Absorptive Capacity of Project Networks
Publication: Journal of Construction Engineering and Management
Volume 137, Issue 11
Abstract
Absorptive capacity is a firm’s ability to value, assimilate, and utilize new external knowledge and apply it to commercial ends. Much of the prior research on absorptive capacity focuses on characterizing the factors that influence absorptive capacity within organizations. However, the mechanism of how related factors affect absorptive capacity across interdependent organizations in project networks remains less explored. This paper extends a simulation model of project network learning to explore the absorptive capacity of project networks where periodic external innovations exist. This model is utilized in a series of simulation experiments to untangle the effects of varying types of innovation and degrees of relational instability in a project network. We establish a measure of project network absorptive capacity and develop an argument that relational instability moderates the project network’s absorptive capacity for different types of innovation. These findings have significant implications for assessing and developing strategies to improve a project organizational network’s capacity to absorb and, hence, profit from innovation.
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Acknowledgments
This material is based on work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. NSF0729253 and an Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Industry Studies Fellowship. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the writers and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science FoundationNSF or the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.
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Information & Authors
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Published In
Journal of Construction Engineering and Management
Volume 137 • Issue 11 • November 2011
Pages: 994 - 1002
Copyright
© 2011 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Sep 18, 2010
Accepted: Jan 25, 2011
Published online: Jan 28, 2011
Published in print: Nov 1, 2011
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