Non-R&D-based innovation activities and performance in Chinese SMEs: the role of absorptive capacity

To what extent can non-R&D-based innovation contribute to innovation performance in smallandmedium-sized enterprises (SMEs)? To answer this question, this study investigates themoderating role of absorptive capacity in the relationships between three non-R&D-basedinnovation activities and firms’ innovation performance, namely ‘technology adoption,’‘imitation and minor modification,’ and ‘innovative marketing.’ Using data on 329 Chinesemanufacturing SMEs, we find that the absorptive capacity of SMEs positively moderates therelationship between innovative marketing and innovation performance. However, theabsorptive capacity of SMEs negatively moderates the relationship between imitation andminor modification and their innovation performance. These findings contribute tounderstanding the effects of non-R&D-based innovation activities, and the role of SMEs’absorptive capacity in a non-R&D context.