Barriers to absorptive capacity in emerging market firms

We identify how barriers to absorptive capacity limit success in integrating external technology by firms in emerging markets. We refine previous barriers to absorptive capacity and classify them into internal (managerial biases and weak social integration mechanisms) and external (muted activation triggers, conflicting source relationships, and feeble appropriability regimes). We also identify how particular conditions in emerging markets (higher restraints on incentives, higher information asymmetries, and weaker contract protection) heighten the barriers. Using agency theory as the theoretical base, we provide a better understanding of absorptive capacity and of the influence of the home country on capability upgrading.