R&D, the absorptive capacity of knowledge, human resource flexibility and innovation: Mediator effects on industrial firms," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 118(C), pages 431-440.
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:jbrese:v:118:y:2020:i:c:p:431-440
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jbusres.2020.07.014
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0148296320304549
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.jbusres.2020.07.014?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. David J. TEECE, 2008. "Profiting from technological innovation: Implications for integration, collaboration, licensing and public policy," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: The Transfer And Licensing Of Know-How And Intellectual Property Understanding the Multinational Enterprise in the Modern World, chapter 5, pages 67-87, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    2. Rik Pieters, 2017. "Meaningful Mediation Analysis: Plausible Causal Inference and Informative Communication," Journal of Consumer Research, Oxford University Press, vol. 44(3), pages 692-716.
    3. Spyros Arvanitis, 2005. "Modes of labor flexibility at firm level: Are there any implications for performance and innovation? Evidence for the Swiss economy," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press, vol. 14(6), pages 993-1016, December.
    4. Robert Grant, 2013. "Reflections on knowledge-based approaches to the organization of production," Journal of Management & Governance, Springer;Accademia Italiana di Economia Aziendale (AIDEA), vol. 17(3), pages 541-558, August.
    5. David D. Dobrzykowski & Rudolf Leuschner & Paul C. Hong & James J. Roh, 2015. "Examining Absorptive Capacity in Supply Chains: Linking Responsive Strategy and Firm Performance," Journal of Supply Chain Management, Institute for Supply Management, vol. 51(4), pages 3-28, October.
    6. Ikujiro Nonaka & Georg von Krogh, 2009. "Perspective---Tacit Knowledge and Knowledge Conversion: Controversy and Advancement in Organizational Knowledge Creation Theory," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 20(3), pages 635-652, June.
    7. Henk W. Volberda & Nicolai J. Foss & Marjorie A. Lyles, 2010. "PERSPECTIVE---Absorbing the Concept of Absorptive Capacity: How to Realize Its Potential in the Organization Field," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 21(4), pages 931-951, August.
    8. Kato, Masatoshi & Zhou, Haibo, 2018. "Numerical labor flexibility and innovation outcomes of start-up firms: A panel data analysis," Technovation, Elsevier, vol. 69(C), pages 15-27.
    9. Jansen, J.J.P. & van den Bosch, F.A.J. & Volberda, H.W., 2005. "Managing Potential and Realized Absorptive Capacity: How do Organizational Antecedents matter?," ERIM Report Series Research in Management ERS-2005-025-STR, Erasmus Research Institute of Management (ERIM), ERIM is the joint research institute of the Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University and the Erasmus School of Economics (ESE) at Erasmus University Rotterdam.
    10. Escribano, Alvaro & Fosfuri, Andrea & Tribó, Josep A., 2009. "Managing external knowledge flows: The moderating role of absorptive capacity," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 38(1), pages 96-105, February.
    11. Francesco Franceschi & Vincenzo Mariani, 2016. "Flexible labor and innovation in the Italian industrial sector," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press, vol. 25(4), pages 633-648.
    12. Paul E. Bierly & Fariborz Damanpour & Michael D. Santoro, 2009. "The Application of External Knowledge: Organizational Conditions for Exploration and Exploitation," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 46(3), pages 481-509, May.
    13. Alfred Kleinknecht & Flore N. van Schaik & Haibo Zhou, 2014. "Is flexible labour good for innovation? Evidence from firm-level data," Cambridge Journal of Economics, Oxford University Press, vol. 38(5), pages 1207-1219.
    14. Lin, Hai-Fen & Su, Jing-Qin & Higgins, Angela, 2016. "How dynamic capabilities affect adoption of management innovations," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 69(2), pages 862-876.
    15. Huang, Kuo-Feng & Lin, Ku-Ho & Wu, Lei-Yu & Yu, Pang-Hsiang, 2015. "Absorptive capacity and autonomous R&D climate roles in firm innovation," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 68(1), pages 87-94.
    16. Fosfuri, Andrea & Tribø, Josep A., 2008. "Exploring the antecedents of potential absorptive capacity and its impact on innovation performance," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 36(2), pages 173-187, April.
    17. David J. Teece & Gary Pisano & Amy Shuen, 1997. "Dynamic capabilities and strategic management," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 18(7), pages 509-533, August.
    18. Kostopoulos, Konstantinos & Papalexandris, Alexandros & Papachroni, Margarita & Ioannou, George, 2011. "Absorptive capacity, innovation, and financial performance," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 64(12), pages 1335-1343.
    19. Grinza, Elena & Quatraro, Francesco, 2019. "Workers’ replacements and firms’ innovation dynamics: New evidence from Italian matched longitudinal data," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 48(9), pages 1-1.
    20. Ipsita Roy, 2018. "Role of human resource practices in absorptive capacity and R&D cooperation," Journal of Evolutionary Economics, Springer, vol. 28(4), pages 885-913, September.
    21. Irini Voudouris & Ioanna Deligianni & Spyros Lioukas, 2017. "Labor flexibility and innovation in new ventures," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press, vol. 26(5), pages 931-951.
    22. Denicolai, Stefano & Ramirez, Matias & Tidd, Joe, 2016. "Overcoming the false dichotomy between internal R&D and external knowledge acquisition: Absorptive capacity dynamics over time," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 104(C), pages 57-65.
    23. McDowell, William C. & Peake, Whitney O. & Coder, LeAnne & Harris, Michael L., 2018. "Building small firm performance through intellectual capital development: Exploring innovation as the “black box”," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 88(C), pages 321-327.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Li, Junbao & Shi, Zhanzhong & He, Chengying & Lv, Chengshuang, 2023. "Peer effects on corporate R&D investment policies: A spatial panel model approach," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 158(C).
    2. Shuting Chen & Dengke Yu, 2022. "Exploring the impact of external collaboration on firm growth capability: the mediating roles of R&D efforts," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 9(1), pages 1-12, December.
    3. Bernardo Gala-Velásquez & Américo Hurtado-Palomino & Angela Y. Arredondo-Salas, 2023. "Organisational Flexibility and Innovation Performance: The Moderating Role of Management Support," Global Journal of Flexible Systems Management, Springer;Global Institute of Flexible Systems Management, vol. 24(2), pages 219-234, June.
    4. Sun, Zhongjuan & Yu, Zhu & Wang, Cizhi & Fang, Hanqing, 2023. "Threshold effects, technology purchasing, and firm outcomes: An absorptive capacity perspective," Emerging Markets Review, Elsevier, vol. 55(C).
    5. Fernandes, Kiran Jude & Milewski, Simon & Chaudhuri, Atanu & Xiong, Yu, 2022. "Contextualising the role of external partnerships to innovate the core and enabling processes of an organisation: A resource and knowledge-based view," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 144(C), pages 146-162.
    6. Chatterjee, Sheshadri & Chaudhuri, Ranjan & Vrontis, Demetris, 2022. "Does remote work flexibility enhance organization performance? Moderating role of organization policy and top management support," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 139(C), pages 1501-1512.
    7. Weidner, Nadia & Som, Oliver & Horvat, Djerdj, 2023. "An integrated conceptual framework for analysing heterogeneous configurations of absorptive capacity in manufacturing firms with the DUI innovation mode," Technovation, Elsevier, vol. 121(C).
    8. Krammer, Sorin, 2021. "Navigating The New Normal: Which Firms Have Adapted Better To The Covid-19 Disruption?," MPRA Paper 109485, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    9. Krammer, Sorin M.S., 2022. "Navigating the New Normal: Which firms have adapted better to the COVID-19 disruption?," Technovation, Elsevier, vol. 110(C).
    10. Radu Herman & Cornelia Nistor, 2020. "The concept of innovation with some insights from resource-based view and evolutionary theory," Manager Journal, Faculty of Business and Administration, University of Bucharest, vol. 32(1), pages 34-41, December.
    11. Xie, Xuemei & Wang, Hongwei & García, Javier Sendra, 2021. "How does customer involvement in service innovation motivate service innovation performance? The roles of relationship learning and knowledge absorptive capacity," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 136(C), pages 630-643.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Chiara Franco & Alberto Marzucchi & Sandro Montresor, 2012. "Absorptive capacity, innovation cooperation and human-capital. Evidence from 3 European countries," JRC Research Reports JRC77090, Joint Research Centre (Seville site).
    2. Zheng, Lu & Ulrich, Klaus & Sendra-García, Javier, 2021. "Qualitative comparative analysis: Configurational paths to innovation performance," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 128(C), pages 83-93.
    3. Beatriz Ortiz García Navas & Mario Javier Donate Manzanares & Fátima Guadamillas Gómez, 2017. "Capacidad de Absorción: Revisión Crítica y Proposición de un Modelo Teórico (Absorptive Capacity: Critical Review and Proposition of a Theoretical Model)," Revista Internacional de Gestión del Conocimiento y la Tecnología (GECONTEC), Revista Internacional de Gestión del Conocimiento y la Tecnología (GECONTEC), vol. 5(2), pages 1-22, December.
    4. Lau, Antonio K.W. & Lo, William, 2015. "Regional innovation system, absorptive capacity and innovation performance: An empirical study," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 92(C), pages 99-114.
    5. Ritter-Hayashi, Daniela & Knoben, Joris & Vermeulen, Patrick A.M., 2021. "Temporary employment: Curse or blessing for a firm's absorptive capacity?," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 173(C).
    6. Alberto Marzucchi & Chiara Franco & Sandro Montresor, 2011. "The potential face of absorptive capacity. An empirical investigation for an area of 3 European countries," Working Papers 2011R08, Orkestra - Basque Institute of Competitiveness.
    7. Burcharth, Ana Luiza Lara de Araújo & Lettl, Christopher & Ulhøi, John Parm, 2015. "Extending organizational antecedents of absorptive capacity: Organizational characteristics that encourage experimentation," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 90(PA), pages 269-284.
    8. Rafael Sancho-Zamora & Isidro Peña-García & Santiago Gutiérrez-Broncano & Felipe Hernández-Perlines, 2021. "Moderating Effect of Proactivity on Firm Absorptive Capacity and Performance: Empirical Evidence from Spanish Firms," Mathematics, MDPI, vol. 9(17), pages 1-15, August.
    9. Daspit, Joshua J. & Long, Rebecca G. & Pearson, Allison W., 2019. "How familiness affects innovation outcomes via absorptive capacity: A dynamic capability perspective of the family firm," Journal of Family Business Strategy, Elsevier, vol. 10(2), pages 133-143.
    10. Chigu Kim & Chul Lee & Jina Kang, 2018. "Determinants Of Firm’S Innovation-Related External Knowledge Search Strategy: The Role Of Potential Absorptive Capacity And Appropriability Regime," International Journal of Innovation Management (ijim), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 22(06), pages 1-33, August.
    11. Kostopoulos, Konstantinos & Papalexandris, Alexandros & Papachroni, Margarita & Ioannou, George, 2011. "Absorptive capacity, innovation, and financial performance," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 64(12), pages 1335-1343.
    12. Sun, Zhongjuan & Yu, Zhu & Wang, Cizhi & Fang, Hanqing, 2023. "Threshold effects, technology purchasing, and firm outcomes: An absorptive capacity perspective," Emerging Markets Review, Elsevier, vol. 55(C).
    13. Limaj, Everist & Bernroider, Edward W.N., 2019. "The roles of absorptive capacity and cultural balance for exploratory and exploitative innovation in SMEs," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 94(C), pages 137-153.
    14. Forés, Beatriz & Camisón, César, 2016. "Does incremental and radical innovation performance depend on different types of knowledge accumulation capabilities and organizational size?," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 69(2), pages 831-848.
    15. Silvia Vicente-Oliva & Ángel Martínez-Sánchez & Luis Berges-Muro, 2016. "Enhancing The Outcomes In R&D Collaborative Projects: An Empirical Analysis Of The Middle Ebro Valley In Spain," International Journal of Innovation Management (ijim), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 20(07), pages 1-34, October.
    16. Weidner, Nadia & Som, Oliver & Horvat, Djerdj, 2023. "An integrated conceptual framework for analysing heterogeneous configurations of absorptive capacity in manufacturing firms with the DUI innovation mode," Technovation, Elsevier, vol. 121(C).
    17. FeCheng Ma & Farhan Khan & Kashif Ullah Khan & Si XiangYun, 2021. "Investigating the Impact of Information Technology, Absorptive Capacity, and Dynamic Capabilities on Firm Performance: An Empirical Study," SAGE Open, , vol. 11(4), pages 21582440211, November.
    18. Kazadi, Kande & Lievens, Annouk & Mahr, Dominik, 2016. "Stakeholder co-creation during the innovation process: Identifying capabilities for knowledge creation among multiple stakeholders," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 69(2), pages 525-540.
    19. Mennens, Kars & van Gils, Anita & Odekerken - Schröder, Gaby & Letterie, Wilko, 2016. "Exploring Antecedents of Service Innovation Excellence in Manufacturing SMEs," Research Memorandum 025, Maastricht University, Graduate School of Business and Economics (GSBE).
    20. Colombelli, Alessandra & Grilli, Luca & Minola, Tommaso & Mrkajic, Boris, 2020. "To what extent do young innovative companies take advantage of policy support to enact innovation appropriation mechanisms?," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 49(10).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:jbrese:v:118:y:2020:i:c:p:431-440. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/jbusres .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.