From Acquisition to Advantage: Mediation by Utilization

Abstract

This study investigates how knowledge utilization mediates the relationship between knowledge acquisition and organizational productivity in Ghanaian service firms. Drawing from a survey of 210 firms in Accra, we operationalize acquisition through multiple sources (e.g. regulatory, customer, competitor, product lessons) and utilization as deployment across human, structural, innovation, and customer capitals (plus decision-making). Reliability of the utilization scale is high (α = 0.912). Descriptive and nonparametric analyses confirm that firms report significant productivity improvements after knowledge acquisition, and Spearman’s correlation indicates a positive direct association between acquisition volume and productivity (ρ ≈ 0.387, p < .001). Using bootstrapped mediation modeling, we show that utilization partially mediates the acquisition → productivity path: firms that more intensively use acquired knowledge reap greater performance gains. The findings highlight that acquisition alone is insufficient — active embedding, deployment, and alignment matter most. Theoretically, this bridges the “knowledge processes” literature with firm performance models in an emerging-economy context. Practically, managers should not only seek knowledge but ensure its translation into actionable routines, decision practices, and capital investments.