摘要

Building on absorptive capacity and bureaucracy research, we investigate in this paper how bureaucracy within organisations moderates the relationship between absorptive capacity and market responsiveness. Using data collected from 254 firms in China, we show that the effects of absorptive capacity on market responsiveness are contingent upon the degree of bureaucracy within organisations. In particular, the results indicate that the positive effects of absorptive capacity on market response speed become less positive under higher degrees of bureaucracy.