Knowledge Sharing and Co-Opetition: Turning Absorptive Capacity into Effectiveness in Consumer Electronics Industries

Xiao-Bing Zhang, Che-Hung Lin, Kou-Chang Chung, Fu-Sheng Tsai and Rung-Tai Wu
Additional contact information
Xiao-Bing Zhang: Business School, Huaiyin Institute of Technology, Huaian 223001, China
Che-Hung Lin: Department of Information Management, Cheng Shiu University, Kaohsiung 83347, Taiwan
Kou-Chang Chung: Department of Marketing and Logistic Management, National Penghu University of Science and Technology, Penghu 88541, Taiwan
Fu-Sheng Tsai: Department of Business Administration, Cheng Shiu University, Kaohsiung 83347, Taiwan
Rung-Tai Wu: School of Business, Nanfang College of Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510970, China

Sustainability, 2019, vol. 11, issue 17, 1-13

Abstract: Despite the literature regarding the potential effects of absorptive capacity on performance, a problem in the extant literature is that few researchers have reported on how such potential effects could be realized. To resolve the problem, we argued that there are chained mediating relationships among other factors in the absorptive-performance relationship. Data were collected from 522 new product development teams in top 30 consumer electronics manufacturers in Taiwan. Structural equation modeling results revealed that: first, absorptive capacity positively influences team knowledge sharing, which positively influences both cooperation and competition (sharing-stimulated co-opetition), which then lead to increased team effectiveness. This study is among the first to contribute by investigating absorptive capacity’s impact on team-level effectiveness; it achieved this by examining the abovementioned mediating relationships. Practically, we found that absorptive capacity could be influential on team effectiveness, if the team exercise good knowledge sharing activities that in turn stimulate co-opetition relations among workers. Collectively, the dynamics of absorptive capacity, knowledge sharing, and co-opetition can form a positive circle for a team’s sustainable effectiveness.

Keywords: absorptive capacity; knowledge sharing; co-opetition; sustainable team effectiveness; structural equation modelling (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/11/17/4694/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/11/17/4694/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:11:y:2019:i:17:p:4694-:d:261890

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().