European Management Journal 36 (2018) 171e182

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European Management Journal

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/emj

Combinations of absorptive capacity metaroutines: The role of

organizational disruptions and time constraints
Stefania Mariano a, *, Suad Al-Arrayed b
a
IKI-SEA, Bangkok University, Rama 4 Road, Klong-Toey, Bangkok 10110, Thailand
b
New York Institute of Technology, School of Management, 1855 Broadway, New York, NY 10023-7692, USA

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: This paper explores absorptive capacity metaroutines in a financial organization that experienced a
Received 23 June 2016 large-scale misappropriation episode. We selected an instrumental case and collected individual semi-
Received in revised form structured interviews, on-site nonparticipant observations, and documents to better understand the
23 January 2017
combination of absorptive capacity in organizational contexts. Findings revealed that the magnitude of
Accepted 7 March 2017
Available online 17 March 2017
organizational disruptions and time constraints influenced absorptive capacity metaroutines. The
magnitude of organizational disruptions related to the intensity of required change for innovation
adoption and the persistence of outcomes, while time constraints influenced the degree of involvement
Keywords:
Absorptive capacity
and cohesiveness of organizational members. In addition, findings showed that the combination of
Routines absorptive capacity metaroutines experienced asymmetries and had incremental and cumulative fea-
Metaroutines tures. This work extends current theorizations of absorptive capacity conceptualized from a micro-
Micro-foundations foundation perspective as a collection of external and internal metaroutines and provides a means to
Case study start understanding potential factors that influence the combination of absorptive capacity metaroutines.
Implications for theory and practice are discussed, and suggestions for future research are offered.
© 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction 2011; Lichtenthaler, 2016). Existing conceptualizations of absorp-

tive capacity have pointed out its inter- and intra-organizational
Absorptive capacity is “the ability to identify, assimilate, and antecedents (Martinkenaite & Breunig, 2016; Volberda, Foss, &
exploit knowledge from the environment” (Cohen & Levinthal, Lyles, 2010); discussed its mediating (Cockburn & Henderson,
1989, p. 569e570) to meet organizational ends (Cohen & 1998) or moderating role in organizational innovative capabilities
Levinthal, 1990). Absorptive capacity has been investigated in (Koza & Lewin, 1998; Tsai & Yang, 2015); distinguished between
several contexts including emerging markets (Bilgili, Kedia, &
n & Kask, 2012;
potential and realized absorptive capacity (Anderse
Bilgili, 2016), banking industries (Cepeda-Carrion, Leal-Milla
n, Ben-Oz & Greve, 2012; Kang & Lee, 2016; Zahra & George, 2002),
Martelo-Landroguez, & Leal-Rodriguez, 2016), and scientific set- with recent empirical work confirming a linear relationship among
tings (Belderbos, Gilsing, & Suzuki, 2015) and has been related to the internal components of absorptive capacity (Daspit & D'Souza,
organizational processes (Knoppen, Sa
enz, & Johnston, 2011; Sun, 2013); attempted to operationalize the construct (Flatten, Engelen,
2010), innovation outcomes (Gebauer, Worch, & Truffer, 2012; Zahra, & Brettel, 2011; van der Heiden, Pohl, Mansor, & van
Helfat, 1997; Hill & Rothaermel, 2003; Lichtenthaler & Genderen, 2016); and theorized about the existence of comple-
Lichtenthaler, 2009; Mariano & Walter, 2015; Mariano & Casey, mentarities between its internal components (Todorova & Durisin,
2015; Simonin, 1999; Tsai & Yang, 2015), innovative performance 2007). Because the construct has significantly expanded over the
(Ali, Kan, & Sarstedt, 2016; Denicolai, Ramirez, & Tidd, 2016; Kim, years, several reviews have also been conducted to synthesize
Kim, & Foss, 2016; Tseng, Pai, & Hung, 2011), and organizational existing theoretical discussions and empirical contributions,
performance (Ben-Oz & Greve, 2012; Brettel, Greve, & Flatten, focusing on a managerial (Lane, Koka, & Pathak, 2006), information
systems (Roberts, Galluch, Dinger, & Grover, 2012), or knowledge
management and intellectual capital perspective (Mariano &
* IKI-SEA, Bangkok University, Rama 4 Road, Klong-Toey, Bangkok 10110, Walter, 2015; Senivongse, Mariano, & Bennet, 2015).
Thailand. Although the debate has exponentially grown over the years,
E-mail addresses: [email protected], [email protected] (S. Mariano).

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.emj.2017.03.003
0263-2373/© 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
172 S. Mariano, S. Al-Arrayed / European Management Journal 36 (2018) 171e182

with research introducing refinements and, at times, substantial debate from a micro-foundation perspective to help explain factors
changes to the construct (Todorova & Durisin, 2007; Zahra & that are more likely to influence internal and external absorptive
George, 2002), scholars have not yet reached a common under- capacity metaroutines in a financial organization that experienced
standing of what still appears to be a controversial phenomenon of a large-scale misappropriation episode. To accomplish this aim, we
investigation. Current research has agreed upon and theorized that selected an instrumental case and collected individual semi-
acquisition, assimilation, transformation, and exploitation are the structured interviews, observations, and documents.
four major components of absorptive capacity, proposing their Findings revealed that the magnitude of organizational disrup-
sequential (Zahra & George, 2002) or complementary (Todorova & tions and time constraints influenced absorptive capacity meta-
Durisin, 2007) relationship conditioned by antecedents and con- routines and that intensity of required change for innovation
tingency factors whose influence has been differently theorized in adoption, persistence of outcomes, and degree of involvement and
the literature (Lewin, Massini, & Peeters, 2011; Volberda et al., cohesiveness of organizational members connected to these fac-
2010). tors. In addition, findings showed that the combination of
However, research has still not yet understood the extent to absorptive capacity metaroutines experienced a certain level of
which absorptive capacity capabilities relate to each other (Jansen, asymmetries and had incremental and cumulative features.
Van Den Bosch, & Volberda, 2005) and how internal capabilities In this study, we define metaroutines as “higher-level routines
and routines are likely to increase new knowledge absorption that define the general, abstract purpose of routines that are
(Inkpen, 1998; Lane et al., 2006; Lewin & Massini, 2003; Lewin expressed by practiced routines, which are firm specific, idiosyn-
et al., 2011), largely because of the proven struggle in the oper- cratic, and observable” (Lewin et al., 2011, p. 85); we define orga-
ationalization of the construct, which has forced the use of indirect nizational knowledge as valuable information that becomes
methods of evaluation and proxy measures such as patents embedded in new routines and practices. This definition derives from
(Mowery & Oxley, 1995), self-reports (Szulanski, 1996), relative the academic debate on dynamic capabilities (Helfat, 1997; Helfat
absorptive capacity measures (Lane & Lubatkin, 1998), and R&D et al., 2009; Teece, Pisano, & Shuen, 1997; Zollo & Winter 2002)
spending (Veugelers, 1997). that measures organizational knowledge as a change in internal
To overcome the limits of current theorizations whose empirical routines or practices so that learning has occurred (Levitt & March,
observation remains a challenging attempt, more recent contribu- 1988).
tions have proposed the study of absorptive capacity from a micro- This paper is organized as follows. First, we briefly discuss the
foundation perspective that investigates observable organization- theoretical background. We then move to the case study method-
specific routines and metaroutines (Lewin & Massini, 2003; ology (Stake, 1995) including the discussion of research setting and
Lewin et al., 2011), in the hope of clarifying and helping in identi- design, data collection and analysis procedures, quality assurance
fying those external and internal mechanisms that contribute to techniques, and ethical considerations. We report findings in a
knowledge absorption but still remain largely ambiguous and un- narrative way (Creswell, 2009), and we support these findings with
clear (Lewin & Massini, 2003; van der Heiden et al., 2016). the use of tables and verbatim illustrative quotations from inter-
Compared to previous theorizations emphasizing the sequential view transcripts. Finally, we discuss conclusions, implications for
nature of absorptive capacity potential and realized capabilities theory and practice, limitations, and future research directions.
(Zahra & George, 2002), its strengthening influence on learning
processes (Ferreras-Me
ndez, Fern

andez-Mesa, & Alegre, 2016; Lane 2. Theoretical background
et al., 2006), or the alternative path of its assimilation and trans-
formation components (Todorova & Durisin, 2007), the micro- 2.1. Absorptive capacity major developments
foundation perspective distinguishes between internal and
external absorptive capacity capabilities and relates them to higher The construct of absorptive capacity was first introduced by
level absorptive capacity metaroutines (Lewin et al., 2011). Meta- Cohen and Levinthal (1990) to explain the capacity of an organi-
routines are in turn connected to organization-specific routines zation to recognize, acquire, and exploit external knowledge with
that are observable in nature and whose combination is proposed the intent to innovate, adapt, and being flexible. In their seminal
to influence an organization's overall absorption levels. From a work, Cohen and Levinthal conceptualized absorptive capacity as a
micro-foundation perspective, this would thus explain the reasons dual construct of external and internal capabilities enabling
why some organizations are better at externally acquiring relevant knowledge absorption processes. Knowledge source and prior
new knowledge and internally absorbing it, while others struggle in knowledge were conceptualized as antecedents of absorptive ca-
achieving similar results because of differences in the combination pacity, while ex-ante appropriability regimes (e.g., spillovers) were
of their external and internal metaroutines and organization- proposed to influence performance. Over the years, the construct
specific routines. received increased interests and grew exponentially, with many
Therefore, the study of absorptive capacity from a metaroutines attempts of operationalization (Flatten et al., 2011; van der Heiden
perspective aims to guide explorations of microdynamics that are et al., 2016) and refinements (Anderse
n & Kask, 2012; Lane et al.,
likely to promote higher levels of knowledge absorption. From a 2006; Todorova & Durisin, 2007; Volberda et al., 2010; Zahra &
theoretical perspective, discovering and documenting the combi- George, 2002).
nation of metaroutines and organization-specific practiced rou- In the work of Zahra and George (2002), absorptive capacity was
tines will contribute to a refined understanding of absorptive re-conceptualized from the seminal work (Cohen & Levinthal,
capacity internal and external influencing factors, the comple- 1990) into two distinct but related capabilities, i.e., potential and
mentarities and combinative capabilities of its components, and realized absorptive capacity, where the former related to the
the interactions that occur at the interface between the two levels. acquisition and assimilation components, while the latter referred
From a practitioner perspective, the study of absorptive capacity to transformation and exploitation components. In this refined
metaroutines will help managers select and combine those prac- model, absorptive capacity was linked to competitive advantage
tices that will more likely produce higher levels of knowledge ab- expressed in terms of flexibility, innovation, and performance.
sorption, which, in turn, will have a positive influence on Knowledge source, complementarities, and prior knowledge were
exploitative and innovative capabilities at the organizational level. conceptualized as potential antecedents of the construct, while
This study aims, thus, to contribute to the absorptive capacity activation triggers, social integration mechanisms, and regimes of
 S. Mariano, S. Al-Arrayed / European Management Journal 36 (2018) 171e182 173

appropriability were theorized as contingency factors. Compared to 2.2. Understanding absorptive capacity as a collection of
Cohen and Levinthal’s (1990) seminal work, Zahra and George metaroutines
(2002) introduced new elements such as complementarities, acti-
vation triggers, and social integration mechanisms and theorized Recent theorizations (Lewin et al., 2011) and empirical contri-
the existence of ex-post appropriability regimes. Most importantly, butions (Peeters, Massini, & Lewin, 2014) suggested an alternative
Zahra and George (2002) introduced and distinguished between way to investigate absorptive capacity from a micro-foundation
potential and realized absorptive capacity and conceptualized them perspective that brings back the initial dual conceptualization of
as two distinctive but sequential capabilities conceived as a better Cohen and Levintal's (1990) work and distinguishes between
representation of the uncertainty derived from capturing and external and internal capabilities conceptualized as groups of
exploiting external new knowledge. metaroutines and organization-specific routines that enable
Contrary to Zahra and George’s (2002) theorization of absorp- knowledge absorption processes.
tive capacity, the conceptualization by Lane et al. (2006) derived its Lewin et al. (2011) derived this alternative perspective from a
arguments from an extensive and critical literature review of 289 review of the absorptive capacity literature, which highlighted the
key papers in 14 top-tier journals bringing into discussion explor- use of proxy measures (such as patents or R&D indicators) in aca-
atory, transformative, and exploitative learning capabilities con- demic investigations, and pointed out the lack of direct measure-
nected to absorptive capacity components such as recognition, ments of the construct. To overcome such a shortfall, they proposed
assimilation, and application. Environmental conditions together a model of internal and external absorptive capacity routines
with characteristics of firm structures and workforce and firm interconnected through adaptive tension mechanisms (from in-
strategies and outcomes were also included into Lane et al.’s (2006) ternal to external metaroutines) and transfer mechanisms (from
process model of absorptive capacity, which contributed to the external to internal metaroutines). Internal absorptive capacity
debate relating absorptive capacity to organizational learning in a metaroutines included facilitation of variation; internal selection
strengthening and reciprocal relationship (Autio, Sapienza, & regimes; knowledge sharing and superior practices across the or-
Almeida, 2000; Barkema & Vermeulen, 1998; Simonin, 1999; ganization; and reflection, updating, and replication metaroutines.
Zollo & Winter 2002) mediated by environmental influences (Van External absorptive capacity metaroutines included identification
den Bosch, Volberda, & de Boer, 1999). and recognition of valuable knowledge, and learning from and with
Todorova and Durisin (2007) refined the re-conceptualization of external collaborators such as partners, suppliers, customers,
Zahra and George’s (2002) model and introduced significant competitors, and consultants. Sociocultural values, norms, and
changes. They proposed the same outcome theorized in Zahra and mechanisms were proposed as moderators, and each metaroutine
George’s (2002) refined model but discarded complementarities as was linked to a group of organization-specific routines, which were
a potential antecedent, and reintroduced the recognition of the idiosyncratic and context-specific and proposed to be best inves-
value of new knowledge as originally proposed in Cohen and tigated through empirical and direct observations.
Levinthal’s (1990) work. Their refined conceptualization did not To study absorptive capacity from a metaroutines perspective,
consider the distinction between potential and realized absorptive empirical research thus needs to map internal and external
capacity capabilities and rearranged the four components of mechanisms and dynamics occurring at the intersection between
acquisition, assimilation, transformation, and exploitation in new the two levels. Of particular interest are those investigations of
ways. According to this new conceptualization, acquisition was organization-specific routines, which are observable in nature, and
proposed to precede both assimilation and transformation com- whose mechanisms are still not clear, although hold concrete po-
ponents, while assimilation and transformation were theorized as tentials to explain those components and combinative capabilities
alternative components preceding knowledge exploitation. Con- that may directly influence absorptive capacity at the organiza-
tingency factors such as appropriability regimes were conceptual- tional level. This is the purpose of the present study aiming at
ized at the beginning and at the end of the absorptive capacity exploring the combination of metaroutines and organization-
process, and the new concept of power relationships was intro- specific routines as described by the members of a financial orga-
duced and added to activation triggers and social integration nization. Our overall aim is to increase the current understanding of
mechanisms. those factors influencing absorptive capacity from a micro-
Over the years, these proposed conceptualizations will become foundation perspective, an alternative view of absorptive capacity
widely discussed in the literature, although research has not yet also supported by works on organizational routines, which sug-
found a common agreement on which conceptualization would gests a link between internal meta-processes of variation, selection
best explain absorptive capacity dynamics in organizations. This is and replication and existing organizational routines (Cohen, 1991;
perhaps because the other variables were also brought into the Gersick & Hackman, 1990; Louis & Sutton, 1991; Mariano &
discussion, such as the mediating role of the environment in the Casey, 2016; Postrel & Rumelt, 1992; Weiss & Ilgen, 1985; Zollo &
feedback loop between absorptive capacity and learning processes Winter, 2002).
(Van den Bosch et al., 1999); the role of dynamic capabilities in
absorptive capacity processes that has evolved from initial con- 3. Methodology
ceptualizations of internal and external competences to deal with a
rapidly changing and turbulent environment (Teece et al., 1997) to 3.1. Research setting
more recent conceptualizations that have considered the role and
importance of resource reconfigurations (Eisenhardt & Martin, The research setting of this study is Alphasource (pseudonym), a
2000), learning processes (Zollo & Winter 2002), or knowledge- financial organization that provides credit card-related solutions
based dynamics (Denford, 2013; Zahra & George, 2002); and the and services. The organization had a functional structure with 6
conspicuous numbers of managerial (Sciascia, D'Oria, Bruni, & departments and employed 120 individuals at the time of data
Larran~ eta, 2014), interorganizational (Hurmelinna-Laukkanen, collection.
Olander, Blomqvist, & Panfilii, 2012; Martinkenaite & Breunig, In 2011, Alphasource experienced a large-scale external and
2016) and intraorganizational antecedents of absorptive capacity internal misappropriation episode, which forced the organization
(Volberda et al., 2010), which made the theorization of the to find and adopt more innovative security solutions for existing
construct even harder to be explained. and new products and to provide improved customer care services
174 S. Mariano, S. Al-Arrayed / European Management Journal 36 (2018) 171e182

and support. Alphasource had to remodel its internal routines to question asking participants for additional comments that could
make room for these new innovative solutions which, because of help and be relevant to the research study. These questions were
the misappropriation episode, had to be adopted in a short period refined after two pilot interviews. Several probe questions were
of time. These actions required the maximization of internal and also added during the process to benefit from emerging patterns
external absorptive capacity capabilities and the development (or, and themes. For example, asking to provide more details on specific
at time, replacement) of routines due to the experienced period of routines that emerged during the conversation or seeking for
crisis (Nelson & Winter, 1982). The distinctiveness of this research additional examples to better understand the internal knowledge
setting helped our understanding of absorptive capacity meta- adjustment phases, which emerged as one of our key findings. In
routines and their combinative features (Lewin et al., 2011) and five cases, we conducted follow-up interviews to gain additional
provided a means to better understand the emergence of certain knowledge and clarify emerging themes. These follow-up in-
metaroutines that appeared to be superior to others. For these terviews lasted an average of 45 minutes (see Table 1).
reasons, Alphasource provided the best research setting to conduct Although our findings rely mainly on primary data (i.e., semi-
our study because of the likely manifestation of the phenomenon of structured interviews), we also acknowledge the collection of sec-
interest (Eisenhardt, 1989) and the potential maximization of the ondary data, specifically in-site nonparticipant observations, and
researchers’ learning experiences. private and public documents. In-site nonparticipant observations
(Creswell, 2009; Miles & Huberman, 1994) were conducted during
3.2. Research design several visits to the research setting and enabled the observation of
day-to-day activities in different departments. The second author
We adopted a relativist ontological perspective where phe- observed the climate of the organization and the formal and
nomena depend on the perspectives from which they are observed informal interactions. This opportunity added great value and
(Easterby-Smith, Thorpe, & Jackson, 2012; see also; Latour & increased our understanding of the research context. In total, 15
Woolgar, 1979), taking a social constructionist epistemological observational hours were spent in the research setting. Documents
position where reality is determined by individuals (Berger & (Miles & Huberman, 1994) were also collected and helped data
Luckman, 1966; Easterby-Smith et al., 2012; Habermas, 1970; triangulation (Jick, 1979). These documents included internal pol-
Shotter, 1993). From a methodological perspective, we employed an icies and reports, guidebooks, meeting agendas between de-
instrumental case study for process tracing because of a predeter- partments, and online electronic repositories.
mination of the research questions and conceptual framework and Upon company's request, real names of participants, job titles,
a need for an in-depth understanding of the phenomena studied and departments were masked, and participants' identities were
(Stake, 1995, p. 3). The level of analysis was the organization, and labeled using progressive numbers, i.e., P1. The location at which
our interest was on the factors influencing the combination of the organization operates was also undisclosed for the same rea-
absorptive capacity metaroutines and organization-specific rou- sons and because of the sensitivity of the explored topics and the
tines in a financial organization (Volberda et al., 2010). type of collected data.

3.2.1. Data collection methods and ethical considerations 3.2.2. Data analysis methods
The Head of Client Services (fictional name) assisted the access Data collection and analysis processes were iterative. After each
to the research setting and provided ongoing support throughout wave of data collection, which corresponded to an average of five
the entire research journey clarifying, with formal and more individual semi-structured interviews, we modified the interview
informal interviews and countless conversations, our reflective and protocol and added new questions to benefit from emerging
interpretive processes, contributing to the validation of our themes (Lincoln & Guba, 1985).
research findings (Marshall, 1996; Seale, 1999). Overall, we found a A preliminary list of codes was prepared based on research
very collaborative research setting where both managers and em- questions, conceptual models, assumptions, and literature review
ployees happily shared their experiences and insights and helped
us enormously in our sense-making process (Eisenhardt &
Graebner, 2007). Because of the holistic nature of our research Table 1
questions and design, we purposefully selected (Miles & Demographics of participants.

Huberman, 1994) and interviewed participants across all de- Participant Role Gender Follow-up
partments. Participation was voluntary, anonymous, with the interview
possibility to withdraw at any time (Patton, 2002). P1 Manager (Key Informant) M Yes
Data were primarily collected through 26 individual semi- P2 Manager F Yes
structured interviews (Creswell, 2009; Merriam, 2001) conducted P3 Manager M Yes
P4 Manager M Yes
across 8 departments between January and April 2013. They helped
P5 Manager M Yes
guide conversations rather than structured queries (Rubin & Rubin, P6 Manager F e
1995) and contributed to the surface of findings. Participants (29% P7 Manager M e
female) were selected according to a purposeful sampling tech- P8 Employee M e
nique, i.e., snowball sampling (Lincoln & Guba, 1985) and included P9 Employee M e
P10 Employee M e
the managerial level (33%) to increase the quality of collected data P11 Employee M e
and guarantee maximum variation (Lincoln & Guba, 1985). In- P12 Employee M e
terviews lasted an hour on average and were all digitally recorded P13 Employee F e
and transcribed verbatim within 48 hours. Interview questions P14 Employee F e
P15 Employee M
employed the critical incident technique (Flanagan, 1954) and e
P16 Employee M e
related to absorptive capacity components and mechanisms. P17 Employee M e
Interview questions related, for instance, to recent changes that P18 Employee (Supervisor) M e
affected organizational routines and knowledge absorption pro- P19 Employee M e
cesses, the outcomes of these changes, and their impact on pro- P20 Employee F e
P21 Employee F e
cesses and procedures. Interviews concluded with a general
 S. Mariano, S. Al-Arrayed / European Management Journal 36 (2018) 171e182 175

(Miles & Huberman, 1994). Preliminary codes were, for example, involvement levels among organizational members and overtime
relevance of knowledge, knowledge assimilation, knowledge working hours (with corresponding increased duties) for key em-
transformation, and knowledge exploitation. Additional in vivo ployees. When we realized that the trigger point was very well
codes, e.g., cohesiveness, were added during the analysis of tran- described by its magnitudedin terms of intensity of required
scripts to capture the words that participants most used in their changes for innovation adoption and persistence of outcomesdand
rich and personal descriptions. Interview transcripts were initially the time constraints factor, we started mapping the absorptive
open-coded and substantially re-coded after new codes emerged. capacity internal and external metaroutines and organization-
Usually codes were attributed to single sentences or longer para- specific routines involved (Lewin et al., 2011) and the way
graphs. Some codes were abandoned, and others were added or absorptive capacity was pursued and achieved.
grouped during the entire analysis process until a final version was We provide a detailed description of these findings in the
reached, for example merging the codes “cycles of changes” with following sections with regard to the chain of events that occurred
“cumulativeness” because they both described enhancements in at Alphasource during a year period, the influence of organizational
the adjustment process described by our participants. When pat- disruptions and time constraints, and the resulting combination of
terns and themes began to emerge, we grouped them and prepared absorptive capacity metaroutines, which presented internal
summaries and tables (Tables 2 and 3 and Appendix A). asymmetries and appeared to be cumulative in nature.
To increase the quality of the analysis, inter-code reliability was
applied. We coded the interview transcripts separately, and we also
4.1. Chain of events at Alphasource
asked an independent researcher, who in our case was a graduate
student who had expertise in qualitative methods, to randomly
The discovery of the large-scale external and internal misap-
code selected interview transcripts. Dissimilarities were discussed
propriation episode represented the trigger point in the chain of
until a final agreement was reached. During the entire process of
events at Alphasource. This specific episode required urgent and
data collection and analysis, we kept an electronic journal with our
immediate attention and translated into multiple and overlapping
own thoughts, emerging ideas, and preliminary potential expla-
actions targeting individuals, products, and processes that had to be
nations to enable systematic reflections and complex reasoning
corrected, replaced, or integrated with new and improved
that could be multifaceted, iterative, and simultaneous (Rossman &
organization-specific routines (see also Table 2), as described
Rallis, 1998; Creswell, 2009). For validation purposes (Marshall,
below:
1996; Seale, 1999), we discussed our findings with the Head of
Individuals: These actions regarded the performance of internal
Client Services who served as the key informant of this research
investigations and audit sessions, recruitment and discharge of
project.
organizational members, arrangement of training sessions, and
implementation of job rotation mechanisms.
4. Findings: mapping internal and external absorptive Products: These actions related to the core of the innovation
capacity metaroutines process and regarded the replacement or use of new credit cards
and related products with more secure and sophisticated mecha-
When we entered the research setting, our aim was to better nisms to perform online and offline transactions.
understand absorptive capacity metaroutines at Alphasource, being Processes: These actions regarded the entire set of supporting
aware of the recent challenges faced by the organization, because of processes, including, among others, notification and assistance
the conspicuous amount of new knowledge that was introduced services, monitoring systems, and prototyping. Later on, we found
and had to be absorbed. out that many of these routines were highly interdependent and
We discovered that the large-scale external and internal complementary.
misappropriation episode represented a trigger point in the After we recreated the list of actions taken by Alphasource to
absorptive capacity process because the organization was forced to face the large-scale external and internal misappropriation episode,
find and adopt innovative and more sophisticated security solu- we moved to a more detailed analysis of absorptive capacity met-
tions for its products and services to maintain customers and aroutines. With the exception of one internal and one external
reputation and, ultimately, to survive. These solutions had to be metaroutine (i.e., “facilitating variation” and “identifying and
quickly absorbed and implemented; therefore, they required high recognizing value of externally generated knowledge”), we could

Table 2
Organization-specific routines at Alphasource.

Organization-specific routines Target Description

Introduction of audit sessions Individuals Internal and external investigations. Calling card-holders for verification
Firing and hiring employees Individuals Processes are arranged by department heads/senior managers using protocols
Introduction of fraud prevention Individuals Mandatory attendance of relevant staff related to fraud prevention training courses
training courses
Introduction of training sessions Individuals Training sessions introduced for each department. Average duration: 1 week
Introduction of job rotation Individuals Rotation of employees depending on business requirements
mechanisms
Credit cards issuing/replacing Products Benchmarking more sophisticated systems. Daily process. Average delivery time: One day
Implementation of new IT system Processes Upgrading of system made within a working day to avoid disruptions
Introduction of new manual Processes Distribution of hard copies
Handling inquiries from current Processes Handled by front office team and call center. Quality measured by average service time kept within ten minutes for
customers walking-in customers and lesser for phone calls
Testing of prototypes Processes Testing of credit card prototypes with internal employees
Introduction of monitoring system Processes Monitoring is being held constantly (24/7) to detect unusual behavior
Fixing of bugs and glitches Processes Handled by the Information Technology Development department. Handling average time: Not exceed 24 h
Attracting new customers Processes Social media, boards, promotions, and special offers are used to attract new customers
Arrangement of audit follow-up Processes Carried out by department heads to implement corrective actions
176 S. Mariano, S. Al-Arrayed / European Management Journal 36 (2018) 171e182

Table 3
AC metaroutines and organization-specific routines at Alphasource.

Organization-specific Routines Exemplars from interview transcripts

at Alphasource

Internal AC Facilitating variation Not emerged e

Metaroutines Internal selection regimes Testing of credit card prototypes  “We first applied it on staff members' credit cards to see if there were any
done by employees glitches that needed to be amended before putting it out to customers and
having to deal with it” (P3, Manager)
Sharing knowledge and superior Implementation of new  “The Technology Development Department [fictional name] had to build the
practices across the organization information technology system new IT system for the whole organization due to the fraud detection problem”
(P5, Manager)
Introduction of new manual  “The easy step-by-step guide helped us quite a bit” (P10, Employee)
 “The user manual was more than satisfying as it had all the steps required if
we struggled with anything” (P11, Employee)
Introduction of job rotation  “Another requirement with the change process was to have employees rotate
mechanisms through departments and roles very 4 weeks” (P3, Manager)
 “Oh yes, as I mentioned earlier that we had to follow this new procedure of job
rotation, which we received several complaints from various departments”
(P4, Manager)
 “Top management announced job rotation every 4 weeks” (P6, Manager,
Follow-up)
Reflection, updating, and replication Introduction of audit sessions  “Top management had to undergo an investigation of how the fraud took
place and where the glitches were in the system” (P1, Manager)
 “The difficult part was the intensive auditing our department had to undergo
every quarter of the year” (P2, Manager)
Introduction of monitoring  “My team had to monitor our clients' accounts on a weekly basis in order to
system have early notice of any suspicious activities” (P1, Manager, Follow-up)
Credit cards issuing/replacing  “The whole system of credit cards that we were using had to be changed, and
we offered a new type of card to our customers, which carried a chip in it and
offered more security” (P3, Manager)
Fixing of bugs and glitches  “There were several glitches in the system that needed to be adjusted” (P5,
Manager)
 “The reason for these changes were to amend the glitches and gaps within the
system” (P12, Employee)
Arrangement of follow-up audit  “We have constant visit by the external auditors every quarter” (P2, Manager,
sessions Follow-up)
Interface Managing adaptive tension Handling inquiries from current  “This was very difficult to communicate to them [customers] that we were
customers facing some fraud issues. This was quite risky from our side, and we feared
the loss of some of our loyal customers” (P1, Manager)
 “The most difficult learning aspect was communicating the problem to our
VIP customers in a way that would not have them worried, of course” (P6,
Manager)
Transferring knowledge back to the Learning from external  “Several staff members were sent to extensive training courses with partner
organization consultants companies” (P8, Employee)
 “The training courses that employees received individually helped with their
learning knowledge to adapt and apply it much faster than if these trainings
were attended by one specific person and then cascaded to the rest of the
team” (P10, Employee)
 “We had a special team of experts come in to the company and help us create
and amend the forms and documents” (P1, Manager, Follow-up)
Hiring new employees  “We also had to have new employees hired” (P1, Manager)
 “To hire almost 12 new staff members” (P4, Manager)
External Identifying and recognizing value of Not emerged e
AC externally generated knowledge
Metaroutines Learning from and with partners, Networking to attract new  “We had to come up with a strategy of putting ourselves back in the market”
suppliers, customers, competitors, customers (P6, Manager)
and consultants Introduction of fraud prevention  “Employees took fraud courses within our department” (P2, Manager)
training courses
Introduction of dedicated  “All employees had to be trained to know the new and updated regulations of
training sessions held by the new chip cards that were going to be issues. Client Service Department
external consultants [fictional name] had to undergo some training” (P1, Manager)
 “A positive change from the whole process would be the training that
employees received” (P2, Manager)
 “We had to send a large number of staff for training” (P3, Manager)
 “… training that we had to offer to our staff” (P6, Manager)

reconstruct almost the entire set of metaroutines as theorized by consultants and suppliers and, to a lesser extent, from customers,
Lewin et al. (2011) and extend this theorization with additional while internally they failed to include the facilitation of variation
insights related to organization-specific routines and to potential regimes. We, however, encountered many examples of “sharing
determinants of metaroutines combination. We found out that the knowledge and superior practices,” and “reflection, updating, and
unique circumstances faced by Alphasource defined a highly replication” mechanisms, which seemed to be the two largest
context-specific configuration of absorptive capacity metaroutines. groups of observed internal metaroutines. A summary supported
Externally, this configuration included learning processes from by empirical evidence is provided in Table 3.
 S. Mariano, S. Al-Arrayed / European Management Journal 36 (2018) 171e182 177

4.2. Magnitude of organizational disruptions and time constraints evident with the Technological Development Department whose
strenuous assistance showed to be crucial during internal absorp-
From the analysis of data, two major factorsdconditioned by tion processes. Consider the following supporting exemplars:
the misappropriation episodedappeared to influence internal and
“Technological Development Department did a great job of making
external metaroutines: magnitude of organizational disruptions
sure all was adjusted. They would work sometimes over time in
and time constraints. The former appeared to be explained by the
order for the system to be up and running for us when we came in
intensity of required change for innovation adoption and the
the morning and would monitor the system in order for the work to
persistence of outcomes; the latter seemed to relate to the degree
process very smoothly” (P1, Manager, Follow-up).
of involvement and cohesiveness of organizational members.
Intensity and persistence. Intensity of required change for inno- “They [Technological Development Department] definitely did an
vation adoption seemed to describe the amount of in- outstanding job as we would come in every morning and updated
terdependencies and replacements required to ensure appropriate software would have been installed for us and the manager dedi-
organizational change. At Alphasource, these replacements man- cated an IT employee for each department in order to assist with
ifested uniformly and created interdependencies across all de- any difficulties with the new system and adjust it to run smoothly”
partments, although it appeared that the biggest example involved (P2, Manager, Follow-up).
the Technological Development Department whose members had
“We had some members who worked for over 24 hours” (P4,
to carry out multiple actions to substitute the technological in-
Manager, Follow-up).
frastructures at all levels and deal with unexpected issues that, if
not fixed, could compromise other departments and, ultimately,
the survival of the entire organization: Cohesiveness among organizational membersdincluding em-
ployees, and top and middle managersdseemed also to relate to
“… at some points you would think to yourself that to fix the whole
time constraints and describe the joined effort exercised to perform
IT system of an organization in such a short period of time is almost
new routines within certain time-varying boundary conditions.
impossible. There were some times that we would feel very frus-
This joined effort involved multiple individuals across numerous
trated, especially when the system was un-responsive to us. You
departments and defined an organizational environment where
know how technology can be sometimes, so to me, what we had
coordination and absorption processes occurred as a result of the
done was of great hard work and determination” (P5, Manager).
micro- and mesolevels and whose outcomes had a direct impact on
the macrolevel (i.e., organizational level). Consider the following
From the data analysis, it was clear that the intensity of required statements:
change for innovation adoption had to produce long-lasting out-
“Our team, which we consider ourselves to be as one big family, was
comes to ensure organizational survival. Participants referred to
determined to have our organization the same as it was before;
this emerged themedlabeled “persistence of outcomes”din terms
therefore employees, even those who had families, worked over-
of “maintaining the name of the organization,” “keep VIP and loyal
time” (P2, Manager).
customers,” and “maintain its [the organizational] reputation in the
market.” Several internal absorptive capacity metaroutines of “All the employees from our department worked united as one
“reflection, updating, and replication” processes (Lewin et al., 2011) team in order to have our system back and running again. They all
also supported this finding and regarded, among others, the worked together overtime just to get back to normal” (P3,
arrangement of audit sessions (and follow-ups), the introduction of Manager).
a stable monitoring system, and the replacements of old credit
“I think the learning, adapting, and implementing processes went
cards and related services and solutions in the hope of creating
smooth. I think that it was due to the hard work and dedication of
long-lasting benefits that would overcome the negative effects
the company's team and also the hard efforts and long working
generated by the misappropriation episode:
hours faced by the top management” (P11, Employee).
“I would say the reason for these many changes is to have extra
security and for this [the misappropriation episode] not to occur
Another example regarded the provisional interruptions expe-
again” (P1, Manager).
rienced by both the call center and the internal information tech-
“The main aim was to have the company running the way it used to nology system. In this case, other departments arranged supporting
be, maintaining its reputation in the market” (P17, Employee). actions to replace or complement missing routines:
“These [all the changes related to credit cards] were made to pro- “… there were a lot of information technology difficulties and
vide extra security to the cards and to the system itself in order for disputes to handle with the system, so we had to have the system
situations as big as a fraud not to occur again” (P11, Employee). switched off and we had to deal with a lot of our transitions
manually” (P9, Employee).
Degree of involvement and cohesiveness. Time constraints “Our call center had to stop operating for a while, and staff from our
emerged as crucial boundary conditions of Alphasource's opera- department had to take their place. During that time the call center
tions and appeared to influence how organizational members team was trained and updated with the new procedures of our
collaborated with each other's. Early in our data analysis, it became system” (P1, Manager, Follow-up).
clear that two key factors (labeled “degree of involvement” and
“cohesiveness”) related to time constraints and described the in-
A final example referred to the management of adaptive tension
dividual involvement and group cohesiveness in the implementa-
(Lewin et al., 2011) across several departments including market-
tion of new metaroutines, respectively. Our participants recalled
ing, customer services, and dispute that had to elaborate jointly
many instances where employees had to work overtime to reduce
internal information to provide reassuring advises to customers
mistakes and guarantee daily external and internal assistance to
and minimize disruptions:
current customers and to other departments. This was especially
178 S. Mariano, S. Al-Arrayed / European Management Journal 36 (2018) 171e182

“When we finally had some bit of information about the issuing of

5. Discussion
new cards, it was easy for us to come-up with a marketing
campaign … once we had a clear idea of what the functions and
In the following sections, we discuss how our research findings
factors of the new introduced cards were, our marketing and selling
enrich existing theoretical and empirical contributions in the cur-
campaign was easy” (P6, Manager).
rent absorptive capacity debate. In addition, we provide theoretical
“We had the client service department helping us informing our propositions, discuss managerial implications, and offer future
clients, but I had to deal with the angry and difficult customers, research suggestions.
which made the job harder” (P18, Supervisor).
5.1. Theoretical discussion and propositions

Our research study primarily builds upon and expands the work
of Lewin et al. (2011), although it provides some additional con-
4.3. Combinations of metaroutines
tributions to current absorptive capacity debates (Ali et al., 2016;
Cohen & Levinthal, 1989, 1990; Ferreras-Mendez et al., 2016;
Our data also seemed to suggest two additional findings: (1)
Todorova & Durisin, 2007; Zahra & George, 2002). It proposes po-
Absorptive capacity metaroutines were context-specific and their
tential refined factors that may directly or indirectly influence
implementation appeared to be asymmetrical across the entire
absorptive capacity metaroutines in organizational contexts. These
organization. Consequently, certain departments or group of in-
factors appear to relate to the magnitude of organizational dis-
dividuals experienced higher or lower absorptive capacity levels
ruptions and time constraints, which our data suggest to be
than others; (2) absorptive capacity appeared to be cumulative and,
amplified by the intensity of required change for innovation
as a whole, the combination of absorptive capacity metaroutines
adoption and the persistence of outcome, and the degree of
could go through several configuration cycles depending on
involvement and cohesiveness of organizational members.
contextual and contingent factors. At Alphasource, this was espe-
Intensity of required change for innovation adoption seemed to
cially evident when we asked to describe changes, if any, occurred
relate to organizational interdependencies and to the amount of
to the organizational processes and routines after the initial change
replacements necessary to guarantee organizational change. At
and implementation effort. Depending on the department or team
Alphasource, these replacements appeared to occur across all de-
they belonged, participants recalled slightly different time frames,
partments, although the work of the Technological Development
ranging from 3 months to 1 year, and included descriptions of
Department seemed to contribute the most, especially with regard
different steps occurred to have everything fixed and functional,
to the creation of internal interdependencies. Previous research has
which was a clear sign of existing organizational asymmetries:
addressed the key role of stable patterns of interactions and
“It changed around three times” (P18, Supervisor). collaboration among partners in firm alliances and has highlighted
collaboration intensity and mutual obligations as two important
“It took us [Client Service Department] almost 6 months to have
determinants at the interorganizational level (Zollo, Reuer, & Singh,
things running somewhat back to normal. However, after 6 months,
2002). Our study adds to this research from an organizational-level
we had to stop for another month. This, I believe, was due to several
perspective and provides a means to better understand how in-
errors within the system that needed to be modified, so the whole
ternal mechanisms of absorptive capacity may support internal
process took us almost one full year, and one long year I must
replacements and create interdependencies. It sheds some initial
admit” (P6, Manager).
lights on “the complexities associated with coordinating in-
“I took, I am not sure, but I think it took 6 months for everything to terdependencies and achieving complementarities between and
be running smoothly” (P8, Employee). among internal and external AC routines [which] remains to be
explored” (Lewin et al., 2011, p. 94).
“Each department had their own issues, paperwork, and re-
Persistence of outcomes described the duration of planned in-
quirements to amend in order to adapt with the new implemented
terventions to solve current disruptions and to ensure long-lasting
process” (P10, Employee).
results. Previous research has theorized that organizations tend to
survive in the long term when internal change rates exceed
Another aspect that caught our attention regarded the several external rates (Anderson, 1999; Lewin & Volberda, 1999). Our
adjustment stages that the organization had to experience before findings seem to suggest that organizational long-lasting results
new routines were effectively put in place, which made us consider may also relate to how organizations attend unexpected crises and
a process that was all but linear and held certain degrees of promote supporting interdependencies at the internal meta-
cumulativeness in its internal mechanisms: routines level to enhance the absorption of new knowledge. In our
research setting, this was especially evident when Alphasource
“The process went through several trial and error stages to get
coordinated simultaneous actions at different department levels to
where it is now, but it did not change in the literal meaning of
strengthen joined effort and ensure complete implementation cy-
change” (P2, Manager).
cles (Diedrich & Guzman, 2015), for instances, when the actions of
“We did have to make amendments every few months if not the Technology Development Department were propaedeutic to
monthly” (P3, Manager). those of Client Service or Accounting Departments. These findings
thus provide a more nuanced description of internal microlevel
“There were some modifications added to the system” (P9,
factors that may relate to absorptive capacity capabilities and offer
Employee).
some preliminary insights to be investigated in fruitful future
“The process as a whole did not change but amendments were research studies. Therefore, we propose the following:
made along the way” (P10, Employee).
Proposition 1: Intensity of required change for innovation
“The process had amendments put in, to modify the new process adoption and persistence of outcomes are likely to relate to the
itself. These amendments took place about five times to have magnitude of organizational disruptions that an organization
everything running smoothly once again” (P11, Employee). may experience during periods of crises and are likely to
 S. Mariano, S. Al-Arrayed / European Management Journal 36 (2018) 171e182 179

describe the efforts required in the absorption of new organi- feedback loops (Todorova & Durisin, 2007), debating the multidi-
zational knowledge. mensional nature of the construct (Daspit & D'Souza, 2013), or
distinguishing between its potential and realized capacity (Zahra &
George, 2002; see also; Anderse
n & Kask, 2012; Ben-Oz & Greve,
Degree of involvement appeared to describe the effort that
2012; Cegarra-Navarro, Eldridge, & Wensley, 2014; Kang & Lee,
single individuals performed to absorb new knowledge. Previous
2016). Therefore, we propose the following:
research studies have long explored how organizations promote
knowledge absorption and sharing practices (Mariano, 2013), Proposition 3: Absorptive capacity metaroutines are likely to
pointing out the role of incentives (Baldwin, Magjuka, & Loher, experience a certain level of asymmetries within organizational
1991), punishments (Michailova & Husted, 2003), cultural norms contexts and show incremental and cumulative features.
and values (Harrington & Guimaraes, 2005), and the use of objects
or artifacts (Cacciatori, 2012; Mariano & Awazu, 2016), among
It is safe to say that the peculiarity of our research setting may
others. Our findings, although seemed to confirm the key role of
have determined these specific combinations, determinants, and
individuals in knowledge absorption processes, did not provide
actions. We may intuitively believe that other organizational con-
specific support for theorizations of mediating factors, such as in-
texts could potentially display different combinations of meta-
centives, punishments, and cultural and material aspects. At
routines. Therefore, we speculate that a fruitful way to study
Alphasource, participants did not recall examples of such factors
absorptive capacity metaroutines may consider the magnitude of
but showed a genuine support for corrective actions to guarantee
experienced organizational disruptions, defined by how much
organizational reputation and, ultimately, to survival. This insight
these disruptions manifest themselves (intensity) and how long
adds to Lewin et al.’s (2011) theorizations at the level of sociocul-
they last (persistence). In summary, we speculate that internal or
tural values, norms, and mechanisms that were out of our research
external organizational disruptions may trigger absorptive capacity
scope but that could be further investigated.
and force organizations to find innovative solutions within certain
In addition, our findings suggest that cohesivenessddescribed
time boundary conditions, taking into account individual and group
as the collective effort shown at the mesolevel by organizational
efforts. We also speculate that the magnitude of these disruptions
membersdhas a direct influence on the likelihood of successful
may be defined by how intense these disruptions are and how long
knowledge absorption practices. This empirical evidence seems to
their outcomes persist over time. On the basis of our empirical
add to those previous studies exploring the benefits of cross-
findings, we reasonably believe that the magnitude of organiza-
functional teams practice (Song, Montoya-Weiss & Schmidt, 1997)
tional disruptions and time constraints may help explain why
and to studies investigating the relationship between absorptive
certain configurations of absorptive capacity metaroutines emerge
capacity and knowledge value in project-based contexts (Yoo,
and what interdependencies and complementarities may surface
Vonderembse, & Ragu-Nathan, 2011). It would be interesting to
and relate to them. Therefore, we propose the following:
further explore the link between micro- and mesolevels in the
emergence and implementation of absorptive capacity meta- Proposition 4: Magnitude of organizational disruptions and time
routines because our findings suggest the coexistence of both levels constraints are likely to help explain the emergence, interde-
as supplements to the macrolevel. Therefore, we propose the pendence, and complementarities among absorptive capacity
following: metaroutines in organizational contexts.
Proposition 2: Degree of involvement and cohesiveness of
organizational members are likely to relate to time-varying
boundary conditions that seem to have a direct influence on
5.2. Managerial discussion
the composition of absorptive capacity metaroutines in orga-
nizational contexts.
From a managerial perspective, this study sheds some light on
the existence of asymmetries in the knowledge absorption process
Finally, our findings suggest that the combination of absorptive and the cumulative nature of absorptive capacity outcomes.
capacity metaroutines may experience internal asymmetries and These findings advise managers to pay close attention to where
be cumulative in nature. Asymmetries may suggest the existence of these asymmetries reside within organizational contexts, to reduce
different absorption rates at different department or group levels irregularities in exploitative practices, and to enhance continuous
and may vary depending on internal or external contingencies. improvements. In turn, these practices would increase opportu-
Therefore, corresponding metaroutines may be subjected to nities for knowledge absorption to take place at individual and
changes and experience accumulation or removal of certain rou- group levels and would enable the achievement of planned change
tines overtime. Similarly, the apparent cumulative nature of at the organizational level.
absorptive capacity may suggest the existence of adjustment cycles
that, in the long term, can contribute to desired outcomes, similarly 6. Limitations and future research directions
to existing knowledge shaping theorizations (Mariano & Casey,
2016). Previous research highlighted the benefits of accumulated This study has limitations connected to contingency factors and
knowledge and experience that reduce organizational change costs organization-specific phenomena and boundary conditions related
(Teece et al., 1997; Zander & Kogut, 1995). Our findings suggest that to firm size and age and cultural contexts. Another limitation is
accumulation of new knowledge may manifest not only as external regarding the exclusion of moderating variables such as sociocul-
absorption practices but also may relate to internal metaroutines tural values, norms, and mechanisms (Lewin et al., 2011) that were
that emerge and modify depending on intervening variables such out of our research scope from the analysis.
as disruptions (see also Lev, Fiegenbaum, & Shoham, 2009) or time Future research should be conducted to investigate some of our
constraints and confirm the path-dependent tendency of absorp- proposed interpretations. For instance, we proposed that organi-
tive capacity (Cohen & Levinthal, 1990; Zahra & George, 2002). zational disruptions trigger absorptive capacity. Further empirical
These findings add to previous studies discussing the crucial role of studies could investigate the extent to which this interpretation
180 S. Mariano, S. Al-Arrayed / European Management Journal 36 (2018) 171e182

applies to different organizational contexts or industries. Further our proposed variables and empirically test them through the use
research could also investigate the extent to which variables such of quantitative approaches such as survey methods.
as intensity of required change for innovation adoption and
persistence of outcomes explain alone the emergence of certain 7. Conclusions
metaroutines and organization-specific routines or may combine
with additional and more refined variables. Another fruitful We explored absorptive capacity metaroutines in a financial
research area may regard the analysis of temporal dimensions and organization. We discovered that magnitude of organizational
boundary conditionsdthat we explained under the “time con- disruptions and time constraints influenced absorptive capacity
straints” factordto investigate the extent to which individual internal and external metaroutines. Intensity of required change for
contributions and group cohesiveness may be influenced by the innovation adoption and persistence of outcomes related to the
passage of time. This is a prominent direction for future research magnitude of organizational disruptions, while degree of involve-
because it is still not clear how dynamic capabilities tend to change ment and cohesiveness of organizational members related to the
over time or how organizational routines are influenced by trans- time constraints factor. In addition, we found that the combination
active memory systems (Argote & Miron-Spektor, 2011; Argote & of absorptive capacity metaroutines experienced a certain level of
Ren, 2012). Future research could explore the extent to which some asymmetries and had incremental and cumulative features. Our
of our proposed factors may apply within different organizational findings extend current theorizations of absorptive capacity met-
contexts where, for instances, flat organizational structures pro- aroutines and give preliminary directions to explain why some
mote self-organized practices. Although our findings did not pro- combinations of metaroutines appear to be superior to others. We
vide more granular descriptions of determinants influencing high believe that our investigation offers fruitful directions to future
cohesiveness levels, nor was this an explicit scope of our research studies on the microfoundations of absorptive capacity.
study, we believe that the link among the micro-, meso-, and
macrolevel and the connection with metaroutines and Appendix A
organization-specific routines may also represent a fruitful area for
future investigations. Finally, future studies could operationalize

Additional evidence for emerged themes from interviews transcripts.

Subtheme Evidence

Theme 1: Magnitude of Organizational Disruptions

Intensity of required change for  “Each stage was linked to the success of the other stage, and so if one stage failed, the next was sure to fail” (P2, Manager)
innovation adoption  “We had to work in a very fast pace in order to rectify the problem and minimize our losses as much as possible, so time was a
crucial element for us” (P9, Employee)
 “Most employees understood the complexity of the situation the company was facing and had to be cooperative with the
situation. Also employees had to work for several months manually, but they were very understanding even when they had
to input the information into the system and faced several glitches” (P4, Manager, Follow-up)
Persistence of outcomes  “All [new processes and routines] were introduced to ensure more security for future problems and for these problems to be
minimized” (P5, Manager)
 “… hoping we don't have to face a situation as such in the future” (P2, Manager, Follow-up)
Theme 2: Time Constraints
Degree of involvement  “A lot of us worked overtime just to ensure that all would get back to normal once again” (P2, Manager)
 “It is the employees job to adapt to these changes and solve them, otherwise the company will collapse. Your workplace is your
second home; you might even spend more time in it than your actual home” (P6, Manager)
 “They [the employees] were able to handle such difficult situations under tremendous pressure” (P12, Employee)
 “Everyone carried out his or her tasks in a very professional manner and were very efficient while carrying out their jobs” (P13,
Employee)
Cohesiveness  “All employees were cooperative toward what the company was going through and willing to help and support each other” (P4,
Manager)
 “The support received from the IT staff was outstanding” and “They [heads of departments] were so organized with tasks, and
the employees were very supportive” (P10, Employee)
 “… having a team that was understanding and willing to work under the pressure they were put in. They were very dedicated
and learned the main procedures in an exceptional time” (P1, Manager, Follow-up)
 “All departments and staff were very cooperative” and “the whole organization with all the departments were willing to work
together” (P4, Manager, Follow-up)
Theme 3: Combinations of Absorptive Capacity Metaroutines
Asymmetries  “It took us [Accounting Department] almost a year to have everything on track” (P3, Manager)
 “It took us [Human Resources Department] almost a full year to have everything up and running like the old days” (P4, Manager)
 “It took our team [Technology Development Department] 6 months to have everything running and modified from the old
system” (P5, Manager)
 “The process was amended six times during the past year” (P12, Employee)
Cumulativeness  “There were major enhancements for each process” and “There were adjustments during each stage but not major ones” (P2,
Manager)
 “These changes had to be modified every few months” and “Also, today in the Technology Development Department, I can say
that problem solving issues with this new system have decreased 70%” (P5, Manager)
 “There are always improvements being put to the system for extra security” and “Our campaign changed on a monthly basis as
we had to include or omit certain requirements” (P6, Manager)
 “For the process to take place, it took almost 6 months, but for the whole process to be up and running, it took 12 months. After
the first 6 months, there were a few glitches that needed to be amended within the system; new policies were added to the
company, and halfway through, our partner company decide to take extra security measures and added new rules to the cards”
(P12, Employee)
 S. Mariano, S. Al-Arrayed / European Management Journal 36 (2018) 171e182 181

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