A Meta-Analysis Of The Relationship Between Multi-Dimensional Knowledge Absorption And Enterprise Innovation

Effectively absorbing external technology and knowledge can empower enterprises to innovate and gain sustainable competitive advantages in the increasingly complex and turbulent market competition environment.As a hot topic in the field of innovation management,"the relationship between knowledge absorption(KA)and enterprise innovation(EI)" has been widely concerned.However,while a large number of qualitative and quantitative research findings have emerged,research divergences on the relationship between KA and EI are intensifying,which result from two reasons: one is that some empirical literatures did pay more attention to KA’s single-dimensional connotation rather than its multidimensional attribute,and there is a tendency to "replace majority with minority" when using EI,which has resulted in a gap between research findings inaccurate or even non-benign citations;the other is distinctions in research contexts and measurements may also affect the relevance between the two.In response,by combing related research foundations,this thesis summarizes multidimensional knowledge absorption’s(MKA’s)connotation from the perspective of " resources,processes,and capabilities",and deems that EI is a unified concept consisting of models,behaviors,abilities,and performance.On this basis,this thesis proposes 4 main effect hypotheses and 6 moderating effect hypotheses,utilizes meta-analysis method with 178 empirical literature and 350 effect sizes,takes bias and heterogeneity test to explore the correlation between MKA and EI,and discusses the moderating effect of cultural background,industry nature and measurement method on the relationship between them by subgroup and regression analysis.The thesis finds that:(1)on the whole,MKA positively relate to EI from the perspective of main effect;while at the level of specific innovation,MKA has the strongest correlation with innovation abilities,and MKA are more relevant with innovation behaviors than innovation performance;meanwhile,each dimension of KA is positively related to EI,and dynamic KA is more relevant to EI than static KA.(2)From the perspective of moderating effects,compared with individualistic culture and collectivist culture,MKA is more closely related to EI.Compared with non-high-tech industries,MKA and EI in high-tech industries are more relevant.The correlation is stronger;the MKA measured by scales is more relevant than the non-scale,and differing from the incompletely moderating effects of cultural background andindustry nature in the relationship between MKA and specific innovation,measurements have completely moderated four positive relationships.The above conclusions explore the direction and strength of the correlation between MKA and EI,verify and enrich the boundary conditions of the correlation from the context and method factors,also provide a feasible idea for deepening the understanding of existing research contents and developing future research.