Networking, Absorptive Capacity and Innovativeness of Lagos ICT Cluster

Changes in society encourage individuals to engage in creative processes and experimentation that may result in new products, services or technological processes. This book examined how the most popular innovation variables provide explanation for the capacity of information technology (IT) products and service providers in the Otigba Computer Hardware Cluster in Lagos, Nigeria to devise and harness new strategies of solving IT problems. The study also investigated the respondents' capacity to acquire, assimilate, transform and use knowledge, and the relationship between these capacities and their innovativeness. Data were collected from 273 respondents with the aid of a questionnaire and an in-depth interview schedule. The study confirms the importance of stronger networking for transfer of knowledge by showing that the respondents' interaction with knowledge sources has strong relationship with their capacity to innovate, acquire, understand and use knowledge. However, innovativeness among the operators in the cluster is not necessarily a function of the traditional innovation variables. Capacity to transform knowledge into applications has a significant effect on innovativeness.