Organizational Culture and Absorptive Capacity

1. Front Matter

   Pages I-XXIII

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2. The Impact, Meaning and Challenges of Knowledge Absorption

   • Dorothée Zerwas

   Pages 1-25

3. The Conceptual Principles

   • Dorothée Zerwas

   Pages 26-53

4. A Model of External Knowledge Absorption

   • Dorothée Zerwas

   Pages 54-137

5. An Empirical Analysis of the Research Models

   • Dorothée Zerwas

   Pages 139-217

6. Summary, Conclusion and Outlook

   • Dorothée Zerwas

   Pages 219-245

7. Back Matter

   Pages 247-279

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Firms are increasingly collaborating with outside partners to access external knowledge that will enable them to successfully innovate and remain competitive in the marketplace. To apply external knowledge, they must have a distinctive capacity to absorb knowledge. One of the main influencing factors for absorptive capacity is a knowledge-friendly organizational culture, because the knowledge absorbing behavior of individuals can be better coordinated through implicit values and norms than through structural coordination instruments. When focusing on an organization’s overall behavior, it is important to investigate in detail how a knowledge-friendly organizational culture influences absorptive capacity. Therefore, the author analysis the relationship between organizational culture and absorptive capacity and shows how a knowledge-friendly organizational culture should be designed to support the absorption of external knowledge in SMEs.

• Absorptive Capacity
• Organizational Culture
• SME Knowledge Transfer

• Fachbereich Informatik, Institut für Management, Universität Koblenz-Landau, Koblenz-Landau, Germany

  Dorothée Zerwas

Dorothée Zerwas is a post-doctoral researcher and lecturer at the University of Koblenz-Landau, Computer Science Faculty, Institute for Management.

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