Knowledge absorptive capacity and innovation performance in high-tech companies: A multi-mediating analysis

Building upon the knowledge-based view (KBV) and using data from 379 high-tech companies in China, we examine the underlying, mediating mechanisms in the relationship between knowledge absorptive capacity and firms' innovation performance. We find that there are positive relationships between four dimensions of knowledge absorptive capacity (i.e., knowledge acquisition, knowledge assimilation, knowledge transformation, and knowledge exploitation) and firms' innovation performance. Additionally, we discover that both firms' knowledge transformation capacity and knowledge exploitation capacity mediate the relationship between knowledge acquisition and firms' innovation performance, as well as between knowledge assimilation and firms' innovation performance. Our results shed light on knowledge absorptive capacity research and knowledge management theory by theoretically and empirically demonstrating how knowledge absorptive capacity affects firms' innovation outputs from a multi-mediating perspective.