An Integrative Model to Explain the Ability to Commercialize Innovations: Linking Networks, Absorptive Capacity, Ambidexterity and Environmental Factors

The ability to commercialize innovations is central to firm survival and success and, despite research on parts of the process, it remains somewhat obscure. We explore the literature to build an integrative model of the antecedents, mediators, and moderators of commercialization. We identify intra- and inter-organizational networks and the resources they embody as key drivers of the ability to commercialize. Absorptive capacity and ambidexterity act as mediators on that relationship. Further, environmental turbulence, munificence, and complexity moderate the relationship between networks and absorptive capacity and ambidexterity. We generate propositions on these relationships for empirical testing and further theoretical insight.