The purpose of this Perspective Paper is to advance understanding of absorptive capacity, its underlying
dimensions, its multi-level antecedents, its impact on firm performance and the contextual factors that
affect absorptive capacity. Nineteen years after the Cohen and Levinthal 1990 paper, the field is
characterized by a wide array of theoretical perspectives and a wealth of empirical evidence. In this
paper, we first review these underlying theories and empirical studies of absorptive capacity. Given the
size and diversity of the absorptive capacity literature, we subsequently map the existing terrain of
research through a bibliometric analysis. The resulting bibliometric cartography shows the major
discrepancies in the organization field, namely that (1) most attention so far has been focused on the
tangible outcomes of absorptive capacity; (2) organizational design and individual level antecedents
have been relatively neglected in the absorptive capacity literature; and (3) the emergence of absorptive
capacity from the actions and interactions of individual, organizational and inter-organizational
antecedents remains unclear. Building on the bibliometric analysis, we develop an integrative model
that identifies the multi-level antecedents, process dimensions, and outcomes of absorptive capacity as
well as the contextual factors that affect absorptive capacity. We argue that realizing the potential of the
absorptive capacity concept requires more research that shows how “micro antecedents” and “macroantecedents”
influence future outcomes such as competitive advantage, innovation, and firm
performance. In particular, we identify conceptual gaps that may guide future research to fully exploit
the absorptive capacity concept in the organization field and to explore future fruitful extensions of the
concept
