Redefining the Relationship between Intellectual Capital and Innovation: The Mediating Role of Absorptive Capacity

Journal Title: BAR: Brazilian Administration Review - Year 2016, Vol 13, Issue 4

Abstract

The objective of this study is to analyze the relationship between absorptive capacity, intellectual capital and innovation. The main purpose of this research is to demonstrate that absorptive capacity can leverage the relation between intellectual capital and innovation potential. The method was a single case study using exploratory and descriptive research strategies and applying both quantitative and qualitative techniques. The case study investigated was a Brazilian corporation that has been doing business in the paper and corrugated cardboard industry for 72 years. The paper describes a case analysis demonstrating that adoption of practices associated with absorptive capacity has potential to foster intellectual capital, which is particularly important for development of innovations. These practices include assimilation of new technologies; creating capacity to utilize existing internal knowledge held by employees; use of benchmarking; application of technical knowledge; and registration of patents. Triangulation of data provided evidence confirming that the relationship between absorptive capacity and intellectual capital is a driver of innovation in the firm investigated. Additionally, this relationship is better explained by the mediating role of absorptive capacity, which is capable of potentiating intellectual capital to foster innovation.

Authors and Affiliations

Cassol, Alessandra; Gonçalo, Cláudio Reis; Ruas, Roberto Lima

Keywords

Related Articles

Social Practices and Strategizing: a Study of Produce Merchants in the Vila Rubim Market

The aim of this article is to understand the relationship between the meanings of social practices and strategy creation used by the produce merchants in Vila Rubim, Vitória, ES, from 1970 to the present time. To provid...

Top Human Resources Managers Views on Trade Union Action in Brazilian Corporations

This article presents the perception of human resource (HR) top managers at strategic level in Brazilian corporations regarding labor union activity. It is a quantitative study about the perception of 354 experienced HR...

Relationships between Learning, Context and Competency: a Multilevel Study

This study aims to identify the predictor variables for three types of management competencies: financial business management, process management and socio-environmental management. It was hypothesized that attributes...

From Play to Political Action: Prosumerism on Fanvideo Meme Production

Fans are singular productive consumers. One of their typical practices is the production of fanvideos. An increasingly common trend in fanvideos is the creation of memes, a phenomenon of the modern internet related to ir...

Implementing Strategies in Complex Systems: Lessons from Brazilian Hospitals

Hospitals, as social organizations, are seen as complex, surprising, ambiguous and paradoxical. The theoretical foundation finds its roots in organizational complexity, strategic management characterized by strategy im...

Download PDF file
  • EP ID EP40628
  • DOI -
  • Views 209
  • Downloads 0

How To Cite

Cassol, Alessandra; Gonçalo, Cláudio Reis; Ruas, Roberto Lima (2016). Redefining the Relationship between Intellectual Capital and Innovation: The Mediating Role of Absorptive Capacity. BAR: Brazilian Administration Review, 13(4), -. https://europub.co.uk/articles/-A-40628