The role of knowledge embeddedness in the creation of synergies in strategic alliances

This paper develops a conceptual model, based on a structural equation approach, for empirically investigating the role played by relational embeddedness in the process of creation of synergies of knowledge-related capabilities in strategic alliances (SAs). The theoretical model identifies an underlying latent construct; knowledge embeddedness and its antecedents: complementarity, compatibility, tacitness, trust, protectiveness, and coordination, which needs to be explicitly recognized and integrated in the theory of creation of synergies in SAs. While the individual importance of most of these variables has long been recognized in both SA and social exchange literature, their simultaneous effects have thus far been ignored. Embeddedness is hypothesized to be a full mediator of these effects on creation of synergies. Furthermore, absorptive capacity, network capacity, and collaborative know-how are proposed to moderate these effects.