The role of absorptive capacity in the relationship between firm internationalization and innovation: evidence from Russia

The various advantages firms may obtain from their international activities have been a topical issue in the management literature in the last few decades. Scholars report a positive influence of export on various performance outcomes such as productivity, efficiency or innovativeness. However, it is likely that different contexts will entail differences in the innovation outputs stemming from the international activity. This study aims to reveal the role of the absorptive capacity in the relation between internationalization and innovation in the context of Russia. We argue that the relationship between internationalization and innovation outputs is not always straightforward and that the firm's absorptive capacity can enhance its innovative capacity through internationalization. By means of a survey, we collected 135 questionnaires and tested our hypotheses on this sample by using a SEM (structural equitation modeling) method.