Post-acquisition integration and firm innovation: a social capital perspective

Whether post-acquisition integration enhances firm innovation? Researchers have not provided a conclusive answer as to how and under what condition the integration will promote firm innovation. Departing from existing literature, this research provides a social capital perspective to disentangle the underlying mechanisms for firms’ innovation performance after integration. Specifically, we draw on the “bonding” and “bridging” view of social capital, and identify two distinct causal paths of integration: disruption of acquired firms’ internal network and formation of new ties with the acquiring firm. We further investigate the moderating effect of environmental dynamism in this process.