Knowledge Management and Innovation Performance a Mediated-Moderation Model

This study aims at explaining innovation performance of organizations as a combination of resources and capabilities. This study starts with asking the question how the relationship between firm-specific knowledge and innovation performance can be explained. To answer this question, insights from the resource-based view (RBV) and the dynamic capabilities approach (DCA) are combined. This leads to a set of hypotheses. The first hypothesis states that knowledge-specificity and innovation performance are positively related. The second hypothesis states that organizational learning practices mediate the relationship between knowledge-specificity and innovation performance. Then, two contrasting hypotheses are formulated stating that the relationship between knowledge-specificity and organizational learning practices of organizations is strengthened or weakened by the level of autonomy. Together these hypotheses lead to a mediated-moderation model of knowledge-specificity and innovation performance. The model is tested using a mediated-moderation analysis on a sample of 673 private organizations in the Netherlands. The analyses show that there is a positive relationship between knowledge-specificity and innovation performance and that this relationship is mediated by the extent to which organizations apply learning practices. Hypotheses 1 and 2 are thus supported. Furthermore, the level of autonomy weakens the relationship between knowledge-specificity and organizational learning practices. This study’s main contribution lies in combining theoretical insights from the RBV and the DCA, applying them to the field of knowledge management, and testing them empirically. The analyses lead to two insights for organizations interested in increasing their innovation performance. First, investing in learning capabilities enhances innovation performance. Second, organizations based on general knowledge can grant work autonomy to employees to enhance their ability to learn.