Proposition de reconceptualisation du construit de capacité d’absorption : la capacité d’absorption actualisée

The concept of absorptive capacity remains a large stream of research since its introduction by Cohen and Levinthal in 1989. Defined as the “ability to recognize the value of new information, assimilate it, and apply it to commercial ends” (Cohen and Levinthal, 1990). They also mentioned that “these abilities collectively constitute what we call a firm’s, absorptive capacity” and they stay capital to innovative capability of an organization. The absorptive capacity, a key factor for strategic management, sustains the competitive advantages of an organization. But, even the number of growing studies and articles on this topic, we know little about how it appears and its development. These questions remain unresolved. The topic of this dissertation concerns these last two points: how appears the absorptive capacity and how to develop it.  We first see that the current suggested models show some difficulties to operationalize the concept. As per Lane, Koka and Pathak (2006) review, most of the scholars did not work with the basic assumptions made by Cohen and Levinthal (1989, 1990, 1994). They reified the concept and now use it as a “minor citation – a grace note that embellishes a paper without adding substance” (Lane et coll., 2006). Authorship of ideas and theories forget the basic assumption, transform them into things, and finally forget that they have done so. Few of them revised the definition, scope and frontiers of the absorptive capacity. If empirical literature is still growing little conceptual development occurs (Lim and Falk, 2013). The concept needs more research to get a theoretical maturity from a consensus among scholars. From these facts, we conclude that a new conceptualization of the absorptive capacity construct should offer some potential solutions. Starting with the three original papers, we aim at clarifying the scope of absorptive capacity and reconceptualize the construct. We demonstrate that weak signals and information constitute strategic insights, as suggested by Cohen and Levinthal, to recognize as valuable. We establish a clear distinction between confounded learning capacity and absorptive capacity. We argue that absorptive capacity emerges as a phenomenon, issued from a complex and adaptive organizational system, at the conjunction of three capabilities: learning, dynamic and creative. We explain why we take this perspective by an overview of the system’s theories, considering also some quantum mechanic ideas, looking at the chaos theory and finally, choosing complex adaptive systems as a background to absorptive capacity.  We will first review what a good theory is, its properties, its quality and how to assess it. We will see each phase of conceptualization and clearly precise their content. This way, we will get a framework to guide us step by steps to create a construct. This framework will also give us decisions-making references. As basic criteria to elaborate this new construct, we think about its constitutive abilities instead their outcomes. We expect to assess its validity by using item responses theories, namely the Rasch model. We also want this construct designed with meaning words to managers and close to daily used and known management practices.  From our deep review of the three seminal papers of Cohen and Levinthal (1989a, b-1994, 1990), we concluded that a new model of absorptive capacity should have three distinct capabilities: organizational learning, dynamic and creative capabilities. Each of them has tree categories of actions growing in task’s difficulties and competencies to execute them. The learning capability is founded on the abilities to mobilize lessons from experiences: single, double and triple loop learning. Dynamics capabilities constitute abilities to modify used practices when the external environment changes, so to adapt, reconfigure and integrate current or new resources. Creative capabilities are under problems solving, prototype making and deployed R&D abilities. Based on complex systems, we argue that absorptive capacity appears as emergent phenomenon when the required organizational capabilities perform together. Members of an organization mobilize their absorptive capacity when they recognize the value of a new external and weak signal or information. This acts as a trigger to start the process of signal’s or information’s absorption. The absorptive capacity comes from the conjunction of the three abilities: learning, dynamic and creative ones. The process we suggest showing how to start with product imitation and grow to radical innovation. We suggest that learning with dynamic capabilities gives access to imitation and incremental innovation; learning with creative capabilities promotes incremental towards radical innovation; creative with dynamic capabilities open to radical innovation and, collectively with a learning capability, give the absorptive capacity. So, more the learning abilities, the flexibility to introduce new practices or methods and the creative abilities overlap, more an organization constructs his absorptive capacity and more it grows its probability of innovation. To substantiate our model, we show how it converges to three other theories in three different domains. We use the Bloom taxonomy (Bloom, 1954) current in education sciences, and show our model is in accordance with steps recommended for the cognitive development to learn. Then, from the SECI of Nonaka and Takeuchi (1995), we illustrate how it corresponds with its knowledge creation modalities. Finally, we see that the abilities required by our model are the same that Amabile (1996) described as essential to creativity in their componential model.

Keyphrases: Innovation, Cohen, Acquisition, Zahra, Absorptive capacity, Dynamic capacity, Knowledge, Learning, Model, Organization, Creativity, Assimilation, Complexity, Information, System