Individuals and the absorptive capacity of organisations: A supervenient model

Despite the centrality of individuals in the discussion of absorptive capacity, limited attention has been paid to how organisations' absorptive capacity depends on such individuals and on the basic needs that drive their information processing. To address that gap, we use supervenience—a concept borrowed from philosophy—to conceptualise the role of individuals in organisational absorptive capacity. Our supervenient model provides new insights into how individuals' needs, their information processing, their interactions and the organisational phenomena to which they are exposed come together to explain variance in absorptive capacity across organisations.