Knowledge Absorptive Capacity and Organizational Responsiveness: The Moderating Role of Strategic Orientation Lakeh Elham Shahmiri1, Khorakian Alireza2, Bajestani Mahdi Forghani3 1(Corresponding author), Researcher, Master of Change Management, in Department of Management, Faculty of Economic and Administrative Sciences, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Iran 2Professor in School of Business, Nipissing University, ON, Canada 3Assistant Professor of Management in College of Business Management, Alabama State University, Montgomery, USA Online Published on 22 August, 2023. Abstract This study highlights knowledge absorptive capacity as a core capability playing a vital role in organizational success through increased responsiveness to environmental changes. Also, its purpose is to evaluate the strategic orientation of prospector, analyzer, and defender organizations as a contextual factor conditioning the effect of knowledge-absorptive capacity. This study adopts a quantitative approach using self-administered questionnaires. Primary data collected from senior managers of 80 medium and large manufacturing firms were used in multiple regressions to test the hypotheses. The results indicate a positive and significant relationship between knowledge-absorptive capacity and organizational responsiveness. Furthermore, this positive effect is higher for prospectors than for analyzer and defender organizations. Our findings indicate those prospector organizations that continuously try to test product development and new methods and venture into new markets are in the best position to benefit from knowledge-absorptive capacity as a major stimulus to improve their responsiveness to environmental changes. Top Keywords Knowledge Absorptive Capacity, Organizational Responsiveness, Strategic Orientation, Environmental Change, Prospector, Analyzer, Defender. Top |