Capacidade de absorção individual como impulsionadora da inovação do modelo de negócios

Abstract

The individual absorption capacity focuses on the individual's ability to recognize relevant knowledge, assimilate, transform and apply such knowledge to generate results for the organization, thus, in the view of this construct, the individual becomes central. It is discussed that the individual absorptive capacity can be translated into actions of innovation, which means that those on the front line, considered gatekeepers, need to have an absorptive capacity to access and use new knowledge effectively to promote the organizational innovation. Consequently, the innovation of the business model can also be impacted by the individual absorptive capacity, since, in order to innovate in their business model, companies need to have an organized organizational structure and individuals with the ability to recognize valuable knowledge and incorporate it into the business model in order to make it difficult for competitors to replicate. Therefore, the objective of the research is to analyze whether the individual absorptive capacity influences the innovation of the business model of micro and small companies belonging to the ICT sector in Santa Catarina. The research is characterized as quantitative, and for the data collection the survey method was used, with the application of the structured questionnaire exclusively to the managers and owners of the investigated companies, in which a total sample of 78 respondents was obtained. Data analysis was performed by means of structural equation modeling (SEM) and the partial least squares (PLS) estimation method, using the SmartPLS software. As a result of the research, it was confirmed that there is a positive relationship between the constructs, revealing that the individual AC is able to boost business model innovation, which sheds light on the discussion that it is not only important to address organizational absorptive capacity in relation to the business model innovation, but also that the AC at the individual level also generates results for this type of innovation. Finally, as managerial contributions, the research highlighted practices concerning the absorptive capacity that managers of the companies investigated need to develop more efficiently.