Title: Innovation capability: the impact of teleworking on sustainable competitive advantage

Authors: Noorliza Karia; Muhammad Hasmi Abu Hassan Asaari

Addresses: Department of Operations Management, School of Management, Universiti Sains Malaysia, 11800, Pulau Pinang, Malaysia ' Department of Operations Management, School of Management, Universiti Sains Malaysia, 11800, Pulau Pinang, Malaysia

Abstract: Teleworking is enabled by technology which reflects an innovation capability of an organisation to gain sustainable competitive advantage. A major gap that exists in teleworking research literature today, is the absence of a theoretical framework that can be used to help firms understand the competitive advantage of a teleworking firm. This study attempts to bridge the gap by developing and proposing a framework which identifies factors that might have an impact on teleworking performance which in turn generates a firm's sustainable competitive advantage. The resource-based theory (RBT) suggests that the sustainability of competitive advantage is dependent on a firm's innovation capability. This study applies RBT to understand the competitive advantage of teleworking firms. The interview findings reveal that innovation capability is ascertained by tangible and intangible resources that are acquired and accessed by a teleworking firm.

Keywords: competitive advantage; innovation capability; resource-based view; RBV; resources; capabilities; sustainability; teleworking performance.

DOI: 10.1504/IJTPM.2016.076318

International Journal of Technology, Policy and Management, 2016 Vol.16 No.2, pp.181 - 194

Received: 12 Jun 2015
Accepted: 28 Aug 2015
Published online: 03 May 2016 *

Full-text access for editors Full-text access for subscribers Purchase this article Comment on this article