Does Individual Absorptive Capacity Matters in Individual Knowledge Acquisition?
Universiti Utara Malaysia
ABSTRACT
In MNCs, knowledge is effectively delivered from knowledge repositories to the potential recipients only when the respected parties possess sufficient absorptive capacity to acquire that specific knowledge. For local workers, knowledge acquisition in MNCs is an important element for their skill enrichment as it provides them with the avenue to enhance their skills and knowledge. This activity allows host-country national (HCN) workers to become expert or specialist in the related area. Hence, the presence of MNCs in Malaysia is perceived to be the best medium for the effective knowledge acquisition activities among locals who are employed in these organizations. Overall, the study investigates the relationship between two main variables, individual absorptive capacity and individual knowledge acquisition of HCN workers in foreign MNCs in Malaysia. For the purpose of testing the hypotheses, a total of 1245 questionnaires were distributed using mail survey and drop-and-collect approach. Of 1245 questionnaires, a total of 345 persons participated in the survey. Since only fully completed questionnaires were taken into account for further analysis, the final dataset comprising of 305 observations were finalized and accepted.
KEYWORDS
Individual absorptive capacity, individual knowledge acquisition, knowledge management, MNCs