Inovação em pequenas e médias empresas: a influência da capacidade absortiva
| Autor | Alessandra Cassol, Marcio Luiz Marietto, Cibele Barsalini Martins |
| Cargo | Programa de Pós-graduação em Administração (IMED)/Instituto Politécnico de Leiria, Portugal/Universidade Nove de Julho (UNINOVE)/Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina (UFSC) |
| Páginas | 102-121 |
Alessandra Cassol • Marcio Luiz Marietto • Cibele Barsalini Martins
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Esta obra está sob uma Licença Creative Commons Atribuição-Uso.
6
RESUMO
Este estudo examinou a influência dos elementos que
compõem as dimensões da capacidade de absorção (CA) na
capacidade de inovação (CI) das pequenas e médias empre-
sas (PMEs). A pesquisa ocorreu por meio de uma survey com
aplicação de questionários a 309 PMEs. Para analisar os dados
utilizamos a técnica de modelagem de equações estruturais
(MEE). Os resultados mostraram que as dimensões de capaci-
dade de absorção potencial (PACAP) e capacidade de absorção
realizada (RACAP) possuem efeitos positivos, mas distintos, na
CI das PMEs, contudo, o impacto na CI aumenta quando as
dimensões da CA são avaliadas de forma multidimensional e
individual. O estudo contribuiu teoricamente ao comprovar a
multidimensionalidade do constructo da CA no universo de
PMEs. Como contribuição gerencial evidencia-se que a RACAP
possui maior inuência sobre a CI das PMEs, o que comprova
a importância de os gestores/proprietários desenvolverem
rotinas que potencializem a transformação e aplicação do
conhecimento.
Palavras-Chave: Capacidade de Inovação; Capacidade de
absorção; Pequenas e Médias Empresas; Modelagem de
Equações Estruturais.
ABSTRACT
This study examined the inuence of the elements that make
up the absorptive capacity (AC) dimensions on the innovation
capacity (IC) of small and medium enterprises (SMEs). The
research took place through a survey with questionnaires
applied to 309 SMEs. We used the structural equations mode-
ling technique (SEM) to analyze the data. The results showed
that the dimensions of potential absorptive capacity (PACAP)
and realized absorptive capacity (RACAP) have positive but
distinct eects on the IC of SMEs. However, the impact on IC
increases when the dimensions of the AC are evaluated in a
multidimensional and individual manner. The study contribu-
ted theoretically by proving the multidimensionality of the MC
construct in the universe of SMEs. As a managerial contribution,
it is evident that RMCAP has a greater inuence on the IC of
SMEs, which proves the importance of managers/owners
developing routines that enhance knowledge transformation
and application.
Key-words: Innovation Capacity; Absorptive Capacity; Small
and medium-sized enterprises; Structural equations modeling.
Inovação em pequenas e médias empresas:
a influência da capacidade absortiva
Innovation in small and medium enterprises:
the influence of absorptive capacity
Alessandra Cassol
Programa de Pós-graduação em Administração (IMED)
email: alessandracassol.adm@gmail.com
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0753-9642
Marcio Luiz Marietto
Instituto Politécnico de Leiria, Portugal /
Universidade Nove de Julho (UNINOVE)
email: marcioluizmarietto@gmail.com
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1526-6058
Cibele Barsalini Martins
Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina (UFSC)
email: cibele.martins@ufsc.br
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7396-0630
DOI: https://doi.org/10.5007/2175-8077.2022.e73575
Submetido: 05/05/2020
Aceito: 11/02/2022
Revista de Ciências da Administração • v. 24, n. 62, p. 102-121, jan.-abr. 2022 103
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Inovação em pequenas e médias empresas: a inuência da capacidade absortiva
1 INTRODUÇÃO
Innovation is directly related to the creation
and updating of knowledge, requiring companies to
generate new ideas and eciency in their processes,
continuously adapting their organizational practices
(VARGAS; GONÇALO; RIBEIRETE; SOUZA, 2017).
In recent years, it has been shown that absorptive
capacity (AC) is essential to support organizational
innovation (LANE; Koka; PATHAK, 2006; Gebauer;
WORCH; TRUFFER, 2012).
Companies exposed to the same amount of
external knowledge can benet at dierent levels
depending on the degree of absorptive capacity
(THOMAS; WOOD, 2014). us, AC can determine
the degree of openness of an enterprise, conguring
as one of the essential factors that provide competitive
advantage in the same sector (DEEPAK; SUBRAH-
MANYA, 2017).
Small and medium enterprises (SMEs), which
have limited financial resources, must acquire
external knowledge through exchanges between
companies and optimize their organizational learn-
ing processes to utilize this knowledge and achieve
business sustainability (KOTABE; JIANG; MURRAY,
2011; ELSETOUHI; ELBELTAGI, 2013). ese com-
panies face continuous change and must balance their
decisions between a look to the present and another
to the future. us, an orientation towards innovation
becomes fundamental (MÜLLER; BULIGA; VOIGT,
2021). Our proposal is that the key for SMEs to create
strategic innovation mechanisms is initially based on
the development of higher levels of absorptive ca-
pacities (TALEBI; TAJEDDIN, 2011; BARBAROUX,
2014; AOKI; BADALOTTI, 2014).
Some studies (DÁVILA; DURST; VARVAKIS,
2018; CASSOL; ZANESCO; MARTINS; MARIETTO,
2019; AL MAMUN; FAZAL; MOHIUDDIN; SU,
2019) recently observed the conguration of AC in
developing economies, such as Brazil, in search of an
understanding of the routines and practices capable
of boosting the construction of new organizational
capacities and enhancing innovation in SMEs. How-
ever, questions remain about how SMEs develop the
ability to absorb and internalize external knowledge.
is is at the expense of its structural features, such
as limited nancial resources, simple hierarchical
structure, simplied organizational routines, and
little access to the scientic community compared
to large enterprises.
us, understanding whether the dimensions
of PACAP and RACAP inuence the innovation
capacity of SMEs distinctly becomes a eld to be ex-
plored (DÁVILA et al., 2018; CASSOL; MARIETTO;
TONIAL; WERLANG, 2021). erefore, we seek to
answer: What is the level of inuence of the poten-
tial absorptive capacity (PACAP) and the realized
absorptive capacity (RACAP) in the innovation of
small and medium enterprises? is research has the
objective of analyzing the inuence of the potential
and realized absorptive capacity on the innovation
capacity in small and medium enterprises.
We conducted quantitative research with a
cross-sectional cut-out based on the survey method
to answer the research question and meet the objective.
Structured questionnaires were applied to 309 manag-
ers (owners and/or managers) of small and medium
enterprises of the trade and services sectors located
in Santa Catarina. e answers were analyzed with
the Smart PLS Soware using the structural equations
modeling technique to test the hypotheses proposed
in the research.
e results showed that the stages that make up
the dimensions of PACAP (H1) and RACAP (H2)
have a positive eect on the innovation capacity of
the surveyed SMEs. e lowest impact on innovation
capacity was found among all AC stages when indi-
vidually analyzing the stages of the PACAP dimen-
sion, more specically the assimilation stage (H1b).
We also veried that the application stage (H2b) of
the RACAP dimension presented the greatest impact
on the innovation capacity of the SMEs investigated,
conrming the proposed by the AC literature.
e study contributed to the understanding of
the conguration of absorptive capacity in small and
medium enterprises and its inuence on innovation
capacity. Furthermore, the present study analyzed AC
from its multidimensionality and its relations with
innovation capacity. In doing so, it was possible to
verify the routines present in the investigated SMEs
that can inuence innovation, suggesting that the
intra-organizational perspective can be as important
to generate innovation results as the inter-organiza-
tional perspective.
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