Antecedents of absorptive capacity: context of companies' incubators in Northeastern Brazil

• Autor(a) principal: Barreto, Ana Lucia Brenner
• Data de Publicação: 2023
• Outros Autores: Nodari, Cristine Hermann, Severo, Eliana, Guimarães, Júlio Cesar Ferro De
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Revista de Administração e Inovação
• Texto Completo: https://www.revistas.usp.br/rai/article/view/209063
• topic: Absorptive capacity; Antecedents of absorptive capacity; Companies’ incubators

Purpose: This research analyzes the antecedents of absorptive capacity in incubated companies in the State of Rio Grande do Norte, northeast Brazil. Design/methodology/approach: In this context, 111 incubated companies took part in the research. The methodology used the Confirmatory Factor Analysis and the Multiple Linear Regression to analyze the correlation of the dependent variable (absorptive capacity) with the independent variables (interaction with other companies, professionals’ knowledge, knowledge use and knowledge acquisition). Findings: The results highlight that external knowledge use was the construct that most influenced the absorptive capacity. Among the dependent variables suggested, only the construct concerning the incubators’ knowledge presented no model significance, which shows that the professionals’ knowledge is not an antecedent of absorptive capacity in the incubated companies. Research limitations/implications: As limitations, we can mention the absence of a control variable; the Common Method Variance (CMV) may occur when the respondents are exposed to a single technique and data collection instrument). Practical implications: This study is relevant because it indicates that the incubators may not be providing their professionals with knowledge appropriately, or that the incubated companies have not been accessing it. Accessing this knowledge would encourage the development of actions for the business in this context. Originality/value: The study statistically validate the scale and constructs, which can be used in other studies, contributing significantly to organizational studies that link the ACAP.