Entrepreneurial Capabilities, Absorptive Capacity, and Innovative Behavior in Indonesian SMEs: A Qualitative Literature Review
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.55606/jupiman.v5i1.6978Keywords:
Absorptive Capacity, Entrepreneurial Capabilities, Indonesian SMEs, Innovative Behavior, Qualitative Literature ReviewAbstract
Indonesian small and medium enterprises (SMEs) face digital disruption, volatile markets, and resource constraints that make innovation dependent on more than the possession of entrepreneurial or technological resources. This study qualitatively reviews how entrepreneurial capabilities, absorptive capacity, and innovative behavior are connected in SME research, with particular emphasis on Indonesia. A structured corpus of 27 peer-reviewed studies was coded by publication period, context, method, and focal construct. IBM SPSS Statistics was used only to summarize the coded corpus through descriptive frequencies and cross-tabulations, while the substantive analysis relied on qualitative thematic synthesis. The evidence converges on a three-stage process: entrepreneurial alertness/orientation, network capability, and digital capability expand opportunity sensing and access to external knowledge; absorptive capacity converts knowledge through acquisition, assimilation, transformation, and exploitation; and innovative behavior enacts converted knowledge through idea exploration, generation, championing, and implementation. Indonesian studies support the complementarity of absorptive, network, and digital capabilities, but inconsistent direct relationships indicate strong contextual dependence. The review proposes a sensing-absorption-enactment framework and distinguishes owner-manager innovative behavior from firm-level innovation capability. SME policy should therefore strengthen knowledge-conversion routines alongside digital and networking support.
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Copyright (c) 2026 Yohan Fitriadi, Harif Amali Rivai, Laura Syahrul, Hendra Lukito
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