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A systematic review of the
antecedents of knowledge transfer:
an actant-object view
Hamidreza Shahbaznezhad
University of Auckland Business School, Auckland, New Zealand
Mona Rashidirad
University of Sussex Business School, Brighton, UK, and
Isaac Vaghefi
Seidenberg School of Computer Science and Information Systems, Pace University,
New York, USA
Abstract
Purpose –While numerous studies have studied knowledge transfer (KT) and endeavored to address
factors influencing KT, little effort has been made to integrate the findings of prior studies. This paper aims to
classify the literature on KT through a detailed exploration of different perspectives of KT inter and intra
organizations.
Design/methodology/approach –Using actor–network theory (ANT) as the baseline, we conducted a
systematic review of KT research to summarize prior KT studies and classify the influential factors on KT.
The review covered 115 empirical articles published between 1987 and 2017.
Findings –Drawing on the review and ANT guidelines, the authors proposed a conceptual model to
categorize KT constitutes into objects including those related to (1) knowledge, (2) knowledge exchange and
(3) technology, as well as actants including those related to (4) organization, (5) team/business unit and
(6) knowledge sender/receiver.
Research limitations/implications –Adopting a holistic synthesized approach based on ANT, this
research puts forward a valid theoretical foundation on further understanding of KT and its antecedents.
Indeed, this paper investigates KT inter and intra organizations to recognize and locate the key antecedents of
KT, which is of substantial applicability in today’s knowledge-driven economy.
Practical implications –The findings advance managers and practitioners’understanding of the
important role of actants and objects and their interplay in KT practices.
Originality/value –While most studies on KT have a narrow focus, this research contributes to holistic
understanding of motivational, behavioral, technological and organizational issues related to KT. It also offers
a thorough and context-free literature review on KT, which synthesizes the findings of prior studies on KT.
Keywords Knowledge transfer, Actor network theory (ANT), Objects, Actants, Antecedents,
Knowledge exchange, Systematic review
Paper type Conceptual paper
Introduction
Rapid proliferation in the business potential of knowledge transfer (KT) attracts researchers
from various fields to contribute to the growing body of research on this phenomenon.
Although several scholars (Argote and Ingram, 2000;Kang et al., 2010;Teo and
Bhattacherjee, 2014) endeavored to highlight the benefits of KT in organizations, still many
organizations cannot successfully yield the benefits of KT (Szulanski et al., 2016), in part due
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Received 21 July2018
Revised 7 December2018
21 February 2019
Accepted 2 April2019
European Business Review
Vol. 31 No. 6, 2019
pp. 970-995
© Emerald Publishing Limited
0955-534X
DOI 10.1108/EBR-07-2018-0133
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
www.emeraldinsight.com/0955-534X.htm
to a lack of clear understanding of all aspects of KT and its complexities (i.e. the big picture).
In addition, it is argued that KT literature is highly fragmented and there is no consensus on
the conceptualization of KT and what determines its success in organizations (Argote and
Ingram, 2000).
There have been some efforts to conduct literature reviews on KT. Examples are the
review works done by Frank et al. (2016) and Battistella et al. (2016). Our review shows that
while the extant studies contribute to our understanding of KT, the majority have been
conducted with a particular focus on one or few specific antecedents of KT, and in a
particular context (Muthusamy and White, 2005;Kamasak and Bulutlar, 2010;Park et al.,
2015). Thus, they do not portray a complete picture of KT antecedents. Understanding this
is key to accumulating theoretical knowledge and has important implications for
organizations in various contexts. Despite the fact that the pertinent literature on KT is
accumulating, the stream of research is still in the developmental stage, and arguably highly
inconsistent (Park et al.,2015).
In this paper, we seek to contribute to this area of research by providing a systematic
review of KT research. We first explain the theoretical foundations of KT to be used as a
baseline for our review. The review covers 115 articles published between 1987 and 2017.
Building on our review, we develop a conceptual framework that summarizes the progress
in KT research and provides future research directions. Rooted in Actor Network Theory
(ANT), we focus on KT objects and actants in the proposed research framework. Unlike
prior research that has a narrow scope and it is context dependent (Ahmad and Daghfous,
2010; Meier, 2011), our synthesized systemic analysis is context-free and can be applied
within and among organizations within any sector, with any organizational size, and at any
levels, i.e. individuals or teams.
With respect to the theoretical contribution, our proposed conceptual framework extends
the work of recent scholars and offers a comprehensive review of key antecedents of KT,
which informs our current knowledge and provides avenues for further research in this
domain. Moreover, our research extends ANT to the context of KT and attempts to provide
meaningful theoretical insights. This research also provides\implications for managers who
wish to successfully develop and implement KT practices in their organizations. In this
regard, this research draws managers’attention to the paramount role of influential
constitutes involved in a successful KT, which enable them to make their KT practices more
value generating.
Theoretical background
Knowledge transfer
Several scholars (Argote and Ingram, 2000;Paulin and Suneson, 2012;Tangaraja et al.,2016)
attempted to define KT. While KT has been defined from various perspectives, a careful
investigation into the conceptualization of KT highlights that it refers to the process of
acquisition and utilization of new sets of knowledge-based resources. KT, as an important
knowledge management activity in organizations, yields numerous benefits to
organizations, e.g. cost efficiency (Goh, 2002), flexibility (Blome et al., 2014) and competitive
advantage (Kang et al.,2010). Some scholars use the terms KT and knowledge sharing (KS)
interchangeably, so they believe that these two concepts mean the same (Martín Cruz et al.,
2009). However, others (Paulin and Suneson, 2012) argue that KT and KS are not the same.
Indeed, KT, as a whole, is a broader concept which encompasses KS practices (Tangaraja
et al.,2016). While the distinction between these two concepts is blurred, we apply KT and
KS interchangeably in this research, not least because we intend to conduct a comprehensive
literature review.
Antecedents of
knowledge
transfer
971
A review of existing literature on KT reveals that there are some scholars who attempted
to conduct a systematic literature review and make connections between different works
from various perspectives. For instance, Battistella et al. (2016) critically reviewed the
relevant literature on inter-organizational technology/knowledge transfer. They proposed a
model of technology/knowledge transfer and considered six categories related to the actors
involved, i.e. sources, recipients and intermediaries, the relationship between them, the
object of the transfer, the channels and mechanisms and the reference context. In another
study, Burmeister (2017) investigated Repatriate KT (RKT) in the literature published
between 2000 and 2015. As a result, she offered an integrated framework of the variables
that affect RKT success. She proposed that the prerequisites for repatriation strategy
implementation can be classified in three levels: individual, dyad and organization. In the
context of software development, Ghobadi (2015) reviewed the literature on KT between
1993 and 2011 and suggested a classification framework which identifies four main drivers
of KT: structure related drivers (team and organizational drivers), task related drivers,
people related drivers and technology related drivers.
In the aforementioned studies (Li et al.,2014), scholars chose various theoretical lens to
delineate the literature review on KT. The most cited and applied theories in KT are
reviewed in a study by Burmeister (2017) which are knowledge creation and organizational
learning, resource (or knowledge) based view, social capital theory/social resources theory,
communication theory, and social exchange theory. To the best of our knowledge, no
systematic study on KT has been conducted by using ANT, which builds the theoretical
grounding of this research. ANT enables us to better analyze the large body of literature on
KT through the perspectiveof actants and objects involved in KT practices.
Actor–network theory
Originally rooted in sociology of scientific knowledge, ANT explains the relation between
underlying dissimilar elements of a heterogeneous network of aligned interests, including
people, organizations and standards (Elder-Vass, 2015). It argues that all co-extensive
networks comprise of both inseparable social and technical parts (Whittle and Spicer, 2008).
Any actor, whether a person, an object (including technological tools or technical standards),
or an organization, is equally important to a social network (Latour, 1996). The theory has
been used by researchers to explore how networks are built, assembled and maintained to
achieve a specific objective (Latour, 1996). It is necessary to note that ANT does not explain
why a network exists; it focuses on the infrastructure of actor–networks, how they are
formed and how they may fall apart (Latour, 2005). Since its introduction, ANT has
undergone significant changes and evolutions in different fields, and used in various
contexts, from health care (Greenhalgh and Stones, 2010) to accounting (Justesen and
Mouritsen, 2011) and management and organizations (Alcadipani and Hassard, 2010).
Despite its popularity and potential contribution to understanding KT and its antecedents,
to our knowledge there is no current study that used ANT in the knowledge-related
contexts. Building on extant literature, we argue how this theory provides a robust
foundation to our research framework and enables us to carefully investigate KT and its
antecedents through an integrative analysis.
Drawing on ANT, we can identify, describe and justify the main network constitutes that
facilitate KT. By relying on the conceptualization of ANT by Law (2008), we propose that in
KT, actants (denote human and non-human actors) are included knowledge sender/receiver,
team and organization, whereas objects refer to technology, knowledge and knowledge
exchange (Figure 1). We argue that actants should operate in the context of organizational
norms, rules and strategies, team environment and expectations, available technology and
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the richness of knowledge base. Indeed, interactions in any KT practice are determined by a
combination of different network constitutes which include actants and objects, such as
knowledge base or technology. The interplay between actants and objects leads to a
systematic knowledgecreation and knowledge exchange which is demonstrated in Figure 1.
Following Couldry’s (2008) work on the application of ANT in exploring the role of
media and communication technologies in contemporary societies, we apply ANT in the
context of KT to explain the web of connections between actants and objects. We propose
that knowledge senders/receivers, as the actant of KT activity, can learn from human
agents, different business units, organizations, technologies and/or objects, and hence, they
adjust their behavior in various ways in an intertwined network. We posit that the degree of
KT, and the level/amount of content generated and disseminated by knowledge sender/
receivers are influenced by some antecedents within the infrastructure of KT actor–
networks. These antecedents are carefully investigated in this research to delineate how
they operate and interactin a network of KT.
Methodology
To conduct a synthesized comprehensive review, we followed the suggestions by Leidner
and Kayworth (2006) to (i) carry out a literature review, (ii) select and apply appropriate
criteria for inclusion and exclusion of papers in the study, and finally (iii) develop a
conceptual framework grounded in the literature.
In order to review the literature, we proceeded with a search of databases in management
and information systems (IS), e.g. AIS, Science Direct, EBSCO and ABI/Inform. To identify
the relevant articles for our review, we utilized multiple terms and their combinations, such
as knowledge transfer, knowledge sharing, and knowledge exchange. Furthermore, to
ensure that our review is comprehensive, we reviewed bibliographies of the seminal papers
and assessed the relevant work, known as backward research approach. Since the literature
on this domain is very broad, we narrowed down our pool to empirical papers that directly
Figure 1.
The proposed
research framework
Antecedents of
knowledge
transfer
973
focused on KT or KS. We thus excluded papers that discuss other theoretically overlapping
but distinct concepts, such as knowledge interpretation from our review. Our search was
also limited to articles published between 1987 and 2017. To determine the suitability of the
papers for our study, we reviewed articles’abstract, introduction, and discussion/conclusion
(Swanson and Ramiller, 1993).
As a result of adopting a multi-staged review approach discussed above, we finally
identified 115 distinctive papers, which meet all the criteria listed above to be included in our
review. Each selected paper was then further reviewed with respect to our research aim,
adopted definitions, research constructs and conceptual framework. Having conducted this
critical and comprehensive analysis, 91 uniquely independent antecedents were identified.
Upon further classification and integration, six key constitutes emerged from our review
that encompasses all identified antecedents. The six key KT constitutes include knowledge
exchange, knowledge sender/receiver, organization, knowledge, team and technology.
Table I provides a summary of these six network constitutes along with a statistical outline
of each and their contributions to the whole review.
By comparing the first and last columns of Table I, we can identify the areas in the
literature that are less developed. In the next section, each identified constitute and its
antecedents are described.
Findings
Following ANT, we grouped all KT antecedents into six. As demonstrated in Table I, the
first two constitutes, knowledge exchange and knowledge sender/receiver account for over
half of antecedents involved in KT. Knowledge exchange refers to all significant aspects
within the flow of knowledge. In fact, it is the actual process through which KT happens.
Therefore, it was placed at the center of the model (Figure 1) to highlight that all other five
KT network constitutes are linked together through knowledge exchange. Antecedents such
as the levels of trust and risk involved, coordination requirements, speed and quality of
knowledge being exchanged through a reciprocal flow between a sender and receiver are all
investigated in this constitute of KT. Table II depicts all 27 identified antecedents which
encompass knowledgeexchange based on prior research.
The second major constitute of KT deals with the role of sender/receiver within the
process of KT (Minbaeva, 2007). Effective KT highly depends on the ability and motivation
of the knowledge sender to articulate knowledge and communicate with the receiver for an
Table I.
Descriptive statistics
KT network
constitutes
Total no. of
antecedents per each
constitute
Percentage of
antecedents from
total identified
antecedents
Total no. of
reviewed studies
No. of antecedents
per each constitute
cited more than three
times
Knowledge
exchange
27 30 65 10
Knowledge
sender/
receiver
20 22 75 9
Organization 15 16 52 5
Knowledge 11 12 45 6
Team 10 11 13 2
Technology 8 9 23 2
Total 91 100 ––
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No. Antecedents Definition Studies
Knowledge exchange
1 Trust The extent of accuracy and
credibility of KT and its knowledge
transferors
Barson et al. (2000),Disterer (2001),Sharratt and Usoro, 2003;Levin and
Cross, 2004;Malhotra and Majchrzak, 2004;Bock et al., 2005;Inkpen and
Tsang, 2005;Riege, 2005;Chiu et al., 2006;Hodgkinson, 2006;Watson
and Hewett, 2006;Zárraga-Oberty and De Saá-Pérez, 2006;Jabr, 2007;
Riusala and Smale, 2007;Li et al., 2007;Park and Im, 2007;Pee et al.,
2007;Riege, 2007;Ardichvili, 2008;Becerra et al., 2008;Bonache and
Zárraga-Oberty, 2008;Easterby-Smith et al., 2008;Lin et al., 2008;Liao,
2008;Van Wijk et al., 2008;Duan et al., 2010;Chen et al., 2014a;Chen
et al., 2014b;Li et al., 2014;Kang and Hau, 2014;Ghobadi, 2015;
Battistella et al., 2016;Bellini et al., 2016;Miller et al., 2016;Burmeister,
2017;Nakauchi et al., 2017)
2 Tie strength The extent of closeness and
frequency of interactions within a
relationship between two parties
(Hansen, 1999;Reagans and McEvily, 2003;Levin and Cross, 2004;
Riege, 2005;Li et al., 2007;Van Wijk et al., 2008;Kang and Hau, 2014;
Ghobadi, 2015;Leonardi and Meyer, 2015;Battistella et al., 2016;Bellini
et al., 2016;Burmeister, 2017;Nakauchi et al., 2017;Peltokorpi and
Yamao, 2017)
3 Communication competence The skills require to perform
appropriate communicative
behaviors, e.g. face-to-face
communication in the process of KT
(Albino et al., 2004;Riege, 2005;Ko et al., 2005a;Ko et al., 2005b;Yih-
Tong Sun and Scott, 2005;Jabr, 2007;Joshi et al., 2007;Pee et al., 2007;
Murray and Peyrefitte, 2007;Xu and Ma, 2008;Chen et al., 2014a;
Ghobadi, 2015;Leonardi and Meyer, 2015;Miller et al., 2016)
4 Arduous relationship An emotionally laborious and
distant relationship between a
source and a recipient of knowledge
(Szulanski, 1996;Ko et al., 2005a;Pee et al., 2007;Xu and Ma, 2008;
Szulanski et al., 2016)
5 Time KT requires time to find the right
person, contact the person, retrieve
the necessary knowledge, and
integrate the new knowledge
(Riege, 2005;Jabr, 2007;Riege, 2007;Mueller, 2014;Zhao et al., 2015)
6 Shared understanding It refers to the similarities in grasp
and the level of experience between a
consultant and client
(Ko et al., 2005a;Pee et al., 2007;Teo and Bhattacherjee, 2014;Bellini
et al., 2016)
(continued)
Table II.
The antecedents of
KT
Antecedents of
knowledge
transfer
975
No. Antecedents Definition Studies
7 Risk- Ownership KT inherently involves some levels
of risk, particularly where
proprietary knowledge is being
shared. It refers to the fear of losing
ownership of knowledge
(Barson et al., 2000;Yih-Tong Sun and Scott, 2005;Riege, 2007;Becerra
et al., 2008)
8 Reciprocity The level of desire in maintaining
ongoing relationships with others
(Barson et al., 2000;Bock et al., 2005;Chiu et al., 2006;Kang, 2016)
9 Social capital It refers to (i) structural capital, also
known as cognitive capital (e.g.
shared values, language and codes)
and (ii) relational capital (e.g.
trusting inter-organizational
relationship)
(Van den Hooff and Huysman, 2009;Yu et al., 2012;Kang and Hau, 2014;
Massaro et al., 2016)
10 Coordination The extent to which activities,
people, routines and assignments
work together to accomplish
objectives and promote mutual
understanding
(Chen et al., 2014a;Loebbecke et al., 2016;Miller et al., 2016)
11 Communication flows Open and effective communication
(openness)
(Bresnen et al., 2003;Riege, 2005;Riege, 2007;Bellini et al., 2016)
12 Communities of Practice (CoP) An effective approach to foster KT is
to think together, to stay in touch
with each other and to share ideas
with each other
(Disterer, 2001;Ghobadi, 2015;Massaro et al., 2016)
13 Anticipated emotions and
attitudes
It refers to forward-looking affective
reactions, when the person imagines
the emotional consequences of
sharing or not sharing
(Ghobadi, 2015;Nylund and Raelin, 2015)
14 Speed and quality The degree of speed and the level of
quality in the knowledge being
transferred through an effective
communication
(Jabr, 2007;Al-Salti, 2009)
(continued)
Table II.
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No. Antecedents Definition Studies
15 KT target To identify the area/context/unit in
which knowledge is employed
(Barson et al., 2000)
16 Intrusive Knowledge should be transferred
through efficient mechanisms which
minimize the work requirements
(Riege, 2007)
17 Overload (Lean KT) How KT practices are designed to
reduce information overload
(Riege, 2007)
18 Managers ‘Mistake Tolerance
Levels
It captures and evaluates past honest
mistakes without being too critical of
them
(Riege, 2007)
19 Conflict avoidance It implies the attitudes of conflict
avoidance and conservative habits
which may prevent the transfer of
knowledge
(Disterer, 2001)
20 Knowledge governance It includes all efforts to support
cross-project KT to pursue the best
result
(Zhao et al., 2015)
21 Ease of KT It implies why individuals transfer
knowledge to some individuals but
not to others
(Reagans and McEvily, 2003)
22 Collective training It refers to a process whereby
sources of knowledge are imparted
by involving knowledge recipients in
interactions with those who use it
(Nakauchi et al., 2017)
23 Career advancement The degree to which a member
believes KT will affect their career
(Sharratt and Usoro, 2003)
24 Accuracy How accurately the recipient
reproduces a practice of the
organizational template
(Szulanski et al., 2004)
25 Density The extent to which knowledge
sender and receiver know each other
(Nakauchi et al., 2017)
(continued)
Table II.
Antecedents of
knowledge
transfer
977
No. Antecedents Definition Studies
26 Diversity The number of knowledge elements
that is connected to the knowledge
sender and receiver
(Brennecke and Rank, 2017)
27 Partner protectiveness It involves specialized personnel in KT,
e.g., technological gatekeepers and
specialized groups within organizational
structures, e.g., KT groups or the pricing
of access to proprietary information
(Simonin, 1999)
Knowledge sender and receiver
1 Motivation
(Source - Recipient)
The degree of willingness and belief
in the value of knowledge being
shared
(Szulanski, 1996;Barson et al., 2000;Disterer, 2001;Govindarajan and
Gupta, 2001;Malhotra and Majchrzak, 2004;Bock et al., 2005;Burgess,
2005;Ko et al., 2005a;Voelpel and Han, 2005;Dyer and Hatch, 2006;
Watson and Hewett, 2006;Riege and Zulpo, 2007;Milne, 2007;
Minbaeva, 2007;Ardichvili, 2008;Easterby-Smith et al., 2008;Lin et al.,
2008;Xu and Ma, 2008;Pérez-Nordtvedt et al., 2008;Al-Salti, 2009;
Oddou et al., 2009;Duan et al., 2010;Song, 2014;Teo and Bhattacherjee,
2014;Ghobadi, 2015;Bellini et al., 2016;Massaro et al., 2016;Miller et al.,
2016;Szulanski et al., 2016;Burmeister, 2017;Wei and Miraglia, 2017)
2 Absorptive capacity
(Retentive capacity)
It implies the ability to assess,
assimilate, institutionalize and apply
acquired knowledge
(Szulanski, 1996;Szulanski et al., 2004;Ko et al., 2005a;Dyer and Hatch,
2006;Inkpen and Pien, 2006;Pee et al., 2007;Riusala and Smale, 2007;
Easterby-Smith et al., 2008;Van Wijk et al., 2008;Xu and Ma, 2008;Al-
Salti, 2009;Oddou et al., 2009;Yeoh, 2009;Duan et al., 2010; Meier, 2011;
Yu et al., 2012;Minbaeva et al., 2014;Song, 2014;Iyengar et al., 2015;
Zhao et al., 2015;Khan et al., 2015;Massaro et al., 2016;Miller et al., 2016;
Szulanski et al., 2016;Burmeister, 2017;Liao et al., 2017)
3 Disseminative capacity It refers to team members’
knowledge, skills, experience and
background which collectively
contribute to teams’capability in KT
(Grant, 1997;Simonin, 1999;Barson et al., 2000;Govindarajan and
Gupta, 2001;Bresnen et al., 2003;Haghirian, 2003;Malhotra and
Majchrzak, 2004;Watson and Hewett, 2006;Joshi et al., 2007;Park and
Im, 2007;Riege, 2007;Ardichvili, 2008;Easterby-Smith et al., 2008;Lin
et al., 2008;Al-Salti, 2009;Yeoh, 2009;Oddou et al., 2009;Song, 2014;
Ghobadi, 2015;Zhao et al., 2015;Battistella et al., 2016;Massaro et al.,
2016;Burmeister, 2017;Nakauchi et al., 2017 )
(continued)
Table II.
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No. Antecedents Definition Studies
4 Experience The greater the level of prior
experience/expertise of the
knowledge seeker with the
underlying knowledge domain, the
less ambiguous the knowledge to be
transferred
(Simonin, 1999;Riege, 2005;Pee et al., 2007;Riege, 2007;Santhanam
et al., 2007;Ringberg and Reihlen, 2008;Oddou et al., 2009;Kamasak
and Bulutlar, 2010;Duan et al., 2010;Kang and Hau, 2014;Argote and
Fahrenkopf, 2016;Nakauchi et al., 2017)
5 Shared vision/goals It concerns a bonding mechanism
that helps different parts of an
organization to integrate resources
to reach the organization’s goals
(Inkpen and Tsang, 2005;Riege, 2005;Chiu et al., 2006;Li et al., 2007;
Van Wijk et al., 2008;Ghobadi, 2015;Bellini et al., 2016;Peltokorpi and
Yamao, 2017;Liao et al., 2017)
6 Power and status seeking
authorities
The degree that a person/party/
agent can change or control the
behaviour of other persons/parties/
agents within KT process
(Disterer, 2001;Jabr, 2007;Riege, 2007;Riusala and Smale, 2007;Liao,
2008;Easterby-Smith et al., 2008;Oddou et al., 2009)
7 Credibility It refers to the reliability and
reputation of a knowledge sender
(Szulanski, 1996;Dyer and Hatch, 2006;Elwyn et al., 2007;Joshi et al.,
2007;Pee et al., 2007;Al-Salti, 2009;Li et al., 2014;Ghobadi, 2015)
8 Tenure It concerns (i) the respondent’s
length of employment, (ii) the length
of the time that team members have
work together, and (iii) the age of the
respondent
(Riege, 2005;Riege, 2007;Liebowitz et al., 2007;Kang and Hau, 2014;
Ghobadi, 2015;Nakauchi et al., 2017)
9 Personality differences
(gender, race, rank)
The differences in individual
characters in terms of their tastes,
preferences, gender, race education
level, and rank which might affect
their direct confrontation and
communication with relevant parties
(Reagans and McEvily, 2003;Riege, 2005;Yih-Tong Sun and Scott, 2005;
Riege, 2007;Nakauchi et al., 2017)
10 Uncertainty Knowledge sender or receiver are not
certain about the value of the
knowledge to be transferred
(Disterer, 2001;Battistella et al., 2016)
11 Identification It refers to one’s conception of self in
terms of the defining features of self-
inclusive social category
(Chiu et al., 2006;Ghobadi, 2015)
(continued)
Table II.
Antecedents of
knowledge
transfer
979
No. Antecedents Definition Studies
12 Proximity Similarity in senders’embeddedness
in the knowledge network
(Slaughter and Kirsch, 2006;Brennecke and Rank, 2017)
13 Job security It implies apprehension or fear
towards sharing knowledge because
it may jeopardize one’s job security
(Riege, 2005;Riege, 2007)
14 Sense of self-worth It captures the extent to which
employees see themselves as
providing value to their
organizations through their KT
activities
(Bock et al., 2005)
15 Perceived punishment Employees are less likely to
exchange information in the absence
of openness, psychological safety
(Burgess, 2005)
16 Incoherent paradigms It considers the difficulties in
articulating and justifying personal
beliefs which do not fit with the
ruling paradigms of the organization
(Disterer, 2001)
17 Self-efficacy The degree of influence on
downward KT
(Kang, 2016)
18 Recipient’s starting conditions It refers to knowledge receiver’s
mind-set and level of knowledge
(Ghobadi, 2015)
19 Need to become part of the
group
It refers to the desire of individuals
to feel part of the team and share
knowledge with other team members
(Ghobadi, 2015)
20 Distributive justice It is defined as the perceived fairness
of organizational rewards that an
employee may receive after sharing
knowledge with others
(Ghobadi, 2015)
Organization
1 Culture The existence of collective
characteristics, behaviour’s, norms
and values that influence the
interactions between individuals and
(Simonin, 1999;Barson et al., 2000;Disterer, 2001;Gold et al., 2001;
McDermott and O’Dell, 2001;Bresnen et al., 2003;Haghirian, 2003;
Albino et al., 2004;Bock et al., 2005;Burgess, 2005;Inkpen and Tsang,
2005;Riege, 2005;Voelpel and Han, 2005;Liebowitz et al., 2007;Riege,
(continued)
Table II.
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No. Antecedents Definition Studies
their intention towards KT
behaviour
2007;Riege and Zulpo, 2007;Ajmal and Koskinen, 2008;Ardichvili,
2008;Ringberg and Reihlen, 2008;Ambos and Ambos, 2009; Salti, 2009;
Van den Hooff and Huysman, 2009;Duan et al., 2010;Tuan, 2012;Li
et al., 2014;Mueller, 2014; Al- Battistella et al., 2016;Benbya, 2016;Kang,
2016;Massaro et al., 2016;Burmeister, 2017;Wei and Miraglia, 2017)
2 Structure The degree of bureaucracy,
hierarchy and flexibility determines
the level of formality and control
over KT practices
(Grant, 1997;Gold et al., 2001;Bresnen et al., 2003;Sharratt and Usoro,
2003;Riege, 2005;Ivory et al., 2007;Riege, 2007;Riusala and Smale,
2007;Easterby-Smith et al., 2008;Van Wijk et al., 2008;Van den Hooff
and Huysman, 2009;Zaidman and Brock, 2009;Duan et al., 2010;
Ghobadi, 2015;Benbya, 2016)
3 Distance It refers to geographic (space-
distance), linguistic and normative
distance in KT behaviour
(DeCarolis and Deeds, 1999;Simonin, 1999;Barson et al., 2000;Van Wijk
et al., 2008;Al-Salti, 2009;Ambos and Ambos, 2009; Jones and Low,
2006; Duan et al., 2010;Ghobadi, 2015;Ahammad et al., 2016;Battistella
et al., 2016;Bellini et al., 2016)
4 Reward and recognition
system
An effective incentive system
ensures that everyone contributes to
what and to whom it matters
(Burgess, 2005;Riege, 2005;Riege, 2007;Bellini et al., 2016;Benbya,
2016)
5 Resources It refers to all types of resources and
infrastructure to successfully
support transfer practices and
opportunities
(Barson et al., 2000;Riege, 2005;Riege, 2007;Massaro et al., 2016)
6 Template- Methodology It implies all routines and methods
for identifying, acquiring,
structuring, generating, storing,
distributing and assessing
knowledge
(Barson et al., 2000;Jensen and Szulanski, 2007;Wei and Miraglia, 2017)
7 Context The degree to which an
organizational context supports the
development of KT
(Szulanski et al., 2004;Van Wijk et al., 2008;Battistella et al., 2016)
8 Direction and strategy It highlights the essential need for
senior management support of KT
activities
(Barson et al., 2000;Riege, 2005;Riege, 2007)
(continued)
Table II.
Antecedents of
knowledge
transfer
981
No. Antecedents Definition Studies
9 Organizational size It facilitates ease of sharing (Riege, 2005;Riege, 2007;Van Wijk et al., 2008)
10 Transactive memory It refers to the knowledge of who
knows what
(Yu et al., 2012;Ghobadi, 2015)
11 Space A physical work environment and
layout of work areas may restrict/
promote KT
(Riege, 2005,2007)
12 Competitiveness The degree of external or internal
competitiveness within and across
business units which may
encourage/discourage them towards
KT
(Riege, 2005,2007)
13 Procedural It concerns what knowledge sources
can/cannot be shared due to security
and confidentiality considerations
(Ardichvili et al., 2003;Garfield, 2006)
14 Cost It refers to the cost of managing KT
collaboration.
(Barson et al., 2000)
15 Ethics The subjective portion of the starting
points of any human behaviour
process encompassing business
(Tuan, 2012)
Knowledge
1 Tacitness (Codifiability) It refers to the degree that
knowledge can be broken down into
specific components which are
unambiguous and easy to
understand
(Simonin, 1999;Reagans and McEvily, 2003;Bou-Llusar and Segarra-
Ciprés, 2006;Inkpen and Pien, 2006;Zhang, 2006;Riusala and Smale,
2007;Becerra et al., 2008;Pérez-Nordtvedt et al., 2008;Xu and Ma, 2008;
Yeoh, 2009;Kang et al., 2010;Teo and Bhattacherjee, 2014;Park et al.,
2015;Battistella et al., 2016;Loebbecke et al., 2016;Burmeister, 2017;
Kudaravalli et al., 2017;Nakauchi et al., 2017)
2 Availability The extent to what knowledge is
available and easily accessible for
use
(Malhotra and Majchrzak, 2004;Watson and Hewett, 2006;Ivory et al.,
2007;Ajmal and Koskinen, 2008;Bonache and Zárraga-Oberty, 2008;Xu
and Ma, 2008;Lin et al., 2008;Benbya, 2016;Nakauchi et al., 2017)
3 Casual ambiguity The degree of understanding
between determinants and
consequences of actions
(Szulanski, 1996;Szulanski et al., 2004;Dyer and Hatch, 2006;Riege and
Zulpo, 2007;Bonache and Zárraga-Oberty, 2008;Easterby-Smith et al.,
(continued)
Table II.
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31,6
982
No. Antecedents Definition Studies
2008;Van Wijk et al., 2008;Xu and Ma, 2008;Duan et al., 2010;Szulanski
et al., 2016)
4 Complexity- Difficulty The extent to what KT is demanding
and complicated and it consists of
several interacting elements, such as
related practices, individuals, skills,
resources
(Simonin, 1999;Bou-Llusar and Segarra-Ciprés, 2006;Riusala and
Smale, 2007;Easterby-Smith et al., 2008;Xu and Ma, 2008;Kang et al.,
2010;Leonardi and Meyer, 2015;Battistella et al., 2016)
5 Value of knowledge
importance
The degree of value perceived in KT
which promotes higher engagement
in the process of KT
(Sharratt and Usoro, 2003;Malhotra and Majchrzak, 2004;Riege, 2005;
Watson and Hewett, 2006;Riege, 2007;Pérez-Nordtvedt et al., 2008;
Kang et al., 2010;Battistella et al., 2016)
6 Language The difficulty and influence of
language on the process of
knowledge transfers, particularly
when it meant to occur in a foreign
language
(Disterer, 2001;Haghirian, 2003;Riege, 2005;Voelpel and Han, 2005;
Chiu et al., 2006;Riege, 2007;Duan et al., 2010;Peltokorpi and Yamao,
2017)
7 Specificity-
Contextuality- Criticality
The more knowledge is context-
specific, the more difficult it can be
used in different contexts
(Bou-Llusar and Segarra-Ciprés, 2006;Battistella et al., 2016;Burmeister,
2017)
8 Proneness The degree of conjecture on the
utility of the transferred knowledge
(Szulanski et al., 2004)
9 Systemic Autonomous nature of knowledge (Bou-Llusar and Segarra-Ciprés, 2006)
10 Volatility The temporary value of the
knowledge
(Zhang, 2006)
11 Comprehensiveness The extent to which knowledge is
unambiguous, diverse and complete
(Benbya, 2016)
Team
1 Responsibility- Leadership Knowledge needs to be “nurtured,
supported, enhanced, and cared for”
within teams
(Disterer, 2001;Riege, 2005;Voelpel and Han, 2005;Oddou et al., 2009;
Mueller, 2014;Ghobadi, 2015;Bellini et al., 2016;Massaro et al., 2016;
Burmeister, 2017)
2 Openness to ideas Being keen to deviate from a
common trend of thought
(Yih-Tong Sun and Scott, 2005;Duan et al., 2010;Bellini et al., 2016;Liao
et al., 2017)
3 Climate (Yih-Tong Sun and Scott, 2005;Zhao et al., 2015)
(continued)
Table II.
Antecedents of
knowledge
transfer
983
No. Antecedents Definition Studies
The relational and trusting
relationship would implicitly effect
KT
4 Confidence Team confidence in the individual/
acceptance of the individual
(Yih-Tong Sun and Scott, 2005)
5 Heterogeneity It refers to the degree of dispersion
among team members in terms of
their demographic characteristics,
experiences, skills, cognitions, and
values
(Ghobadi, 2015)
6 Autonomy The extent to which a team in the
organization has been given the
freedom, independence, and
discretion to determine what actions
are required and how best to execute
them
(Ghobadi, 2015)
7 Team building activities Communication, problem solving,
decision making, adaptability,
planning, and trust building
activities
(Bellini et al., 2016)
8 Output orientation It focuses on the intended final
product or results of teamwork
(Mueller, 2014)
9 Interdependencies It refers to the degree to which team
members depend on each other for
completing their tasks
(Ghobadi, 2015)
10 Perceived indispensability It reflects the perceived importance
of one’s own contributions for the
team outcome
(Ghobadi, 2015)
Technology
(continued)
Table II.
EBR
31,6
984
No. Antecedents Definition Studies
1 IT systems and tools It considers communication channels
used in the provision and exchange
of Knowledge
(Alavi and Leidner, 2001;Barson et al., 2000;Bollinger and Smith, 2001;
Gold et al., 2001;Bresnen et al., 2003;Malhotra and Majchrzak, 2004;
Murray and Peyrefitte, 2007;Riege, 2007;Ardichvili, 2008;Al-Salti,
2009;Van den Hooff and Huysman, 2009;Duan et al., 2010;Yu et al.,
2012;Ghobadi, 2015;Bellini et al., 2016)
2 Technical support It refers to the internal and/or
external supports and immediate
maintenance of integrated
technology in KT
(Riege, 2005;Riege, 2007;Santhanam et al., 2007;Ardichvili, 2008)
3 Compatibility It concerns the ability to share any
type of knowledge sources across
various technology components/
infrastructures
(Riege, 2005;Riege, 2007;Yu et al., 2012)
4 Reluctance to use integrated
IT systems
The lack of familiarity and
experience with systems and tools
(Riege, 2005;Voelpel and Han, 2005;Riege, 2007)
5 Perceived usefulness/ Ease of
use
The degree of perceived value in the
applicability and usefulness of a
technology/system in the process of
KT
(Sharratt and Usoro, 2003;Nakauchi et al., 2017)
6 Channel richness
(effectiveness)
The degree of effectiveness of
knowledge being exchanged
between a vendor and a client by
using an electronic communication
channel
(Xu and Yao, 2006;Pee et al., 2007)
7 Training The level of training provided by an
organization to familiarize their staff
with the new IT/non-IT systems
used for KT
(Riege, 2005;Bellini et al., 2016)
8 Expectations It refers to the level of expectations
as to what technology can do or
cannot do with respect to KT
activities
(Riege, 2005,2007)
Table II.
Antecedents of
knowledge
transfer
985
effective sharing (Massaro et al., 2016;Miller et al.,2016). Similar to knowledge sender, the
capacity of knowledge receiver to absorb and use the transferred knowledge plays an
important role in the success of KT (Vaghefiet al., 2018). It should be noted that the
antecedents involved in knowledge sender/receiver are different from the knowledge
exchange. In knowledge exchange, our focus is on the process of exchange, whereas in
knowledge sender/receiver antecedent, the specifications of knowledge sender/receiver are
investigated. A total of 20 antecedents are recognized in this KT object, which include
sender/receiver’s motivation, experience, shared vision/goals, credibility and tenure. A full
list of antecedents along with a brief definition and a sample of studies referred to each are
illustrated in Table II.
The third most significant KT network constitute relates to the organization, which
highlights the importance of social and contextual factors influencing knowledge actants
and objects and the interplay between them (Riege and Zulpo, 2007;Liebowitz et al.,2007;
Ardichvili, 2008). A total of 15 antecedents, including structure, distance, space, cost, etc.
have been referred by prior studies as the key influential factors that define the organization
of any KT activity.
Knowledge is the fourth recognized constitute of KT which accounts over 10 per cent of
antecedents from the total antecedents. Indeed, the first essential enabler of any KT is
related to the type and nature of knowledge being transferred. Extant research has revealed
the significant role of antecedents related to knowledge, such as explicitness (Bou-Llusar
and Segarra-Ciprés, 2006), simplicity (Ambos and Ambos, 2009) and availability (Nakauchi
et al., 2017). See Table II for the full list of 11 variables of this antecedent. The last two KT
constitutes highlight the importance of team and technology in any successful KT practice.
In any KT, a team of at least two, i.e. sender and receiver must work together to exchange
targeted knowledge. Antecedents, such as the extent of team members’openness to transfer
new ideas/knowledge (Bellini et al.,2016), autonomy to decide on various stages of KT
(Ghobadi, 2015), and the degree of team being output oriented (Mueller, 2014) are included in
this constitute. Finally, technology refers to the technical mechanisms underlying KT.
Today, many organizations apply IT/IS as the main communication channel which provides
them with a faster and more secured means of transferring knowledge. However, soft KT
via IT/IS brings its own challenges, so issues such as the compatibility of the systems in
between sender and receiver (Yu et al.,2012), the level of technical support (Wehn and
Montalvo, 2018) training about the technology being used for transfer (Bellini et al.,2016)
and the effectiveness/richness of the channel of exchange (Pee et al.,2007) are essential
antecedents to be considered in this constitute of KT (Table II).
Having presented the six main network constitutes of KT, it is imperative to note that not
all identified ones are equally applicable and/or significant in all KT contexts, both inter and
intra organizations. This is not a surprising finding, as this paper intended to provide a
comprehensive, yet a context-free review of antecedents affecting KT which covers both
firm level and inter-firm KT considerations. To this end, our research aimed to provide a
holistic roadmap for organizations to select and employ the KT constitutes and their
corresponding antecedents that they find relevant to their KT practices, yet the findings
should be interpreted with discretion.
Research contributions
Our paper makes important contributions. From a theoretical perspective, adopting a
synthesized approach based on ANT puts forward a valid theoretical foundation on further
understanding of KT and its network constitutes. This theoretical lens helped us analyze the
complex organizational behavior of KT from objects and actants’view. Accordingly, our
EBR
31,6
986
research contributed to theoretically extending the application of ANT in KT. Moreover, our
proposed framework contributes to KT research by providing ontology of the underlying
constitutes of KT from a socio-technical point of view. Therefore, by adopting a
comprehensive approach to identify the key antecedents of KT, we contribute to
understanding the motivational, behavioral, technological and organizational aspects of KT.
Taking all aforementioned aspects into account, this research contributes to existing
literature by offering a comprehensive context-free literature review on KT, which
synthesizes and generalizes the findings of existing knowledge on KT.
From a practical perspective, this study offers useful insights for both knowledge
workers and business managers to help improve their KT processes and successfully
manage them within and across their organizations. Our framework shows that a successful
development and implementation of KT demands a high level of coordination and
communication throughout the organizational structure, policies and culture. Hence, we
draw managers’attention to the significance of adopting a holistic perspective in
implementing KT and posit that managers need to carefully consider all key constitutes
(that are applicable to their work). Indeed, managers may not be able to realize the potential
values of KT if they underestimate key points, such as the characteristics of their
organization, the type of technology used, and the nature and the attributes of knowledge
being transferred. While providing no mandate, our framework can be used as a guideline
for managers and organizations to understand the key antecedents that could affect the
process of inter and intra organizational KT, and its eventual success.
Moreover, our research framework has the potential to provide an assessment tool for
KT’s effectiveness. For example, through the lens of knowledge sender/receiver category,
organizations can assess the strengths and weaknesses/shortcomings of a KT project team.
Indeed, by using the six KT constitutes identified in this research, organizations can outline
how an assessment tool can be put together to identify the deficiencies in their existing KT
system and thus find ways for improving it. For instance, an organization with different
business units is required to apply effective communication models and methods within and
between its businesses to increase efficiency, decrease wastes and finally enhance the
organization’s competitiveness. By applying our framework, managers can find potential
communication barriers (noises) that may prevent an appropriate KT model, e.g. lack of
trust, accuracy and credibility of the KT and its transferors (Table II). Also based on their
current organization’s circumstances, managers can detect which one of the constitutes or
antecedents works better in interactive vs. push or pull method of communication. The
underlying assumption in here is that organizations are not static entities and their
environment and inter and intra organizational interactions are dynamic in nature. This can
be considered as one of the key empirical contributions of this study, as the existing
literature provides little direction to managers on how to reap the most benefits from their
investment on KT practices. In this regard, we encourage managers to adopt a holistic
perspective on where managerial efforts and resources should be invested to foster KT in
their organizations.
Conclusion, limitations and future studies
In this paper, we provided an overview of the current knowledge on KT, and proposed a
conceptual framework based on ANT, which highlighted the key constitutes and
antecedents that influence KT. Based on ANT, we categorized KT constitutes as actants and
objects. The KT constitutes that are related to actants were human-oriented, while the
object-related constitutes were about the artifacts that facilitate KT. We found three
constitutes of actants related to organization, team, and knowledge sender/receiver, and
Antecedents of
knowledge
transfer
987
three constitutes of objects related to technology, knowledge exchange and knowledge. For
each constitute, the main antecedents, including those that facilitate or impede KT were
investigated. Our findings advance extant research on the key constitutes that influence KT
process:
individual choices on knowledge characteristics;
knowledge exchange environment;
knowledge senders and receivers’specifications;
organizational capacity;
team provisions; and
KT technological enablers.
A few limitations need to be acknowledged. The first limitation is related to the selected
keywords for review. KT literature is increasingly growing and since the findings of this
research are based on the reviewed studies in the current literature, universality and
generalizability of the results might be questioned. Similarly, as our research is established
on the findings of the reviewed papers, the limitation of these studies may restrict the
findings of our research (Ghobadi, 2015). Future studies may build on our findings to push
our understanding of KT research. Additionally, as our focus was on identifying the actants
and objects of the KT (demonstrated in Figure 1), investigating the interactions between
them as the main KT network constitutes was beyond the scope of this research (and hence
not examined). Future research is needed to pay specific attention to such relationships and
carefully assess the nature and direction of the link between the KT constitutes to further
develop this research findings. Moreover, for each constitute, new theoretical perspectives
can be employed to add further insights to the body of extant knowledge. Finally, as
discussed in the findings section, some constitutes such as technology are still
underdeveloped, and while few scholars have highlighted the significant role of these
constitutes and their antecedents, future research is needed in such domains to enrich the
existing knowledge base.
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Corresponding author
Mona Rashidirad can be contacted at: M.Rashidirad@sussex.ac.uk
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Antecedents of
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