Multigroup analysis of higher-order model of knowledge variables in the context of global ventures through PLS-SEM

Purpose The study purports at investigating the effect of organizational factors (strategy, culture, information technology and structure) on knowledge transfer and innovation performance in the context of Indian International joint ventures (IJVs) of varied ages and industries. All the variables are woven together in the framework of dynamic capabilities theory. Design/methodology/approach PLS-SEM was used to analyze the primary data collected from IJVs. The disjoint two-stage approach was applied to check the mediation in the model. The multigroup technique was deployed to test group-differences in the sample. Findings The four organizational factors, combined as a construct, are seen to have a positive impact on knowledge transfer, which facilitates innovation performance. But mediation analysis revealed the insignificant indirect relationship of organizational factors with innovation through knowledge transfer for the total sample. In-depth group analysis revealed that these results differ between young and mature IJVs and knowledge-intensive and non-knowledge intensive industries. Research limitations/implications The number of organizational factors is limited to four, which can be further increased. Longitudinal studies for investigating the formation of dynamic capabilities can be the future research direction. Originality/value The research has provided hierarchical analysis for organizational factors, knowledge transfer and innovation performance with multigroup industrial and age-wise analysis of Indian IJVs, which is still unplumbed in international business literature.