How performance and technological strength impact knowledge utilization: A behavioral explanation

This paper examines how the focal firm¡¯s innovation performance relative to historical and social aspirations influence the firm¡¯s utilization of alliance knowledge and to what extent firms with similar internal knowledge capabilities differ in their leveraging of such knowledge. Results based on a longitudinal sample of firms in the U.S. semiconductor industry show that while poor innovation performance relative to historical aspiration increases the utilization of alliance knowledge, the effect of poor innovation performance relative to social aspiration is not significant. Moreover, we found that the focal firm¡¯s internal technological capability plays an important role in the aspiration-knowledge utilization relationship. While technological capability and poor performance relative to historical aspiration have a positive interaction effect on knowledge utilization, the effect of the interaction between technological capability and poor innovation performance relative to social aspiration on knowledge utilization is negative