Organizational forgetting, absorptive capacity, and innovation performance
Summary. Organizational forgetting—deliberately discarding outdated knowledge—improves innovation performance in companies, but only when paired with absorptive capacity to learn new information. This effect strengthens in turbulent business environments. The study surveyed 320 Chinese firms and found that forgetting alone doesn't boost innovation; companies must actively absorb new knowledge to benefit from shedding old practices.
Cite this article
Huang, D., Chen, S., Zhang, G., & Ye, J.. (2017). Organizational forgetting, absorptive capacity, and innovation performance. Management Decision. https://doi.org/10.1108/md-03-2017-0200
Huang, Dujuan, et al. “Organizational forgetting, absorptive capacity, and innovation performance.” Management Decision, 2017. https://doi.org/10.1108/md-03-2017-0200.
Huang, Dujuan, Song Chen, Gupeng Zhang, and Jiangfeng Ye. 2017. “Organizational forgetting, absorptive capacity, and innovation performance.” Management Decision. https://doi.org/10.1108/md-03-2017-0200.
@article{huang-2017-organizational-forgetting-absorptive-capacity-innovation,
title = {Organizational forgetting, absorptive capacity, and innovation performance},
author = {Dujuan Huang and Song Chen and Gupeng Zhang and Jiangfeng Ye},
journal = {Management Decision},
year = {2017},
doi = {10.1108/md-03-2017-0200},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1108/md-03-2017-0200}
}
TY - JOUR TI - Organizational forgetting, absorptive capacity, and innovation performance AU - Dujuan Huang AU - Song Chen AU - Gupeng Zhang AU - Jiangfeng Ye JO - Management Decision PY - 2017 DO - 10.1108/md-03-2017-0200 UR - https://doi.org/10.1108/md-03-2017-0200 ER -
Details
- DOI
- 10.1108/md-03-2017-0200
- Countries
- China
- Regions
- Asia
- Categories
- innovation-theory, general-innovation
- Added
- 2026-04-28