The effect of firms' relational capabilities on knowledge acquisition and co-creation with universities

This study examines how firms' relational capabilities influence two main approaches to sourcing knowledge from universities, namely, acquiring and co-creating knowledge. By adopting a sequential mixed methods design to gather empirical evidence from firms that interact with universities, it contributes to unravelling the puzzle presented in the literature on the positive effects and drawbacks of relational capabilities. We find that the balance between the opposing effects of relational capabilities differs depending on the knowledge sourcing approach. While capabilities for aligning goals, objectives, and routines/practices between firms and academics are of significant importance only for knowledge co-creation, communication capabilities are important for both, with greater significance for knowledge acquisition. We highlight implications about what relational capabilities firms should nurture in order to best source knowledge from universities.