Cordero, LauraFerreira, João José de Matos2019-04-052019-04-052019Cordero, L., Ferreira, J. (2019). Absorptive Capacity and Organizational Mechanisms: A Systematic Review and Future Directions, Review of International Business and Strategy, 29 (1): 61-82http://hdl.handle.net/10400.6/7001Purpose – This study aims to contribute to fill the gap in the existing absorptive capacity (AC) literature relating to how organizational mechanisms applied both at the national and international level affect a firm’s AC. Design/methodology/approach – A systematic literature review was carried out using analytical articles from two sources – Web of Science and Scopus – aiming to cover as many studies related to the AC research topic. Findings – The results show that the majority of the studies do not include a specific analysis of an organizational mechanism’s role as mediator or moderator of a firm’s AC. The analysis of the reverse knowledge set of mechanisms will provide for international business scholars and practitioners a compilation of specific strategies that MNC apply to improve AC. Originality/value – The study identifies four sets of organizational mechanisms: external search strategy; organizational knowledge management; reverse knowledge; and mechanisms not orientated to knowledge management; and it describes their specific relationships with AC.engSystematic literature reviewAbsorptive capacityOrganizational mechanismsPotential capacityRealized capacityjournal articlehttps://doi.org/10.1108/RIBS-10-2018-0089