Jose Angel Lopez Sanchez
Assistant Professor, University of Extremadura, Spain.
Celina Gonzalez Mieres
Assistant Professor, University of Oviedo, Spain.
Maria Leticia Santos Vijande
Associate Professor, University of Oviedo, Spain.The Mediating Effect of Unlearning in the
Relationship between Internal Marketing,
Innovation and Performance in Knowledge
Intensive Business Services
Purpose – This study has three objectives: first, to examine the
mediating effect of unlearning in the relationship between internal
marketing and innovation; second, to contribute to the literature with a
better understanding about the combined effect that the internal
marketing and unlearning exert on innovation; and third, to assess how
innovation influences performance in knowledge intensive business
services.
Design/ methodology/ approach – By using an extensive literature
review we developed first our theoretical framework and then we
tested it via survey research. Specifically, we employed a sample of 154
knowledge intensive business services and a structural equation system
approach to test whether the set of hypotheses developed earlier was
confirmed or not.
Findings – The results reveal that the implementation of an internal
marketing policy has a positive effect on unlearning. However, we do
not find evidence that the internal marketing directly influences
innovation. A possible explanation for this may be the mediating effect
of unlearning in the internal marketing-innovation connection, i.e., a
company’s internal marketing may contribute to the development of
innovations by means of unlearning. It is also confirmed that a higher
level of unlearning will improve the company’s ability to offer
innovative products and services finely matched to the marketplace.
Originality/ value – We are pioneering in exploring the mediating
effect of unlearning in the relationship between internal marketing and
innovation. It is demonstrated the importance of unlearning in
knowledge intensive business services and how these companies can
develop and implement an internal marketing policy to nurture and
enhance unlearning. This research is also one of the first to assess the
effects of unlearning on innovation in business-to-business contexts.