Knowledge Perspectives on Advancing Dynamic Capability

Abstract

Dynamic Capability is the organizational capacity to timely adapt to a changing market environment by reconfiguring resources and routines in order to stay competitive. Although dynamic capability is considered the Holy Grail of strategic management, a connection to the knowledge management domain is lacking. This connection is deemed necessary since knowledge and learning processes are the constituting forces of dynamic capability. This dissertation intends to close this gap by uncovering knowledge-related antecedents of dynamic capability from 3 key perspectives on knowledge: through knowledge management policy adoption, through the availability of social capital and through studying preferential knowledge network structures for dynamic capability. The first perspective is typified as a formal or engineering approach towards knowledge. The other approaches are typified as informal or emergent approaches towards knowledge. Where the social capital perspective is concerned with the availability of network structure, trust and shares values, the knowledge network perspective is considered a zoom lens on the network structure that uncovers its deeper properties. Based on several surveys in various organizations, this research quantitatively approached to what extent these knowledge-related antecedents can influence dynamic capability in organizations. In one project, the effect of knowledge management policy adoption on dynamic capability was studied, along with an investigation of organizational characteristics that are preferential for the adoption of these policies. In a second project, the impact of both knowledge management policy adoption and social capital availability on dynamic capability was studied. Moreover, both antecedents were compared in their effectiveness of advancing dynamic capability. In a third project, available tools and techniques for conducting knowledge network analysis were investigated and compared. Moreover, the effectiveness of several knowledge network data capturing techniques was studied in order to select a best method for further use. Furthermore, a tool was developed that is capable of extracting and refining knowledge networks based on raw email logs. This enabled the researchers to conduct longitudinal knowledge network analysis based on email data. In a forth project, the effectiveness of knowledge network structure on dynamic capability was investigated. More specifically, the impact of the knowledge networks of organizational teams was compared with their absorptive capacity, which is an expression for the extent to which these teams were capable of sensing, integrating and applying external knowledge. Absorptive capacity is closely related to dynamic capability and better operationalized. This dissertation concludes with a confluence of the three perspectives on knowledge and their potential to advance dynamic capability in organizations. The effectiveness of each knowledge perspective is considered and the relation between the perspectives is discussed. Finally, both scientific conclusions and avenues for further research are provided as well as practical advice and implications for organizations that wish to advance their dynamic capability.