Researchers have used the absorptive capacity construct to explain various organizational phenomena. In this article we review the literature to identify key dimensions of absorptive capacity and offer a reconceptualization of this construct. Building upon the dynamic capabilities view of the firm, we distinguish between a firm's potential and realized capacity. We then advance a model outlining the conditions when the firm's potential and realized capacities can differentially influence the creation and sustenance of its competitive advantage.

https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=5629&context=lkcsb_research

Absorptive Capacity: A Review, Reconceptualization, and Extension

Unstable market conditions caused by innovation and increasing intensity and diversity of competition have resulted in organizational capabilities rather than served markets becoming the primary basis upon which firms establish their long-term strategies. If the strategically most important resource of the firm is knowledge, and if knowledge resides in specialized form among individual organizational members, then the essence of organizational capability is the integration of individuals' specialized knowledge. This paper develops a knowledge-based theory of organizational capability and draws upon research into competitive dynamics, the resource-based view of the firm, organizational capabilities, and organizational learning. Central to the theory is analysis of the mechanisms through which knowledge is integrated within firms in order to create capability. The theory is used to explore firms' potential for establishing competitive advantage in dynamic market settings, including the role of firm networks...

https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdfplus/2635098.pdf

Prospering in Dynamically-Competitive Environments: Organizational Capability as Knowledge Integration

A role congruity theory of prejudice toward female leaders proposes that perceived incongruity between the female gender role and leadership roles leads to 2 forms of prejudice: (a) perceiving women less favorably than men as potential occupants of leadership roles and (b) evaluating behavior that fulfills the prescriptions of a leader role less favorably when it is enacted by a woman. One consequence is that attitudes are less positive toward female than male leaders and potential leaders. Other consequences are that it is more difficult for women to become leaders and to achieve success in leadership roles. Evidence from varied research paradigms substantiates that these consequences occur, especially in situations that heighten perceptions of incongruity between the female gender role and leadership roles.

/pdf/role-congruity-theory-of-prejudice-toward-female-leaders-4ldbwpzzgm.pdf

Role congruity theory of prejudice toward female leaders.

The Social Psychology of Organizations.

The paper is concerned with spatial clustering of economic activity and its relation to the spatiality of knowledge creation in interactive learning processes. It questions the view that tacit knowledge transfer is confined to local milieus whereas codified knowledge may roam the globe almost frictionlessly. The paper highlights the conditions under which both tacit and codified knowledge can be exchanged locally and globally. A distinction is made between, on the one hand, the learning processes taking place among actors embedded in a community by just being there dubbed buzz and, on the other, the knowledge attained by investing in building channels of communication called pipelines to selected providers located outside the local milieu. It is argued that the co-existence of high levels of buzz and many pipelines may provide firms located in outward-looking and lively clusters with a string of particular advantages not available to outsiders. Finally, some policy implications, stemming from this argumen...

/pdf/clusters-and-knowledge-local-buzz-global-pipelines-and-the-29bsuyvekg.pdf

Clusters and knowledge: local buzz, global pipelines and the process of knowledge creation

We examine the relation between boards of directors’ knowledge heterogeneity and organizational ambidexterity (OA) (ie simultaneous exploration and exploitation) in knowledge-intensive firms (KIFs) Although the literature on OA has started to emphasize its antecedents, the role of the board remains unaddressed This is an important omission, as boards have become increasingly involved in strategy-making In turn, studies on boards have looked at their influence on either exploration- or exploitation-type strategies Yet, KIFs particularly need to balance both exploration and exploitation to renew their knowledge base We draw on knowledge-based perspectives to disentangle the benefits and costs of board knowledge heterogeneity for driving OA in KIFs Our empirical analysis based on a longitudinal panel of UK pharmaceutical firms provides support for our hypothesized U-shaped relation Our findings suggest that the benefits of knowledge heterogeneity only outweigh the costs beyond a particular t

/pdf/boards-of-directors-and-organizational-ambidexterity-in-4tkgqo1aul.pdf

Boards of directors and organizational ambidexterity in knowledge-intensive firms

The strategy field is replete with competing prescriptions and directives with regard to successful performance. Although integration should be pursued more vigorously from an academic standpoint, in this paper it is argued that real progress in the strategy field requires synthesis. Attempts at integration often lead to theoretical frameworks that are relatively disconnected from urgent problems in strategic management. In escaping this fragmentation-integration dilemma, several avenues for strategy synthesis are provided. Synthesis does not attempt to develop a single paradigm consisting of universal concepts and laws covering the entire strategic management field. Instead it is anchored in a few clusters of strategic management problems: drawing firm boundaries, developing dynamic capabilities, and finding viable strategy configurations. They are essential future directions in strategy synthesis.

Crisis in strategy: fragmentation, integration or synthesis

Investigating Three Key Principles of Sustained Strategic Renewal

Clicks vs. Bricks in the Emerging Online Financial Services Industry

In recent years, there has been strong interest in leaders' exploration and exploitation activities, especially because of their positive effects on performance. Most prior research in this area has focused on the organizational antecedents of leaders' exploration and exploitation activities, with less consideration given to the psychological precursors. This paper draws upon insights from the behavioral strategy literature to inform our theoretical perspective on leaders' exploration–exploitation activities. In particular, by conceptually linking leaders' regulatory focus and exploration–exploitation, we provide a theoretical framework to explain these activities from a psychological viewpoint. Moreover, we employ two moderator variables to better understand the different properties and boundaries of this framework. All in all, this paper has a number of implications for strategic leadership theory and practice.

/pdf/regulatory-focus-as-a-psychological-micro-foundation-of-4qu80ojdpw.pdf

Henk W. Volberda

Papers

Boards of directors and organizational ambidexterity in knowledge-intensive firms

Crisis in strategy: fragmentation, integration or synthesis

Investigating Three Key Principles of Sustained Strategic Renewal

Clicks vs. Bricks in the Emerging Online Financial Services Industry

Regulatory focus as a psychological micro-foundation of leaders' exploration and exploitation activities