Absorptive capacity in Cardiff Met: Focusing on portfolio development, an exploration into its current state and potential for further development

<p> </p> <p>The role of knowledge in driving change in HE is seen as critical (Romero et al., 2020); the absorptive capacity (AC) concept has been shown to be a useful construct for the exploration of knowledge and innovation processes (Cohen and Levinthal, 1990). AC refers to “one of a firm's fundamental learning processes: its ability to identify, assimilate, and exploit knowledge from the environment” (Lane et al., 2006).</p> <p>The aim of this research was to explore the current state of AC at a case university, focusing on portfolio development (PDEV). A key objective was to understand the barriers to, and enablers of the development of AC, relevant to PDEV.</p>