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Scientific Article details

Title The role of product innovation and customer centricity in transforming tacit and explicit knowledge into profitability
ID_Doc 67537
Authors López, MA; Srinivasan, S; Vázquez-Rodríguez, P
Title The role of product innovation and customer centricity in transforming tacit and explicit knowledge into profitability
Year 2020
Published Journal Of Knowledge Management, 24, 5
DOI 10.1108/JKM-02-2020-0087
Abstract Purpose By fusing knowledge-based theory, organizational learning theory and dynamics capability theory, this study aims to explore, on the one hand, the linkage between exploration, sensing and tacit knowledge, and on the other hand, exploitation, seizing and explicit knowledge. Thereby, it argues that not only tacit knowledge but also explicit knowledge contributes to competitive advantage for firms. This study also investigates how knowledge transforms into profitability. Design/methodology/approach The conceptual model is tested with a study sample of 153 industrial organizations using structural equation modelling. Findings Results confirm the importance of both tacit and explicit knowledge for achieving sustainable competitive advantages. Furthermore, both tacit and explicit knowledge transform into profitability, both directly and through product innovation and customer centricity which play partial mediating roles. Practical implications Explicit knowledge strategies can be easier to manage, implement and institutionalize than tacit knowledge strategies, which require human component and intervention to succeed. Managers should hence first implement explicit knowledge strategies to gain expeditious results. Further, with the advent of digital technologies and algorithms that can extract deep customer insights and organizational experiences which are highly tacit in nature and codifying the same into explicit knowledge, the importance of explicit knowledge is further enlarged. Originality/value By fusing three adjacent theories to establish a robust model specification, this study is able to demonstrate the contribution of explicit knowledge in the firm's competitive advantages.
Author Keywords Customer centricity; Profitability; Explicit knowledge; Tacit knowledge; Product innovation
Index Keywords Index Keywords
Document Type Other
Open Access Open Access
Source Social Science Citation Index (SSCI)
EID WOS:000535931300001
WoS Category Information Science & Library Science; Management
Research Area Information Science & Library Science; Business & Economics
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