Antecedents of absorptive capacity: context of companies' incubators in Northeastern Brazil

Purpose – This research aims at analyzing the antecedents of absorptive capacity (ACAP) in the companies incubated in the State of Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil. In this context, 111 incubated companies took part in the research. Design/methodology/approach – The methodology used the confirmatory factor analysis and the multiple linear regression to analyze the relationship of the dependent variables (ACAP) with the dependent variables (interaction with other companies, professionals' knowledge (PK), knowledge use (KU) and knowledge acquisition). Findings – The results highlight that external KU was the construct that most influences the ACAP. Among the dependent variables suggested, only the construct concerning the incubators' PK presented no model significance, which shows that the PK is not an antecedent of ACAP in the incubated companies. Originality/value – This study is relevant due to pointing out that the incubators may not be providing their professionals with knowledge properly, or that this knowledge is not being accessed by the incubated companies, which allows actions turned to encouraging businesses in this context.