In this dissertation, I systematically explore the nature and role of two firm capabilities: absorptive capacity (or external learning capability) and technological capability. I examine how firm capability interacts with intra-firm and industry factors, and how it impacts organizational outcomes. In the first paper, I review literature on absorptive capacity and distill its distinct effect on various organizational outcomes. I identify key theoretical underpinnings behind the diverse conceptualizations of absorptive capacity and their corresponding measures, and use meta-analytical techniques to synthesize the effects of absorptive capacity. The second and third papers of my dissertation examine how technological capability interacts with certain internal and external contingency factors in influencing firm innovation and industry evolution. In the second paper, I take an intra-firm focus, and I identify managerial cognition as an important internal factor that impacts the relationship between technological capability and innovation. More specifically, I study how a firm's technological competence interacts with managerial experience in shaping that firm's innovation choices. Using data from the satellite industry, I show that diversity and relatedness of technological resource, as well as CEO experience, work differently in shaping product versus application innovations. In the third paper, I investigate how capabilities beyond focal technology producers influence industry evolution. Based on longitudinal analyses of the evolution of the satellite industry, I show that complementors, component suppliers, and customers are important external factors that shape industry evolution. Overall, my dissertation demonstrates the interrelated roles of firm capability, managerial cognition, and innovation ecosystem on firm and industry-level outcomes. / Ph. D. / In this dissertation, I examine how firm capability interacts with other factors in influencing companies’ innovation decisions and the evolution of an industry. In the first paper, I review and synthesize existing studies on firm capability by focusing on the absorptive capacity (AC) literature. I identify key conceptualizations of AC, key outcomes of AC, and use meta-analytic techniques to distill AC’s effects. In the second paper, I examine how technological capability works together with managerial experience in shaping companies’ innovation choices in the small satellite industry. Small satellites, commonly defined as satellites that are less than 500 kilograms, are important innovations that substantially reduced the costs of building, launching, and operating satellites. In recent years, the small satellite industry has seen tremendous growth in terms of satellite production and deployment. I categorize innovation choices in this industry as product innovation (such as introduction of new launch systems, improved satellite components, and novel ground equipment) or application innovation (such as finding novel applications of existing satellite products by analyzing data transmitted from satellite systems and providing implications). Results show that while having related technology is positively related to product innovation, having a CEO with more diverse experience is positively related to application innovation. In the third paper, I examine how the small satellite industry emerged and evolved. Results show that beyond technological capabilities of focal small satellite manufacturers, technological advancements from complementors (launch vehicle providers) and customers (satellite operators) have jointly influenced the evolution of this industry.

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of managerial experience on the relationships between assertiveness, trait anxiety, and internality, and on each of these constructs individually. Hypotheses were as follows: a) managers would be more assertive, internal, and less trait anxious than business students; b) males would be more assertive than females when students, not managers; and c) assertiveness and internality would relate positively to each other and negatively to trait anxiety. Subjects consisted of 30 managers and 53 business students. The first and third hypotheses were confirmed, although the assertiveness differences were not significant. Reasons for the observed outcome are discussed as well as implications for these constructs' ability to predict management potential.

Despite more than 60 years of research about the nature of change, resistance to change remains a problem across industries. Health care leaders have limited knowledge of how health care managers' perceptions of empowerment, years of experience, and resistance to change (RTC) relate. The purpose for this nonexperimental correlational study was to examine the relationship between empowerment, years of experience, and RTC among managers via an online survey. The theoretical framework incorporated Kanter's structural empowerment theory and Kotter's change theory. The sample included 245 out of 1,181 health care managers from Veterans Administration (VA) hospitals in the New York metropolitan region, recruited through a nonrandom purposive sampling method. There was a significant association measured between empowerment and RTC (r = -.132, p = .05), but no association between years of experience and RTC (r = .060, p =.348). The regression model showed that years of experience and perceptions of empowerment together in one model was not a significant predictor of RTC (F(2,242) =2.82, p = .062, R2 = .023). In the model, perceptions of empowerment was a statistically significant predictor of RTC (â = -.136, p = .03), but years of managerial experience was not (â = .074, p = .249). These findings, while not generalizable, offer a unique examination of organizational change among an underexamined population. According to study results, as empowerment increased, RTC diminished. In contrast, experience did not relate to the propensity to resist change. These findings have social implications for VA and general business leaders who may use these results to improve change management plans, empower staff, reduce RTC, and enhance organizational and patient outcomes.