ABSORPTIVE CAPACITY: AN EMPIRICAL STUDY ON TURKEY’S HOTEL COMPANIES

Özet

Absorptive capacity plays a key role in determining a firm’s capability to access and make use of external knowledge. It also refers to the ability to locate new ideas and to incorporate them into an organization’s
processes, and this is widely seen as a major contributor to organizational performance. It includes organizational routines and strategic processes by which a firm acquires, assimilates, transforms, and exploits knowledge. In this
study, absorptive capacity was examined in terms of hotel operations in Turkey. The study aimed at uncovering the effects of the dimensions of absorptive capacity (acquire, assimilate, transform, exploit) on firm performance
and determining if there was a difference in the dimensions of absorptive capacity according to the hotel’s star and hotel age. Data were collected using a questionnaire and 124 applicable questionnaires were gathered at the end
of the study. According to results of regression analysis, it was found that the dimensions of acquire, assimilate and adoption of absorptive capacity had a significant effect on firm performance. In contrast to expectations, no
significant effect of the transform dimension of absorptive on firm performance was determined. Anova analysis was used to determine whether if there was a difference in the dimensions of absorptive capacity according to the
hotel’s star and hotel age. According to the analysis results, no difference was detected.