A meta-analysis of absorptive capacity.

What is it about?

1. First published meta-analysis of absorptive capacity. 2. Meta-analyzed both the antecedents and outcomes of absorptive capacity. 3. Used meta-analytic regression to analyze moderation effects and used meta-analytic structural equation modeling to examine mediation effects.

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Why is it important?

We find that the firm size-ACAP (absorptive capacity) relationship is positive for small firms but negative for larger firms; and that the firm age-ACAP relationship is negative for mature firms and not significantly different from zero for young firms. Our meta-analysis reveals that ACAP is a strong predictor of innovation and knowledge transfer, and that its effects on financial performance are fully mediated by these two outcomes. We also investigate factors that have been commonly considered to be relevant for ACAP-innovation relationship. We do not find breadth of external search or competitive intensity to significantly impact the ACAP-innovation relationship. We find that social integration mechanisms, knowledge infrastructure, management support, and relational capability all have a positive and significant impact on the ACAP-innovation relationship. We also find that environmental dynamism has a marginally significant negative impact on the ACAP-innovation relationship. Finally, we see that the ACAP-innovation relationship is stronger when ACAP is measured by a survey than when ACAP is measured by archival proxies.

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