Knowledge absorption capacity and its impact factors in the Colombian business perspective

Abstract

Dynamic knowledge absorption capacity is a key tool for knowledge management, defined as the process of acquiring, assimilating, transferring and exploiting external knowledge in order to generate greater added value through competitive advantages.  To verify the above, a 16-item questionnaire was applied to 45 Colombian companies and through the one-factor analysis of variance method, the difference of means between the dimensions of the dynamic absorptive capacity was analyzed, according to the factors: size, sector, seniority and number of employees of the companies. The results show that with a confidence level of 95% it can be determined that the size and age of the companies present significant variations in the dimensions of absorptive capacity in the perspective of Colombian entrepreneurs in the service sector. The findings are very useful for businessmen to enable them to make better managerial decisions, for the government in the generation of social programs focused on encouraging the use of external knowledge absorbed by the companies and for the scientific community with the study of the dynamic capacity of absorption of knowledge in the companies.