Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to analyze how organizational factors such as cultural values, leadership and human resource (HR) practices influence knowledge exploration and exploitation practices and innovation via an empirical study.Design/methodology/approach: From the knowledge‐based view of the firm, six hypotheses were established and statistically tested in a sample of 111 Spanish companies belonging to innovative industries. Survey methodology was used with the aim of gathering data regarding knowledge management (KM) practices and certain, related organizational aspects in firms.Findings: This paper provides evidence of a moderating effect of knowledge‐centered culture, knowledge‐oriented leadership and knowledge‐centered HR practices in the relationship between knowledge exploration and exploitation practices and innovation outcomes of companies. In line with previous literature, it is suggested that although KM practices are important on their own for innovation purposes, when certain enablers – organizational factors to overcome human barriers to KM – are properly established, the innovation capacity of the firm can be more successfully exploited.Research limitations/implications: The research is limited to high rate innovation industries. Future studies will include other industries and a more diverse sample of firms.Practical implications: The results of this study suggest that managers should place attention on knowledge exploration and exploitation practices along with several organizational enablers in order to achieve high levels of innovation results for the company.Originality/value: This paper provides new empirical evidence on the relationships between KM, organizational elements such as culture, leadership, HR practices, and innovation in a large sample of firms. To date, the empirical research of these relations has been mainly limited to descriptive case studies and there is thus a lack of empirical evidence with large samples of firms.

Purpose: This paper concentrates on the antecedents of external knowledge acquisition of companies based on their inter-organizational relationships. Specifically, it considers social capital (i.e., the result of a firm’s inter-organizational relationships) as an essential precursor of knowledge identification capabilities and deliberated knowledge acquisition strategies. This study aims to propose that cognitive and relational dimensions of a firm’s inter-organizational social capital are mediating factors of the relationship between structural social capital and knowledge identification capabilities and the relationship between structural social capital and the deliberated acquisition of external knowledge, respectively. The relationship between knowledge identification capability and external knowledge acquisition is also analyzed.Design/methodology/approach: This is a cross-sectional quantitative study with a sample of 87 firms from Spanish biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries. From an extensive literature review, we developed three hypotheses that were tested using the partial least squares technique and structural equations model.Findings: The results only support a mediating effect of cognitive social capital in the relationship between structural social capital and knowledge identification capability and a partial mediation effect of relational social capital in the relationship between structural social capital and knowledge acquisition. In addition, the findings show that firms with more advanced abilities to identify and assess the value of external knowledge will be likely to develop optimal deliberated strategies to acquire effectively such knowledge from its network partners.Research limitations/implications: The limitations of this study are small sample size and the cross-sectional nature of the study. The study also focuses on only two specific and innovative industries.Practical implications: Managers should understand that “good” management of inter-organizational social capital allows the firm to develop dynamic capabilities for the identification and acquisition of valuable knowledge. The results of the study show that managers should concentrate on building knowledge identification capabilities and should also be aware of the possibilities that social capital can provide to a firm to formulate and implement effective strategies for external knowledge acquisition.Originality/value: To date, there are relatively few studies focussing on knowledge identification capability and its relationships with the dimensions of a company’s social capital as enablers of external knowledge acquisition. For managers, the identification of valuable knowledge by using inter-organizational relationships and networks is an essential issue, especially in innovative industries characterized by continuous change. Theoretically, this research highlights that social capital contributes to the development of dynamic capabilities, allowing the firm to sense and seize business opportunities based on external knowledge acquisition to achieve competitive advantages.

Knowledge Management Research &Practice (KMRP) provides an outlet for high quality, peer reviewed articles on all aspects of managing knowledge, organisational learning, intellectual capital and knowledge economics. This includes not just those focused on the organisational level, but all levels from that of the individual to that of the nation or profession. KMRP is an official journal of the OR Society

This study examines the antecedents of employees' utilization of various flexibility work arrangements (FWA) on the one hand and job-related outcomes due to their implementation in organizations on the other hand. Data are provided by an original survey administered to employees working in private organizations (N = 480). Workers' uptake of the arrangements is enhanced by their family responsibilities, by FWA availability, by supervisors' support and by co-workers' FWA use. Regarding employee outcomes, FWA availability is related to two of the three outcomes studied. Moreover, a favourable work-family culture is related to our three outcomes, employee commitment, turnover intentions and work-to-family conflict.