In today’s markets, innovation has been identified as a key driver of firms’ competitive advantage and innovation capabilities and as a key explanatory variable for differences between firms in behavior and outcomes. Although the literature has explored innovation capabilities, typically from a firm-level perspective, little is known about how firms’ innovation capabilities originate in lower-level entities and processes, namely in the microfoundations of innovation capabilities. To bridge this gap, the present research adopts a microfoundations perspective to propose a conceptual model that investigates whether and how individual characteristics for innovation (individual attention to detail, creativity, and openness) and individual-level knowledge sharing behaviors (individual motivation, control, ability, and engagement) affect firm-level strategic innovation capabilities. Drawing on data from 287 R&D employees and general managers operating within 11 firms/research centers belonging to a cross-border R&D partnership, the results of structural equation modeling (SEM) show the crucial role played by individual motivation in effective and frequent sharing of knowledge and by individual engagement in knowledge sharing activities. This research contributes to the existing body of knowledge on innovation capabilities and knowledge management and provides interesting insights for marketers.

Introduction

Over the last three decades, the nature of competition has changed dramatically. Numerous driving forces, such as the rise of the knowledge economy, globalization, digital transformation, the increasing speed of innovation, and accelerating product life cycles, have led to a fast-moving and even more global business environment characterized by diversification and dispersion in geographical and organizational sources of innovation and manufacturing (Schneckenberg et al., 2015; Teece, 2007). From the perspectives of both theory and practice, the combined effect of these driving forces has changed the ways in which firms create and combine knowledge, resources, and capabilities to develop new products/services and/or processes, adapt to customers’ changing needs and preferences, and grasp new technological opportunities (Teece, 2007). In this new global scenario, firms try constantly to introduce innovations (new and potentially useful ideas, products, services, or processes that have commercial potential) as a crucial contribution to the enhancement of the firms’ economic-financial performance and to the achievement of a significant competitive advantage (Zacher and Rosing, 2015). To introduce these innovations, firms now rely not only on their internal innovation capabilities but also on external relationships and networks in order to access knowledge located outside their boundaries. They foster their performance by adopting a collaborative approach through formal or informal linkages with external agents (e.g., suppliers, customers, competitors, universities, or institutions) (Ferreras-Méndez et al., 2015; Jordão and Novas, 2017; Scuotto et al., 2017a).