Absorptive capacity constituents in knowledge-intensive industries in Serbia

Abstract

The aim of this paper was to explore the determining constituents of absorptive capacity and their influence on the overall absorptive capacity level in the organizations from knowledge-intensive industries in the Republic of Serbia. The research was conducted in order to analyze how does the capability of the organizations from Serbian knowledge-intensive industries to acquire external knowledge, develop their knowledge base, communicate and exploit the absorbed knowledge affect their absorptive capacity. The methodology included quantitative and qualitative research method based on a questionnaire. The data collected were analyzed with the absorptive capacity evaluation model and by applying discriminant function analysis as a statistical method. The basic result shows that the absorptive capacity of organizations from knowledge-intensive industries in Serbia is clearly dependent on the scope of the available relevant knowledge. The fundamental conclusion as the result of this research indicates that the enrichment of the organizational knowledge bases with the relevant new content strongly enhances the absorptive capacity of organizations from knowledge-intensive industries in Serbia. Further research on this topic should be directed towards investigating the relationship between the existing knowledge base and the innovation capability in organizations from knowledge-intensive industries.