Purpose

The purpose of this study is to identify the relationship between collaborative innovation and the financial performance of information technology (IT) firms through the mediating role of strategic agility and absorptive capacity. Customer knowledge management capability (CKMC) is also explored as a potential moderator.

Design/methodology/approach

Data were collected from 300 respondents working in different small to medium IT enterprises operating in different cities around Portugal. The simple random sampling method was used for data collection, and Smart partial least squares-structural equation modeling (Smart PLS-SEM version 3.2.8) was used to test the hypotheses.

Findings

The findings demonstrate that collaborative innovation contributes significantly to the financial performance of IT firms in Portugal. The results also indicate that absorptive capacity and strategic agility both positively and significantly affect the relationship between collaborative innovation and firms’ financial performance. However, while the moderating role of CKMC has a positive and significant effect on the relation between collaborative innovation and strategic agility, CKMC insignificantly moderates the relation between collaborative innovation and absorptive capacity.

Originality/value

Few studies have explicitly connected collaborative innovation with firms’ financial performance; this study attempts to fill that gap. Moreover, this research investigates the mediating role of strategic agility and absorptive capacity in the relationship between collaborative innovation and financial performance. Finally, by discussing the moderating effect of CKMC, which leads to enhanced financial performance, this study proposes that when complex and unpredictable situations occur, managers should focus on customer-oriented strategies and innovation at the same time to outpace their competitors.

中文翻译：

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中小企业的协同创新、战略敏捷性和吸收能力采用：客户知识管理能力的调节作用

目的

本研究的目的是通过战略敏捷性和吸收能力的中介作用来确定协同创新与信息技术（IT）公司财务绩效之间的关系。客户知识管理能力（CKMC）也被探索为潜在的调节因素。

设计/方法论/途径

数据收集自在葡萄牙不同城市运营的不同中小型 IT 企业工作的 300 名受访者。使用简单随机抽样方法收集数据，并使用智能偏最小二乘结构方程建模（Smart PLS-SEM 3.2.8 版）来检验假设。

发现

研究结果表明，协作创新对葡萄牙 IT 公司的财务业绩做出了重大贡献。结果还表明，吸收能力和战略敏捷性都对协同创新与企业财务绩效之间的关系产生积极且显着的影响。然而，尽管CKMC的调节作用对协同创新与战略敏捷性之间的关系具有显着的正向影响，但CKMC对协同创新与吸收能力之间的关系的调节作用并不显着。

原创性/价值

很少有研究明确地将协作创新与企业财务绩效联系起来；这项研究试图填补这一空白。此外，本研究还探讨了战略敏捷性和吸收能力在协作创新与财务绩效之间关系中的中介作用。最后，通过讨论CKMC导致财务绩效提高的调节作用，本研究提出，当发生复杂且不可预测的情况时，管理者应同时关注以客户为导向的战略和创新，以超越竞争对手。