Abstract: According to open innovation, absorptive capacity has become the critical variable that impacts technical innovation in the firm, but the sources of this effect has not yet been fully explored. Based on the process perspective, using hierarchical multiple regression method, 161 innovation-oriented firms in Guangdong were analyzed to examine the effects of three organizational learning processes based on absorptive capacity and their complementarities on enterprise technical innovation. The results show that, exploratory and exploitative learning based on absorptive capacity all have positive effects on incremental and radical innovation, but the transformative learning based on absorptive capacity actively promotes the incremental and radical innovation only through its complementarities with the other organizational learning processes.

Key words: exploratory learning, transformative learning, exploitative learning, incremental innovation, radical innovation