The roles of absorptive capacity and cultural balance for exploratory and exploitative innovation in SMEs
基于138家中小企业的调查数据，研究发现潜在吸收能力通过实现吸收能力间接影响探索性和利用性创新，且实现吸收能力的创新效果取决于组织文化的整体平衡。
This study investigates whether balanced forms of organizational cultures moderate the effects of potential and realized absorptive capacities (ACs) to simultaneously generate exploratory and exploitative innovations. Using empirical survey data collected from 138 small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), we applied partial least squares (PLS) structural equation modeling (SEM) combined with mediation and moderation analyses to test our hypotheses. Our results show that the effects of potential AC on organizations' exploratory and exploitative innovations are fully mediated by the organizations' realized AC. The positive effects of realized AC on innovation are contingent on the overall cultural balance of the organization, which, however, does not affect the strong link between potential AC and realized AC. We thus provide novel empirical insights into the multi-dimensional nature of AC and the importance of cultural equilibrium for both exploratory and exploitative innovation, which is of particular importance for ambidextrous SMEs facing dynamic markets.