| The purpose of this thesis was to contribute to the development of a theory of knowledge utilization (i.e., how knowledge is created, transferred and applied) in organizations. Despite years of research on this topic in a variety of disciplines, a theoretical framework of knowledge utilization in organizations is still in its infancy. This state of affairs is attributed to the complexity of knowledge itself, which makes it a difficult construct to study in an empirical manner (Grant, 1996; Spender, 1996; Alavi and Leidner, 2001; Schulz, 2003).;Over the past few years, the construct of absorptive capacity (ACAP), defined as the ability of organizations to recognize, capture and apply external knowledge (Cohen and Levinthal, 1990), has emerged as a conceptual basis for the development of a theory of knowledge utilization in organizations (Zahra and George, 2002). Theoretical development of ACAP, however, has not progressed much since its introduction into the organizational theory literature in the 1990s (Lane, Koko and Pathak, 2002). For example, existing research on ACAP tends to focus on firm-level aspects; very little has been done to examine ACAP at operational levels in the organization. Furthermore, although management practices have been identified as a potential key influencer of ACAP (Zuboff, 1988; Nonaka and Takeuchi, 1995; Bartlett and Ghoshal, 1998; Zahra and George, 2002), few empirical studies have examined the impact of managers on ACAP in organizations.;To contribute to filling these gaps in the literature, this thesis was designed to examine the role middle managers play in building ACAP in work groups. Twenty-eight groups (179 individuals) from seven different public sector organizations participated in the study. Data were collected from work groups on 2 different occasions separated by approximately 6 months.;Results of the study support a model of ACAP in which higher-level middle managers were shown to influence the ACAP of work groups through behaviours that helped to clarify the organization's mission and vision. In addition, organizational culture and homogeneity of prior-related knowledge were shown to be significantly related to ACAP. Finally, the findings demonstrate that ACAP itself is a more complex construct than previously thought. |
