Introduction.

In the literature there are contradictory results on the effects of the evaluation of rival's absorptive capacity (RAC) on innovation performance (IP). Moreover, the incidence of strategic aspects in this relationship has not been explored.

Objective.

Analyze the mediating effects of the strategic orientation towards competition (SOC) and the strategic orientation towards innovation (SOI) on the RAC-IP relationship.

Materials and methods.

The hypothesis model was contrasted in a sample of medium and low-technology manufacturing firms and a sample of service firms. To achieve this, structural equations were used by the consistent partial least squares method.

Results.

It was found that only the SOC has a mediating effect, which is a total effect.

Conclusions.

The main contribution of this paper is the empirical evidence it provides which demonstrates that the evaluation of RAC has a positive effect on IP, although this effect is mediated by SOC. This helps to discern the controversy triggered by contradictory results yielded in previous studies. Therefore, this finding is in agreement with the theoretical stance which highlights the benefits derived from understanding RAC's strengths and weaknesses, and from the pressures exerted by rivals on their counterpart, which force the latter to be more innovative.

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