Intrapreneurship and absorptive capacities: The dynamic effect of labor mobility

David B. Audretsch, Erik E. Lehmann, Matthias Menter and Katharine Wirsching

Technovation, 2021, vol. 99, issue C

Abstract: While the importance of absorptive capacities for the engagement in innovative activities has been addressed in numerous studies, the drivers remain an open question. As absorptive capacities are indispensably linked to an individual's human capital, the management of these capacities needs to consider the mobility of individuals. We focus on absorptive capacities as an operationalization and essential part of firms' intrapreneurial capabilities that enable firms to both understand and exploit existing internal and external knowledge and generate and implement new ideas to enhance competitiveness. Considering both the labor stock and mobility on a regional and firm level, our results suggest that the firm/regional labor stock and the firm/regional labor mobility on their own do not have a positive effect on firms' absorptive capacities. Rather, it is the interaction of the firm and regional labor stock and especially firm and regional labor mobility that positively influence firms' absorptive capacities, indicating that labor mobility may only have positive effects if fluid labor markets facilitate adequate matches between employees and employers. We conclude by positing an agenda for future research and discussing implications for both firm managers as well as policymakers.

Keywords: Intrapreneurship; Absorptive capacities; Human capital; Labor stock; Labor mobility (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (14)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:techno:v:99:y:2021:i:c:s0166497218307922

DOI: 10.1016/j.technovation.2020.102129

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