Keep Innovating: Absorptive Capacity and the Performance of Brazilian Information Technology Companies

Abstract

Continuous innovation is considered a major challenge for companies. By deepening this issue, this article highlights the absorptive capacity, which is the ability to explore external knowledge. This study analyzes the extent to which absorptive capacity affects the organizational performance of Brazilian IT companies. A theoretical model containing three hypotheses related to potential absorptive capacity, realized absorptive capacity, and organizational performance is analyzed by using factor analysis and structural equation modeling using an instrument applied to 130 companies between the months of July and August of 2017. The results show significant relations between the dimensions of absorptive capacity and organizational performance, indicating that a characteristic of the technological market is translated by adaptation ability, which demonstrates the influence of potential and realized absorptive capacity in performance as explained by the firm’s dynamic capabilities.