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The Process of Knowledge Transfer: A Diachronic Analysis of Stickiness
Abstract
Even though intrafirm transfers of knowledge are often laborious, time consuming, and difficult, current conceptions treat them as essentially costless and instantaneous. When acknowledged, difficulty is an anomaly in the way transfers are modeled rather than a characteristic feature of the transfer itself. One first step toward incorporating difficulty in the analysis of knowledge transfer is to recognize that a transfer is not an act, as typically modeled, but a process. This article offers a process model of knowledge transfer. The model identifies stages of transfer and factors that are expected to correlate with difficulty at different stages of the transfer. The general expectation is that factors that affect the opportunity to transfer are more likely to predict difficulty during the initiation phase, whereas factors that affect the execution of the transfer are more likely to predict difficulty during subsequent implementation phases. Measures of stickiness are developed for each stage of the transfer to explore the predictive power of different factors at different stages of the process. A cross-sectional analysis of primary data collected through a two-step survey of 122 transfers of organizational practices within eight firms illustrates the applicability of the model and suggests several issues for further research.
... Despite that research over the past two decades has shed light on knowledge transfer processes (e.g. de Wit-de Vries et al., 2019;Siegel et al., 2004;Szulanski, 2000) and boundary spanners in interorganizational contexts (Balogun et al., 2005;Lundberg, 2013;Rosenkopf & Nerkar, 2001), organizations are still uncertain about how to reap the benefits of co-creating knowledge through UIC and industrial PhD projects in particular (Assbring & Nuur, 2017). Holistic performance improvement requires deliberate engagement with boundary spanners such as industry PhD students and with the opportunities that facilitate the process of knowledge dissemination (Haas, 2015). ...
... As such, the paper contributes to the theory of knowledge dissemination in UIC (e.g. Grant, 1996b;Liyanage et al., 2009;Riege, 2005;Szulanski, 2000), focusing on industrial PhD students. The results can help organizations manage expectations, make more informed decisions, and improve conditions for the proliferation of cross-border industrial PhDs (e.g. ...
... Several general organizational-and individual-level barriers may also hinder boundary spanners' knowledge dissemination (see Table 1 for a summary). Szulanski (2000) claimed that the organizational context affects the willingness and ability to fulfil transfer-related tasks because of norms and values (Kostova, 1999), incentives and support in the organization (Leonard- Barton & Deschamps, 1988). Riege (2005) proposed additional potential organizational barriers such as T A B L E 1 Potential barriers and enablers to boundary spanners' knowledge dissemination. ...
Industrial PhD students, affiliating to industrial firms and academic institutions, hold unique boundary‐spanning positions as they engage in knowledge co‐creation through university–industry collaboration (UIC). Despite much research on knowledge transfer processes and boundary spanners in inter‐organizational contexts, firms who engage in UIC remain uncertain about how to reap the benefits of co‐creating knowledge through industrial PhD projects. This paper investigates the enablers of knowledge dissemination for PhD students in industrial firms. Based on a qualitative case study in Sweden, our study identifies enablers and mechanisms related to individual and organizational actions in the internal knowledge dissemination process. Based on the findings, the paper presents a model that distinguishes between surface and deep knowledge dissemination and elaborates on the symbiotic nature of enablers, with middle management mediating between the individual and organizational levels. The paper enhances research on knowledge dissemination in UIC by specifically addressing industrial PhD students' dissemination of co‐created knowledge. The findings inform organizations in managing their expectations, making more informed decisions and improving dissemination conditions for boundary‐spanning industrial PhD students in UIC.
... Daarnaast past de praktijk waarin de kennis is opgenomen, zich aan de nieuwe kennis. Pas wanneer beide zich aan elkaar hebben aangepast, integreert de kennis in de praktijk (Jensen & Szulanski, 2004;Szulanski, 1996Szulanski, , 2000. Vanuit een constructivistische benadering is kennis gesitueerd, en dat heeft consequenties voor de mogelijkheden van overdracht van kennis. ...
... Middenmanagers zijn minder geneigd hun kennis te delen als zij het idee hebben geen controle te hebben over hoe er met de kennis wordt omgegaan (Reitzig & Maciejovsky, 2015). En de ontvangende groep blijkt de kennis van de nieuweling alleen te gebruiken als de nieuwelingen hoge status hebben (Bunderson, Van der Vegt & Sparrowe, 2014), als de gedeelde kennis wordt gekwalificeerd als zijnde van hoge kwaliteit afkomstig van iemand met dezelfde sociale identiteit (Gruenfeld, Martorana & Fan, 2000;Kane, Argote & Levine, 2005) of als de bron van de kennis wordt vertrouwd (Szulanski, 1996(Szulanski, , 2000. ...
... De 'causale ambiguïteit' ofwel de mate waarin de kennis inhoudelijk ingewikkeld is om te begrijpen, werd ook door Szulanski (1996Szulanski ( , 2000 beschreven als factor die het leren beïnvloedt, zowel bij het identificeren van de kennis als bij het integreren, implementeren en het gebruiken ervan in de praktijk. Voortbordurend op het werk van Szulanski (2000) beweren Kulkarni en Ramamoorthy (2014) en Van Wijk, Jansen & Lyles (2008) dat ook de overdracht van morele inzichten wordt beïnvloed door de cognitieve vaardigheden van medewerkers om waardevolle morele inzichten te herkennen en goed toe te passen, door de organisatorische context of het ethische klimaat van de organisatie en ten slotte door de aard van de kennis zelf. ...
Medewerkers in organisaties lopen tegen allerlei morele vraagstukken aan. Organisaties vinden het belangrijk dat medewerkers hiermee ‘goed’ omgaan, dat zij op de goede manier de goede dingen doen. Dit proefschrift heeft het leren van organisaties over morele vraagstukken als centraal thema. Centraal staat het 4I-model voor organisatieleren van Crossan, Lane, Maurer en White (Crossan, Lane & White, 1999; Crossan, Maurer & White 2011). Zij beschrijven organisatieleren als een systeem waarin leren op meerdere niveaus in de organisatie plaatsvindt: het individuele niveau, groepsniveau en organisatieniveau. Daarnaast beschrijven ze vier sociaalpsychologische processen die leren ondersteunen op en tussen deze niveaus: Intuïtievorming, Interpreteren, Integreren en Institutionaliseren. Het model gaat niet specifiek in op moreel leren.
Binnen steeds meer organisaties worden reflectiegesprekken georganiseerd om te leren over morele vraagstukken. Een dergelijk moreel beraad is een overleg waarin op gestructureerde wijze wordt gereflecteerd op een morele kwestie die speelt in de beroepspraktijk. Je kunt de uitkomst van zo’n moreel beraad opschrijven in een apart document: ‘moresprudentie’. Op die manier kunnen derden delen in de kennis en de inzichten blijven behouden voor de organisatie. Moresprudentie kan in potentie een sleutelrol vervullen bij moreel organisatieleren.
Uit het onderzoek blijkt het model van Crossan et al. goed houvast biedt voor het bestuderen van morele leerprocessen. Learning on the job speelt hierbij een belangrijke rol: collega’s wisselen met elkaar morele argumenten uit en beoordelen deze kritisch. Zij toetsen daarbij hun persoonlijke morele normen en ervaringen aan elkaar en stemmen dit op elkaar af. Zo wordt een collectief inzicht over het morele vraagstuk mogelijk. Ook bij het integratieproces – waarbij een moreel inzicht op groepsniveau op organisatieniveau wordt geïntegreerd in onder andere bestaande organisatiesystemen, routines, regels en werkwijzen - blijken dergelijke processen van toetsing en afstemming plaats te vinden. Dit proces van impliciet dan wel expliciet wederzijds afstemmen en overnemen van morele argumenten en morele oordelen van een ander, noem ik ‘moral matching’. Organisatieleren over morele vraagstukken wordt bevorderd als er een moral match is tussen de morele inzichten van de betrokken medewerkers. Een geslaagde moral match is echter geen voorwaarde voor organisatieleren. Agree to disagree of een fair compromis zijn immers verdedigbare uitkomsten van een leerproces in een pluriforme organisatie en samenleving. Volgens het 4I-model vormt institutionalisering een wezenlijk onderdeel van het organisatieleren. De factoren die het institutionaliseren van morele inzichten ondersteunen of hinderen, zijn onder te verdelen in: 1. cognitieve of kennisinhoudelijke factoren, zoals de urgentie van het morele vraagstuk, en de begrijpelijkheid van het morele inzicht, 2. organisatorische factoren, zoals invloed hebben op de tot standkoming van het morele inzicht en ervaring opdoen met het morele inzicht, 3. factoren die een meer (sociaal-) psychologisch karakter hebben, zoals invloeden van buitenaf als bemoeienis te zien. Het institutionaliseren van morele inzichten is dus een gelaagd proces. Het is bijvoorbeeld belangrijk dat het morele inzicht op cognitief niveau te begrijpen is en op affectief niveau aangrijpt bij de ontvanger van het morele inzicht. Ervaring met het morele inzicht is van belang voor het al dan niet overnemen ervan. Moresprudentie, als de drager van morele kennis en als onderdeel van het organisatiegeheugen, heeft zich in de praktijk in Nederland ontwikkeld tot een concept dat meerdere vormen, doelen en doelgroepen kent. Dit proefschrift maakt een onderscheid tussen 1e, 2e en 3e orde moresprudentie en het moresprudentie archief. Moresprudentie draagt bij aan het bestendig moreel organisatieleren als het in de juiste vorm wordt aangeboden, gericht op de juiste doelgroep, en op het juiste niveau in de organisatie en als het wordt ondersteund door strategisch beleid. Wanneer kan een ethicus vanuit zijn of haar expertise een rol spelen in het leerproces? Bij het uitvoeren van moreel beraad, bij het formuleren van moresprudentie en bij het adviseren in het kader van organisatieleren over morele vraagstukken. Hiervoor heeft de ethicus meer expertise nodig dan tot dusver in de wetenschappelijke literatuur is beschreven. De vereiste expertise kan ook aanwezig zijn bij andere professionals binnen de organisatie; de ethicus is uniek qua expertise voor het ontwikkelen van 2e orde moresprudentie.
... Des opérations antérieures réussies peuvent augmenter la confiance. Ce climat de confiance amène les entreprises impliquées dans le transfert de connaissances à améliorer l'efficacité du processus (Szulanski, 2000). Dans cette perspective, les entreprises amenées à fusionner doivent veiller à la qualité de leur futur partenaire. ...
... Le capital social est dès lors celui du nouvel ensemble, ses dimensions structurelles, relationnelles et cognitives favorisant ainsi la combinaison et l'échange des connaissances. Le nombre important de liens entre individus constitue ici un facteur déterminant dans la réussite du partage de savoir dans la mesure où la possibilité d'interactions sociales fréquentes entre membres est plus élevée: des relations fortes ajoutent une communication régulière et fréquente ainsi qu'un niveau plus élevé d'attachement émotionnel et de confiance entre individus (Szulanski, 2000;Tsai, 2002). ...
... Explicit knowledge can be transferred via books, articles or blog posts. Tacit knowledge is more "sticky" or difficult to transfer (Szulanski, 2000). Personal interaction between the knowledge source and recipient is needed to facilitate the transfer of tacit knowledge (Ko et al., 2005). ...
... Szulanski (2006) suggested that characteristics of the source of knowledge, characteristics of the recipient of knowledge, and characteristics of the context contribute to the stickiness of knowledge. Szulanski (2000) found that the recipient perceptions of the reliability of the source were associated with the difficulty of knowledge transfer. Our findings may suggest that university IT staff may attach more weight to ACM CCS or IEEE SSP publications than the NSA/DHS National CAE designation. ...
... As a result, information transfer can occur between corporations, societies, and organizations, as well as between private and public organizations and between producers and customers. Szulanski (2000) stresses that the recipient's absorption ability, which is tied to his past knowledge and skills, as well as his willingness to strive to integrate this new knowledge, is dependent on knowledge sharing. Lack of motivation can lead to postponement, rejection, interruption, inactivity, or acceptance when it comes to the application and use of shared knowledge. ...
... It's also a good approach for generating value or gaining a long-term competitive advantage (Lyles & Salk, 1996;Van Wijk et al., 2008) and enhancing business performance. Szulanski (2000) describes KT as a challenging process that is multifaceted and can be considered a social issue. At the inter-organizational level, it's considerably more complicated and tough (Chen et al., 2010). ...
This preliminary research aims to examine the impacts of actively using knowledge transfer among inter-organizations related to the coastal tourism industry to promote sustainable development implementation. This research project is an exploratory, qualitative study focusing on knowledge transfer practices from an inter-organisational perspective in the context of sustainable coastal tourism in Sri Lanka. Moreover, a qualitative approach is used in this research. Participants chose from academic, government, industry, and coastal community clusters. The researcher chose industrial and coastal community participants from the Hikkaduwa district. Hikkaduwa was chosen because it was one of the primary coastal tourism destinations in this island nation, and overdevelopment, environmental degradation, and civil war threaten this once vibrant and robust coastal ecosystem and tourism-dependent economy. Data was collected via online and in-person interviews. This study uses a reflexive thematic analysis approach to analyze the data from the coastal-related stakeholders' views, opinions, knowledge, and experiences. Further, it addresses the lack of prior exploratory research in knowledge transfer, the inter-organizational perspective of the Sri Lanka coastal tourism industry and the need for theories, and strategies implications in this area, which has been a lack of focus by academics. Further, this research develops a conceptual framework based on the quintuple helix model. This model demonstrates the importance of healthy interaction and calls for collective interaction and knowledge transfer through education systems, political systems, economic systems, social systems, and the natural environment (Hartanto et al, 2021). Hence, the research contributes to both practice and theory in different ways.
... В связи с этим трансфер знаний рассматривается нами с позиций нескольких подходов. В частности, использовались положения проектного подхода (Thiel, 2002), подчеркивающего нацеленность трансфера знаний на результат; процессного подхода (Meng et al., 2019;Szulanski, 2000), представляющего трансфер знаний как процесс, и положения сетевого подхода (Hansen, 2002;Sun et al., 2019), характеризующего факторы, влияющие на взаимосвязи участников трансфера знаний. ...
... С позиции процессного подхода трансфер знаний характеризуется как смена определенных стадий. Так, Г. Шулански (Szulanski, 2000) выделял четыре этапа трансфера знаний: начальный, связанный с осознанием нехватки знаний; этап внедрения, характеризующийся выбором подходящего средства для передачи; этап расширения, обусловленный проверкой применимости полученных знаний; этап интеграции, подразумевающий их включение в собственные знания организации. В рамках этого подхода исследователи сходятся во мнении, что важнейшими факторами, влияющими на трансфер знаний, являются способность поставщика знаний к их передаче, способность получателя знаний к их восприятию, факторы, характеризующие взаимодействия между участниками, а также природа знаний (Szulanski, 1996). ...
Статья посвящена исследованию особенностей и факторов развития трансфера знаний из академического сектора в организации высокотехнологичного сектора. Систематизированы способы получения и передачи знаний организацией, виды трансфера знаний. Выделены факторы трансфера знаний с позиции процессного, сетевого и системного подходов. С целью подтверждения полученных теоретических выводов проанализированы факторы трансфера знаний на примере крупного высокотехнологичного предприятия. Эмпирическую базу исследования составили результаты анкетирования работников (г. Ростов-на-Дону, Россия), осуществленного в апреле – мае 2023 года. На основе результатов анкетирования проведен корреляционный и регрессионный анализ, позволяющий установить фактическую взаимосвязь между факторами, характеризующими параметры трансфера знаний из академической среды. Показано, что все группы факторов имеют прямое положительное воздействие на результаты трансфера знаний. При этом подчеркивается, что факторы получателя знаний, поставщиков знаний и взаимного доверия участников трансфера, то есть факторы, характеризующие внутреннюю мотивацию участников, оказывают более сильное воздействие на результат трансфера знаний нежели факторы организации взаимодействия, отражающие внешнюю мотивацию. С помощью полученных выводов сформулированы рекомендации, направленные на повышение эффективности факторов, воздействующих на трансфер знаний на предприятие. Выделено пять основных направлений развития трансфера знаний: повышение эффективности организации взаимодействия поставщика и получателя знаний; укрепление уровня доверия между ними; расширение круга поставщиков знаний; повышение их способности к передаче знаний и способности к восприятию новых знаний получателем, рост эффективности применения полученных знаний. Подчеркивается значение профессионально-образовательной экосистемы как открытой неиерархической устойчивой взаимосвязи предприятия с образовательными, научными, общественными организациями в развитии трансфера знаний
... Further, acquiring new knowledge and replacing the old knowledge or techniques is difficult in developing countries (Rahman & Hasan, 2017). For instance, in developed countries, it was found that in case of sluggishness, practices become institutionalized, making them difficult to eliminate (Szulanski, 2000). Further, Mudami et al. (Mudambi et al., 2018) explained that integrating knowledge creation processes into a zooming-in and zooming-out perspective enables us to comprehend downstream market processes, and combines subnational, national, and multinational spatial scales. ...
... In other words, the findings indicate that high KS strengthened the link between SL and IWB via CSE. Further, it is seen that sluggish networks result in stagnation and, ultimately, a low level of innovative tendencies (Szulanski, 2000). Researchers have examined the main distinctions between stability and change, emphasizing the contingencies that could impact the innovative outcomes of both, stable and flexible connections (Soda et al., 2019). ...
... • Transformation is where processes are reconfigured to exploit newly acquired knowledge (Zahra and George Fig. 1 Absorptive capacity (Zahra and George 2002) 2002). The amount of time and effort required to unlearn and relearn the new processes and knowledge with the old one is proportional to how much prior knowledge is ingrained (Szulanski 2000). This is where knowledge is reflected or thought. ...
The importance of knowledge for organizational success is widely recognized, leading managers to leverage knowledge actively. Within knowledge transfer, the Absorptive Capacity (ACAP) of Knowledge Recipients (KR) emerges as an unresolved barrier. ACAP is the dynamic capability to absorb knowledge and surpass the aggregation of individual ACAP within an organization. However, more research is needed on individual-level ACAP and its implications for bridging the gap between individual and organizational knowledge transfer. To address this gap, this study employs Agent-Based Modeling (ABM) as a simulation method to replicate individual ACAP within an organization, facilitating the examination of knowledge transfer dynamics. ABM allows for the detailed analysis of interactions between individual KRs and the organizational environment, revealing how uninterrupted time and other factors influence knowledge absorption. The implications of the study are that ABM provides specific insights into how individual ACAP affects organizational learning and performance, emphasizing the importance of uninterrupted time for KR to achieve optimal knowledge exploitation and highlighting the need for organizational practices and policies that foster environments conducive to knowledge absorption.
... In reality, uncertainty is an intrinsic characteristic of knowledge, significantly impacting the process of knowledge transfer [12]. To further explore the uncertainty of teachers' knowledge, we evaluate the popular teacher detector (GFL [13]) on the train set of the MS COCO [14]. ...
Knowledge distillation (KD) is a widely adopted and effective method for compressing models in object detection tasks. Particularly, feature-based distillation methods have shown remarkable performance. Existing approaches often ignore the uncertainty in the teacher model's knowledge, which stems from data noise and imperfect training. This limits the student model's ability to learn latent knowledge, as it may overly rely on the teacher's imperfect guidance. In this paper, we propose a novel feature-based distillation paradigm with knowledge uncertainty for object detection, termed "Uncertainty Estimation-Discriminative Knowledge Extraction-Knowledge Transfer (UET)", which can seamlessly integrate with existing distillation methods. By leveraging the Monte Carlo dropout technique, we introduce knowledge uncertainty into the training process of the student model, facilitating deeper exploration of latent knowledge. Our method performs effectively during the KD process without requiring intricate structures or extensive computational resources. Extensive experiments validate the effectiveness of our proposed approach across various distillation strategies, detectors, and backbone architectures. Specifically, following our proposed paradigm, the existing FGD method achieves state-of-the-art (SoTA) performance, with ResNet50-based GFL achieving 44.1% mAP on the COCO dataset, surpassing the baselines by 3.9%.
... The process of transferring knowledge from a source (here, global improvement office) to a recipient (here, production site) depends on the capability of the source to disseminate the knowledge and the recipient's willingness and ability to absorb the new knowledge (Szulanski, 2000). The type of knowledge (Easterby-Smith, Lyles & Tsang, 2008) and the relationships between the source and the recipient (Szulanski, 1996) influence the effectiveness of the knowledge transfer process. ...
Purpose: This paper aims to explore and describe how companies manage the level of standardisation of improvement practices in a multisite context. It seeks to explain the managerial strategies applied to change the standardisation level in manufacturing companies with multiple production sites worldwide.Design/methodology/approach: This paper collects data through interviews, observations and company documents from a large multinational producing company and, specifically, from of the largest production sites in the company. The research design resembles a grounded theory approach by being reflexive and open to emerging themes. The standardisation strategy was analysed at a company that strived to increase the standardisation of problem-solving practices within about 20 production sites as part of their corporate lean programme.Findings: Several managerial tools were applied at the corporate level to increase the standardisation level of problem-solving practices, such as developing standards and a company-specific toolbox aligned with an in-house maturity model. In addition, deploying change leaders and global implementation targets enabled audits and progress. However, consequences at the production-site level became minor adaptations of standards, the design of training models as a "roll-out", and a resource-demanding implementation process.Originality/Value: This paper empirically demonstrates strategic tools that corporate management teams apply to influence the company's standardisation level of practices. The study describes the purpose and consequences of the design of the toolbox, maturity model, training model, and implementation targets, which aims to simplify the complex task of managing standardisation in a corporate group. By applying a knowledge-based view, four processes (i.e. adaptation, integration, upskilling, and learning) were identified to improve the management strategies in multisite contexts.
... According to Tassabehji et al. (2019), it also refers to activities that involve sharing knowledge and experiences about the workplace. Knowledge transfer is the process by which an organization replicates and upholds a sophisticated, vaguely causal set of practices in a different context (Szulanski, 2000). A particular aspect of learning is knowledge transfer, which involves obtaining information (Garvin, 1993). ...
Knowledge must be introduced into every aspect of the manufacturing process and management levels in order to increase the competitiveness of SMEs. This study aims to investigate how knowledge transfer affects a firm's ability to remain competitive. Effective resource flow management is essential for businesses to thrive in a cutthroat business climate. Despite the nature of knowledge being transferred, it is critical to the effective operation of SMEs. The fact that it can give organizations a competitive edge over a range of skills and knowledge lends trust to this assertion, as it can improve the innovative performance of new products made by companies involved in these kinds of knowledge-based collaborations. The purpose of this paper is to shed light on knowledge transfer and innovation in SME activities. By lowering the expense of acquiring the knowledge necessary to become competitive, SMEs can encourage the chance and incentive to exchange expertise during integration into clusters. Higher education institutions may be more proactive in helping SMEs manage environmental challenges by giving them relevant information and knowledge hubs to increase the competitiveness and sustainability of businesses. Moreover, policymakers and investors should prioritize supporting and financing R&D as well as social networking initiatives to enhance innovation among SMEs.
... The importance of firm failure is that it is a highly disruptive moment, when knowledge is disembedded from the legal, institutional and interpersonal mechanisms which previously constrained its acquisition by rival firms. Knowledge becomes 'less sticky' (Szulanski, 2000) but its destination and any subsequent re-application can be understood in terms of a number of pathways. These pathways are defined by two main criteria. ...
There has been limited conceptualization in tourism of the knowledge consequences of firm failure despite overall high failure rates. There is no simple dichotomy between the lost knowledge of failed firms and knowledge survival in successful firms. This paper therefore elaborates a three-stage conceptual model of the post-failure trajectories of knowledge. The model focusses on the distinctive combination of tacit and codified knowledge in context of impure public goods, their distribution within and beyond the firm, and their micro and macro determinants. Three main post-failure trajectories are identified: cold storage/black hole of knowledge, knowledge recovery, and knowledge recombination. A research agenda is outlined for this neglected aspect of tourism knowledge research which has significant implications for innovation.
... Sin embargo, al prestar atención a los formatos utilizados para comunicar estos estudios, es posible avanzar en la dirección correcta. Concordamos con Szulanski (2000) cuando destacaban que una traba no menor en la transferencia de conocimiento es la fiabilidad de los resultados de la investigación. Lo que significa, ni más ni menos, que nuestra investigación debe juntar meridianas condiciones de interés, relevancia y utilidad para alguien. ...
La literatura existente parece abalar a la Universidad como un núcleo de desarrollo en sus comunidades o entornos circundantes, pero el binomio investigación y transferencia está cada vez más cuestionado en diferentes foros académicos -y también fuera del ámbito de la educación superior- en cierta medida porque no se ha visto, o no se ha difundido suficientemente, la aplicabilidad de los resultados obtenidos en Facultades, centros de investigación o institutos. El objetivo de este trabajo pasa por constatar que la investigación educativa debe tener sus anclajes en intereses socioeducativos y dotarse de suficientes estrategias que permitan su transferencia efectiva en y para la comunidad. Para ello, hacemos una revisión y análisis de cómo se ha entendido en la literatura científica la segunda y tercera misión de la Universidad en las últimas décadas, para así hacer una propuesta en el marco de los desafíos sociales, ambientales o estructurales que se plantean en un futuro inminente. Finalmente, lo que nos ocupa -y preocupa- es establecer nuevas vías que conecten academia y sociedad a partir de puntos de encuentro recíproco, es decir, donde ambas partes participen del proceso, aunque con roles diferentes. En definitiva, de lo que se trata es de promover una cultura científica más aplicada, es decir, que lo que investigamos tenga repercusión sobre el colectivo diana y este así lo identifique. Por tanto, debemos evidenciar que las ciencias en general, y la pedagogía en particular, son una vía para la consecución de la justicia social partiendo de la investigación como un cimiento que permite avanzar con solidez y consistencia epistemológica.
... Knowledge transfer is a method or process that enables the exchange of information, skills, knowledge and ideas, leading to the possibility of producing innovation and exponentially developing efficiency (Lahti and Beyerlein, 2000;Szulanski, 2000). Howlett (2010) affirmed that knowledge transfer should be connected to the scientific research, in order to commercialise the outcomes that result from that research and thus create benefits for the communities. ...
Purpose
This systematic literature review aims to identify the main areas of study related to co-creation and innovation in Higher Education Institutions (HEIs), as well as the main external and internal stakeholders with whom co-creation is made.
Design/methodology/approach
The empirical approach is based on 258 articles selected from the Web of Science (WoS), Clarivate Analytics and Scopus, Elsevier databases, with analysis of titles, abstracts and keywords following a research protocol. VOS viewer and CitNetExplorer software were used, with the twin aim of identifying publications with a higher number of citations and designing maps of reference word co-occurrence.
Findings
The analysis led to three clusters being identified: Cluster 1. Management and transfer of knowledge from HEIs to companies; Cluster 2. Co-creation and innovation in HEIs through cooperation between universities and companies; and Cluster 3. Universities’ third mission and their role in developing entrepreneurship education. The results of the literature clusters analysis led to proposing a conceptual model of analysis.
Research limitations/implications
Despite only employing two databases and the content analysis criteria, the three found clusters are linked, recognising the interplay between co-creation and innovation in HEIs, knowledge transfer to enterprises and the influence on HEIs' third goal.
Practical implications
This systematic literature review highlights and gives a picture of the state-of-the-art in co-creation and innovation in HEIs, as well as presenting a model of co-creation and innovation in HEIs that can contribute to reinforcing the University-Industry-Community ties.
Social implications
This study can lead to a better knowledge of the issue of co-creation and innovation at HEIs, as well as a deeper analysis of the sorts of relationships between HEIs and their stakeholders, as well as its impact on surrounding areas and influence.
Originality/value
The research highlights the interaction between HEIs and their stakeholders on a basis of value co-creation and innovation, providing mutual benefits for all involved, as well as greater development and recognition of HEIs and their surrounding regions’ image andreputation. A future research agenda is also presented on the topic of co-creation and innovation in HEIs.
... Knowledge transfer is a deterministic knowledge activity that is evident in its clear goals, determined knowledge senders, receivers, and intermediaries, and mostly carried out in controlled environments and processes [7]. Some scholars summarize it as five factors, including source, information, channel, receiver, and context [8]. Traditional knowledge transfer models focus on the process of knowledge transfer, with classic models such as Gilbert and Cordey-Hayes' five-stage model of knowledge acquisition, communication, application, acceptance, and assimilation [9]. ...
In product design, the most critical part is collaboration and communication with different stakeholders with different expertise and knowledge. Sketches and scheme drawings are the medium for design communication and interpretation among different groups of people. However, due to the different knowledge backgrounds of different groups of people, there will be understanding errors and communication barriers in design communication, slowing down the entire design cycle. To improve the efficiency of communication in design projects, this paper proposes a knowledge communication mechanism based on design knowledge research to support professional industrial design processes. Inspired by intelligent technology and generative design, an intelligent assistance design communication system architecture for CNC machine tools is constructed for knowledge transfer. We concept an intelligent design tool from the user’s perspective and design a prototype for usability testing. We hope to realize design knowledge transfer and collaboration through the system, assist in completing the appearance design for CNC machine tools, and provide users with a good experience.
... For example, people's disposition to read a leaflet could be affected by the quality and acceptance of the source of information (Borgatti & Cross, 2003). It has been shown that motivation can vary due to individual circumstances (Davy, 2006;Szulanski, 2000). The effects of our treatments may have been masked by pronounced individual variation. ...
Public opinion can have a decisive influence on conservation actions leading to a need to understand how public opinion is formed. In a survey with a representative sample of the German population, participants answered questions about foxes in two consecutive years. Different versions of a leaflet about foxes were distributed to 2448 participants before the second interview. We compared a narrative text presentation to a non-narrative list of facts and examined the use of photographs and schematic graphs. We assessed how the presentation format and socio-demographic factors affected the probability that participants read the leaflet. Using a before-after/control-impact design, we examined whether the leaflet affected people’s fox-related knowledge, attitude, and risk perception. The results show that participants were more likely to read the leaflet with increasing age and a higher educational level. Reading probability also increased with attitude toward foxes. Participants who read the leaflet completely gained more knowledge about foxes than those who read it only partly. Photographs also contributed to a higher knowledge gain, but schematic graphs did not. Moreover, participants who read a fact list gained more knowledge compared to the control condition. Furthermore, the combination of visual and textual features had an effect on attitude toward foxes. However, we found no evidence that any treatment affected risk perception. We discuss implications and derivations for science communication to improve conservation actions.
... This type of knowledge transfer can be very beneficial for organizational productivity and survival (Argote et al., 2021;Darr et al., 1995). However, often this transfer of knowledge does not occur, in part because of relationship issues or the type of knowledge involved (Argote, 2012;Szulanski, 2000). ...
Intragroup and intergroup network creativity were assessed in an experiment varying the degree of access to ideas generated by other groups. In an open-access condition, all members of two concurrent groups had access to the other group’s ideas. In the brokered condition, one member of each group had access to the other group’s ideas. In the control condition, two groups performed independently. Following three phases of idea generation and elaboration, groups developed their final plan for surviving a zombie apocalypse. The brokered condition led to the highest level of intergroup activity, and the final product novelty across all conditions was influenced by the novelty of the ideas and elaborations in the prior session. The effect of experimental condition on the integrative complexity of the final product was mediated by the degree of lexical similarity between the two groups’ documents. Final product novelty was negatively predicted by lexical similarity. Theoretical advances, implications, and future directions are discussed.
... Sometimes this issue is not treated as part of knowledge management since it borders and overlaps with innovation management [56]. Some scholars have tried to simplify knowledge transfer and creation [57]- [61]. However, Nonaka in 1994 argued that knowledge can be created, shared, improved, and justified via collaborative, social processes and individual's cognitive processes such as reflection [62] [63]. ...
Great strategies are worth nothing if they cannot be implemented [1]. It can be extended to say that better to implement effectively a second grade strategy than to ruin a first class strategy with ineffective implementation [2]. Thus, effective implementation of strategies is important to the success of every entity. There are many ways of classifications of strategy. However, there are ten schools of thought that dominate recent thinking on strategy. These ten schools or models of strategy formulation were proposed by Henry Mintzberg, Bruce Ahlstrand and Joseph Lampel in their book “Strategy Safari: A Guided Tour through the Wilds of Strategic Management”. The “learning school” is one of these schools. From the perspective of this school, there is the emer- gence of strategies as people act individually but most of the time through concerted efforts, learning about a phenomenon as well as their entity’s competence in dealing with it. There are criticisms of this model saying there is the danger of going to the opposite extreme which may re- sult in no strategy, lost strategy or wrong strategy. However, the study provides insight into the adoption and application of this strategy as well as the enormous benefits that accrue to learning organizations. The authors, having reviewed a vast number of literature, have summarized the concept of the learning school as “all hands-on-deck phenomenon” where individuals or employ- ees are empowered in teams to improve their desire and ability to create and explore what they want in order to understand and manage the organization and its task environment.
... From an STS adjacent perspective, the contributions to Howlett and Morgan's (2011) edited volume discuss how (well) facts travel from one place to another, in particular how they can "travel with integrity" (Morgan, 2011: 12) and "fruitfully" (Morgan, 2011: 18), that is, travel unchanged and be used -as opposed to only noted -in their new context. In other fields than STS -predominantly in management and organization studies -scholars grapple with similar questions from a practical point of view, asking for example which factors and processes affect how knowledge can be moved from one department in a company to another, in particular knowledge in the form of innovation; their work often is quantitative (e.g., Szulanski, 2000). A notion particular to this strand of research is the 'stickiness' of knowledge -a term that refers to the cost of its replication and transfer (e.g., von Hippel, 1994) -that must be overcome or at least mitigated for knowledge to be moved (see also Szulanski, 1996). ...
... Multinational R&D centers are usually located in different geographical locations or focused on different product and technological activities. Thus, they possess knowledge in different fields [67]. The stronger the relational embeddedness of a multinational R&D center, the more it interacts with firms, customers, and suppliers in the host country network. ...
Knowledge transfer plays a prominent role in fostering innovation among multinational corporations (MNCs), however, the exploration of reverse knowledge transfer in today's digital era remains insufficient. Therefore, we explore the impact of reverse knowledge transfer on ambidextrous innovation and the process mechanism against the backdrop of digital technology. A system dynamics model of reverse knowledge transfer is constructed from three aspects: knowledge acquisition, knowledge absorption and knowledge application. Our simulation results indicate that the dual embeddedness of multinational R&D centers promotes knowledge acquisition and absorption, enhances the knowledge base of parent companies, and facilitates ambidextrous innovation. In particular, the application of digital technology further promotes the process through knowledge absorption, with the long-term impact more pronounced. This study not only enriches the literature on reverse knowledge transfer but also expands the application of digital technology in the field of MNCs' innovation.
... The procedures for selecting new staff are thoughtful and geared towards the youth, focusing on values such as acquiring knowledge, continuous education, teamwork, and quality job performance. Existing staff must transfer knowledge and experience to inexperienced workers, thus developing and training a pool of experts in the long run [54]. Investing in employees' knowledge is the path to success. ...
Successful organisations prioritise product quality and customer satisfaction. Non-financial indicators are crucial for measuring performance, requiring specific financial and technology management knowledge. Effective knowledge management and entrepreneurial activity significantly impact performance, vital to the country’s economic factors. Electricity is crucial to society’s development. Renewable energy sources such as solar, wind, hydropower, and biomass can generate sustainable electricity. Managing environmental, social, and economic aspects is essential for sustainable societal and virtual development. In this study, the central element of novelty is associated with the dependent variable Nominal Labour Productivity per Employee. This research shows that effective knowledge management impacts a company’s business performance. Based on secondary data from various sources, we have used factor analysis to assess the interrelationship between the factors and econometric dimensionalities. Accompanied by this econometric approach, the research methodology aims to present hybrid models based on econometric techniques and artificial intelligence (AI) networks. Based on the principal component method analysis results, we show the interdependence of 30 variables in the micro and macro environment. The new components of the correlated variables show how knowledge and innovation are related to the economic performance of society, and nominal employee productivity is a valuable indicator for measuring economic efficiency. Nevertheless, AI, a knowledge management product, provides helpful comments on the econometric results.
... His research reveals that "knowledge-related barriers -recipient's lack of absorptive capacity, causal ambiguity, and the arduousness of the relationship between source and recipient -are most important impediments to knowledge transfer within the firm" (Szulansky, 1996, p. 37). Therefore, even we use the concept of knowledge flow in explaining knowledge dynamics within an organization, the flow of knowledge encounters internal and external factors which create stickiness (Szulansky, 2000). ...
Knowledge management is an intrinsic part of the managerial process and not a substitute for it. It is that part that is focused on managing intangible resources like knowledge, ideas, brands, and many other similar entities. Although this assertion is clear and looks like an extension of classical management, many knowledge management projects failed and generated a question mark about the future of knowledge management. Management developed based on the basic ideas coming from engineering and on the paradigm of measuring. The assertion “What gets measured gets managed” became almost a norm in management thinking. But knowledge is intangible and contextual. Measuring knowledge is almost impossible by using the measuring systems designed for tangible objects, and that is a huge barrier to understanding and practicing knowledge management. There is a need to change the management paradigm to accommodate intangible resources, and that means approaching the complexity of knowledge and knowledge management. The purpose of this chapter is to reveal some of the most important barriers between classical management and knowledge management and how we can find ways to overcome them, that is, to identify some new models for explaining the complexity of knowledge, knowledge dynamics, and knowledge management concepts. That means revealing new metaphors for understanding the multidimensional concept of knowledge and how to interpret its dynamics at the individual, team, and organizational levels. The chapter focuses on the theory of knowledge fields and knowledge dynamics from a thermodynamics perspective.
... Knowledge is a valuable resource for organizations, providing a competitive advantage (Khodakarami & Chan, 2014;Simões et al., 2014). Knowledge transfer between organizations is crucial for survival and growth (Muscio et al., 2013), but it can be laborious and time-consuming (Szulanski, 2000). There are two types of knowledge: explicit (easily transferable) and tacit (personal and subjective) (Polanyi, 1966). ...
It is intended to understand how knowledge transfer is processed in the craft beer business network in Portugal, to assess the importance of the knowledge thus acquired and how it impacts the processes. Thus, since knowledge is an organizational resource that provides a sustainable competitive advantage in a competitive environment and in a dynamic economy, the transfer of knowledge between organizations is fundamental for their survival and growth. Therefore, and given that, in the craft beer sector, knowledge, experience, and personal skills of the entrepreneur are the main reasons for the existence of networks and collaborations, the transfer of knowledge in the craft beer business has attracted the interest of academics. Thus, the main objective of this study was to understand the importance of knowledge, how its transfer occurs between the various elements of the craft beer business network and its dynamics. It was concluded, through a qualitative case study, that the importance of this knowledge is crucial and the impact very significant in the processes, identifying a model that explains the process. This study also allowed to increase knowledge about the transfer of knowledge among the members of this network, still little studied, and to draw attention to the need to carry out more studies on this topic.
... Potential qualitative indicators that the CFS may consider include dimensions of social capital, such as trust, mutual respect, collaborative capacity, and implementing and sustaining new practices (Szulanski, 2000;Fazey et al., 2014). Although these indicators were not explicitly mentioned by the participants, CFS practitioners allude to their KE work being more effective when they had the opportunity to establish trusting relationships and align project objectives with knowledge producers and users, which aligns with what many studies have found as impacts of KE or boundary spanning activities (see review by Posner and Cvitanovic, 2019). ...
While there is a growing body of work on the barriers to knowledge exchange (KE) and the development of actionable science, what remains more elusive is an understanding of what strategies and conditions lead to effective KE, how it is operationalized, or how different practitioners define successful exchange of scientific knowledge. We interviewed nine KE practitioners at the Canadian Forest Service (CFS), a national agency, to understand: (1) who at CFS is involved in KE and how they perceive their roles, (2) the strategies for KE used in the CFS and its distribution in a KE typology framework, (3) how KE practitioners define a "successful" exchange of knowledge and KE bright spots, and (4) what conditions enable KE within the CFS. We identified CFS KE practitioners roles as knowledge brokers. They use a cyclical KE strategy that integrates concepts of co-design in operationalizing KE. The CFS KE practitioners engage in a variety of KE activities, but outreach was the most frequently cited. We suggest organizations work closely with intermediary individuals as they hold unique positions of building and maintaining relationships with knowledge users. They can also provide valuable insights in evaluating research impacts such as through contribution stories. The KE typology was a useful tool to inform decisions about KE strategies. Finally, our study emphasizes the need for organizations to adopt more qualitative evaluations to assess the full scope and impact of KE work, and recognizes the integral role of relationships and trust in all aspects of KE work.
... Knowledge sharing has been positively correlated with increases in productivity, innovation, and performance (Antonelli & Scellato 2013). However, knowledge sharing is not easy, and the process has been described as sticky (Burmeister & Deller, 2016) because several factors such as knowledge and individual characteristics (Chang et al., 2012), as well as relationship characteristics (Szulanski, 2000), can make knowledge sharing a challenging process. Therefore, knowledge sharing between employees is a critical process for unlocking the power of organizational knowledge (Elmi, 2020). ...
Knowledge is viewed as a crucial and useful resource for helping higher education institutions in today's information-based economy by enhancing collaboration and innovation, accelerating learning and professional development, and enabling faculty members to stay updated with the latest advancements in their respective fields, enhancing their teaching methods, and improving the quality of education. However, many universities have not fully recognized the importance of knowledge sharing among their members, hindering efforts towards establishing a culture of sharing and collaboration. In this study, 328 academic staff members from Nigerian public universities studied the relationship between knowledge sharing intention, management support, and motivation. This research is a descriptive correlative study that emphasizes the causal connection between variables. Structured equation modeling (SEM) was used to analyze the data after it was collected via a questionnaire survey. The findings of this study demonstrate that management support and knowledge sharing motivation have a favorable and significant impact on intention to share information. Universities need to pay greater attention to these determinants since improving academic staff readiness for knowledge sharing and awareness would improve university performance. Investigating the factors influencing knowledge sharing intention in higher education institutions informs practice and policy development, enhances research and teaching outcomes, and contributes to innovation and decision-making processes within the academic environment.
Knowledge manipulation is key for organizational innovation, to gain competitive advantage, enhancing the search for a caring and sharing environment between co-workers. How to foster such attitude? Many researchers have argued about the importance of tacit knowledge, highlighting how difficult - if not impossible - is to share that kind of knowledge. Giving a new definition of knowledge, the Author here presents a model of knowledge manipulation that highlights the fundamental role of education, both as knowledge enabler and recipient for a long-term change into the organization. Using education as common ground to instill a (tacit) knowledge sharing attitude, the Author argues on the importance of problem-based (PBL) training, to prepare lifelong learners to become better workers and to manipulate (tacit) knowledge.
The reverse supply chain, in seeking the maximum efficiency of reverse logistics throughout the companies involved, outlines a new and dynamic business environment in which differentiated methods of action are developed, requiring a review of strategic management models to expand and encompass all the complexities of inter-organizational relationships existing among the various links in the supply chain. Inserted in this scenario, the question that intrigues the researchers and that guided this work is the following: how the sharing of knowledge can provide sustainable competitive advantage in the scope of the reverse supply chain? To understand the variables involved in this research question, it was necessary to investigate how knowledge sharing in the operations of the supply chain reversibility in the remanufacturing activity can influence the attainment of a sustainable competitive advantage. In the search for answers, an exploratory-descriptive research was conducted, with a qualitative approach through bibliographical research and case study. The information and critical points that were raised, through interviews, documentary analysis and process mapping. As a result, it can be inferred that the role of knowledge sharing was essential for the success of the strategic measures executed to adapt the reverse logistics activity of the cartridges and could be considered an important strategic resource for knowledge management in the supply chain management In order to positively affect competitiveness results in a sustainable way. In addition, motivational factors and difficulties were presented to perform the reverse logistics activity and some recommendations for optimization of said process.
Purpose
With shorter product cycles and a growing number of knowledge-intensive business processes, time consumption is a highly relevant target factor in measuring the performance of contemporary business processes. This research aims to extend prior research on the effects of knowledge transfer velocity at the individual level by considering the effect of complexity, stickiness, competencies, and further demographic factors on knowledge-intensive business processes at the conversion-specific levels.
Design/methodology/approach
We empirically assess the impact of situation-dependent knowledge transfer velocities on time consumption in teams and individuals. Further, we issue the demographic effect on this relationship. We study a sample of 178 experiments of project teams and individuals applying ordinary least squares (OLS) for regression analysis-based modeling.
Findings
The authors find that time consumed at knowledge transfers is negatively associated with the complexity of tasks. Moreover, competence among team members has a complementary effect on this relationship and stickiness retards knowledge transfers. Thus, while demographic factors urgently need to be considered for effective and speedy knowledge transfers, these influencing factors should be addressed on a conversion-specific basis so that some tasks are realized in teams best while others are not. Guidelines and interventions are derived to identify best task realization variants, so that process performance is improved by a new kind of process improvement method.
Research limitations/implications
This study establishes empirically the importance of conversion-specific influence factors and demographic factors as drivers of high knowledge transfer velocities in teams and among individuals. The contribution connects the field of knowledge management to important streams in the wider business literature: process improvement, management of knowledge resources, design of information systems, etc. Whereas the model is highly bound to the experiment tasks, it has high explanatory power and high generalizability to other contexts.
Practical implications
Team managers should take care to allow the optimal knowledge transfer situation within the team. This is particularly important when knowledge sharing is central, e.g. in product development and consulting processes. If this is not possible, interventions should be applied to the individual knowledge transfer situation to improve knowledge transfers among team members.
Social implications
Faster and more effective knowledge transfers improve the performance of both commercial and non-commercial organizations. As nowadays, the individual is faced with time pressure to finalize tasks, the deliberated increase of knowledge transfer velocity is a core capability to realize this goal. Quantitative knowledge transfer models result in more reliable predictions about the duration of knowledge transfers. These allow the target-oriented modification of knowledge transfer situations so that processes speed up, private firms are more competitive and public services are faster to citizens.
Originality/value
Time consumption is an increasingly relevant factor in contemporary business but so far not been explored in experiments at all. This study extends current knowledge by considering quantitative effects on knowledge velocity and improved knowledge transfers.
Este estudo tem como objetivo verificar o efeito das variáveis macroeconômicas como crédito, complexidade econômica e outras, no nível de investimento dos estados brasileiros ao longo do período de 2008 a 2018. Para tanto, além de análise descritiva do perfil econômico e regional dos entes estudados, realizamos exercícios econométricos utilizando um modelo Dynamic GMM. Os resultados obtidos indicam um efeito positivo da complexidade econômica, do crédito, da corrente de comércio e do PIB per capita sobre o investimento, enquanto as taxas de juros reais e a concentração de mercado apresentaram um efeito negativo. Por fim, os índices de fatores locacionais demostraram que as economias dos estados brasileiros continuam bastante heterogêneas.
Purpose
In recent years, counterproductive knowledge behavior (CKB) and its types have received increasing interest in knowledge management as the degree of knowledge sharing and innovation in enterprises continues to increase. A rapidly growing number of studies have shed light on the important antecedents and consequences of employees’ CKB. However, the various labels, conceptualizations and operationalizations of CKB have fragmented this body of research. This study aims to systematically integrate the effects of the six types of organizational characteristics on CKB and further draws more general conclusions based on the results of previous studies.
Design/methodology/approach
Based on a survey of 103 effect values responsible for 52 CKB samples, the authors use the ABC theory to explore the effects of the six types of organizational characteristics on CKB. Moderator analysis were performed to resolve inconsistencies in empirical studies and understand the contexts under which CKB has the strongest or weakest effect.
Findings
The results showed that task interdependence and a positive organizational atmosphere, in general, negatively affect employees’ CKB in the moderation analysis. In contrast, workplace discomfort, negative organizational atmosphere, internal competition and time pressure positively and partly affect employees’ CKB. The direction and magnitude of these effects were affected by emotional factors, knowledge personnel types and sample sources. Discussing the theoretical, methodological and practical implications of these findings can offer a guiding framework for future research.
Originality/value
Better control of employees’ CKB is not achieved by adjusting organizational characteristics alone but by combining personal characteristics and mood changes with it to balance organizational characteristics and CKB. Furthermore, the large-sample joint study integrated the conceptual definition of CKB. The multivariate data study provided more reliable conclusions and a solid theoretical foundation for CKB research areas.
Scholarly evidence and personal experience are two prominent sources of knowledge informing patient-care practices in hospitals. In evidence-based patient-care practices, jointly applying both forms of knowledge is challenging due to the divergent preferences of administrative personnel versus frontline providers towards these knowledge sources and the limited understanding of how to combine these knowledge sources effectively despite divergent preferences. Health information technologies (HITs) tend to influence this challenge by simultaneously imprinting a standardized practice based on scholarly evidence while also allowing workarounds based on personal experience. We apply a theoretical framework, integrating cognitive information processing theory and agency theory, to the context of HIT-enabled evidence-based patient-care practices to investigate the circumstances that enable joint consideration of scholarly evidence and personal experience in value-adding versus value-depleting ways in these practices. Our findings reveal the salience of outcome uncertainty and of the prior stored knowledge of administrative personnel versus frontline providers in enabling joint considerations of the two types of knowledge and the value-adding versus value-depleting outcomes that result.
Purpose
This study aims to investigate the influence of inventors’ abilities to acquire external knowledge, provide broad and professional knowledge and patenting output (i.e. different types of inventors) on the formation of structural holes.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors collected 59,798 patents applied for and granted in the USA by 33 of the largest firms worldwide in the pharmaceutical industry between 1975 and 2014. A random-effects tobit model was used to test the hypotheses.
Findings
The inventors’ ability to acquire external knowledge contributes to the formation of structural holes. While inventors’ ability to provide broad knowledge positively affects the formation of structural holes, their ability to provide professional knowledge works otherwise. In addition, key inventors and industrious inventors are more likely to form structural holes than talents.
Originality/value
The results identify individual factors that affect the formation of structural holes and improve the understanding of structural hole theory. This study is unique in that most scholars have studied the consequences of structural hole formation rather than their antecedents. Studies on the origin of structural holes neglect the effect of inventors’ knowledge abilities and patenting output. By addressing this gap, this study contributes to a more comprehensive theoretical understanding of structural holes. The results can guide managers in managing structural holes in accordance with inventors’ knowledge abilities and patenting outputs, which optimize the allocation of network resources.
Purpose
This study aims to adopt the microfoundation perspective to investigate undesirable knowledge rejection by individuals in organizations in the context of counterproductive knowledge behavior (CKB). The paper advances a conceptual framework of the conditions of knowledge rejection by individuals and their respective knowledge rejection behavior types.
Design/methodology/approach
This study reviews the limited literature on knowledge rejection and outline a set of antecedents leading to rejecting knowledge as well as a set of different types of knowledge rejection behaviors. This study reviews and synthesizes articles on knowledge rejection from a microfoundation perspective.
Findings
The proposed conceptual framework specifies four particular conditions for knowledge rejection and outlines four respective knowledge rejection behavior types resulting from these conditions. Recipients’ lack of capacity leads to ineptitude, lack of motivation leads to dismissal of knowledge, lack of alignment with the source leads to disruption and doubts about the validity of external knowledge lead to resistance. The authors treat these behaviors as variants of CKB, as they can hinder the productive use of knowledge resources in the organization.
Research limitations/implications
Further investigation of both knowledge rejection causes and the resulting knowledge rejection behaviors will ensure a more thorough grasp of the relationships between them, both in terms of the inherent nature of these relationships and their dynamics that would likely be context-sensitive. Although this study focuses only on the individual level, future studies can conduct multi-level analyses of undesirable knowledge rejection, including team and organizational levels.
Practical implications
Practitioners can use the framework to identify, diagnose and manage knowledge rejection more meaningfully, accurately and purposefully in their organizations. This study offers valuable insights for managers facing undesirable knowledge rejection, and provides recommendations on how to address this behavior, improves the constructive use of knowledge resources and the effectiveness of knowledge processes in their organizations. Managers should be aware of undesirable knowledge rejection, its potential cost or concealed cost to their organizations and develop strategies to reduce or prevent it.
Originality/value
The paper contributes toward understanding the relatively neglected topic of knowledge rejection in the knowledge management field and offers a new way of conceptualizing the phenomenon. It proposes that there are two types of knowledge rejection – undesirable and desirable – and advances a more precise and up-to-date definition of undesirable knowledge rejection. Responding to calls for more research on CKBs, the study examines a hitherto unresearched behavior of knowledge rejection and provides a foundation for further study in this area.
Welcome to the enlightening voyage through "Management Metamorphosis: Navigating the Changing Landscape." In this pivotal juncture of unprecedented transformation, this book emerges as an indispensable companion, illuminating the path for individuals embarking on the odyssey of modern business dynamics.
Encompassing the domains of Management, Marketing, Finance, Human Resource Management and Tourism, this compilation presents a tapestry of insights, capturing the multifaceted essence of our evolving business world. The chapters encapsulate the spectrum of challenges and prospects that lie within these realms.
Within the context of marketing, the book chronicles the profound shifts ignited by the digital revolution. Finance, too, undergoes a metamorphosis, propelled by automation, AI, and a renewed ethical consciousness. Human Resource Management grapples with the complexities of remote work, sustainability, and emotional intelligence. The tourism sector navigates the crossroads of sustainability, technology, and experience creation. And in the legal sphere, this volume traverses the intricate terrains of business law, intellectual property, and data privacy.
Crafted as a collaborative effort, this book amalgamates the wisdom of industry experts, practitioners, and thought leaders. It imparts strategies, reflections, and viewpoints that not only adapt but also flourish within the evolving management landscape. With each chapter, "Management Metamorphosis" beckons readers to explore the profound transformations defining contemporary business paradigms.
As you delve into the pages that ensue, envision this book as your compass, your guide, and your source of inspiration. It encapsulates the ethos of change that characterizes our era and equips you with the tools to navigate and prosper within the shifting tides of modern management. Welcome aboard this intellectual journey, where every page invites you to unravel the mysteries of "Management Metamorphosis."
The present study aims to analyze the knowledge transfer of repatriates in organizations, a topic that has gained significance over the past decade. Due to its complexity, a systematic literature review was conducted to explore various aspects of this theme. To contribute to the academic literature, the authors developed a comprehensive framework for the process of knowledge transfer. The objective was to enhance understanding and identify the antecedents, consequences, as well as the processes of transfer, absorption, and diffusion of knowledge. The findings indicate that knowledge transfer often falls short of optimal practices, which impacts overall efficiency. Consequently, this study is relevant for organizations seeking to improve their knowledge transfer practices, as well as for researchers aiming to gain a deeper understanding of this subject matter.
Technological innovation and preoccupation with new markets through technological innovation have become critical factors in achieving success in the global market. Currently, companies cannot develop and commercialize all technologies. Therefore, the importance of technology transfers is rapidly increasing. Technology transfer is a crucial strategy adopted by organizations to remain innovative and competitive. However, Korea’s technology transfer rate is only 37.9%. In particular, the technology transfer rate from universities to companies is lower than that from government-funded research institutes in Korea. Although the fundamental approach for resolving barriers to technology transfer have been studied, previous research has been conducted from a narrow definition of technology transfer. Furthermore, previous research has focused on analyzing the success factors of technology transfer, presenting technology transfer processes, or conducting case studies. Therefore, it is necessary to develop a technology donor diagnosis framework based on CSFs (Critical Success Factors) to eliminate obstacles to technology transfers. To lower the barriers to technology transfers, it is necessary to develop a strategy for a successful technology transfer based on the diagnosis of technology donors. This study develops a diagnosis framework for universities from the perspective of technology donors, implements and tests the framework using case studies, and proposes strategies for each stage of technology transfer growth. The framework is able to assess multidimensional perspectives, because CSFs and PMs were extracted based on BSC. Furthermore, by comparing the perspectives score of technology donors in different universities, technology donors can identify the areas in which each university is lacking in its current situation. Multidimensional diagnosis and aggregation score of technology donors offer to extract optimal CSFs for technology transfer activation for each growth stage.
Internal mobility, or movement of individuals within organizations, is a frequently occurring phenomenon that can have ripple effects throughout organizations. Internal mobility can impact individuals, units, and organizations and several decades of work on the topic provide evidence of its causes and consequences. While a recent uptick in research on internal mobility aligns with upward trends in the use of internal labor markets within organizations, the literature is currently not well integrated with a variety of terms and characteristics used to describe internal mobility, siloed single-level research on either individual or organization perspectives, and poor integration with other forms of mobility that makes it difficult to fully understand its impact. This review of the 202 articles on internal mobility reconciles these issues by defining internal mobility, creating a model based around the two primary types of internal mobility, transfers and promotions, and integrating research from varied organizational actors (individuals, organizations) that cause and are affected by internal mobility. This review culminates with a future research agenda designed to extend research on internal mobility.
The history of knowledge management (KM) is often categorized into three early eras: the first era focused on tools and technologies to ensure valuable knowledge was shared and preserved. The second era emphasized knowledgeable people and how to better connect them. The third era brought the focus to bear on content and the findability of valuable knowledge. What came next? World events such as 9/11 and the COVID-19 pandemic intensified awareness of and need for effective KM. The introduction of the knowledge management standard, ISO 30401, in 2018 is a more recent key milestone. What is next? More holistic and more inclusive KM is one important direction for the field. KM scalability beyond individuals, groups, and organizations spreading to interorganizational and societal KM is another important direction for the evolution of KM. Finally, more research needed to better integrate artificial intelligence (AI), support remote work, cope with increasing information overload, formulate key KM competencies and training approaches, as well as leverage KM to enhance innovation (in addition to improving efficiency). This essay discusses and integrates a number of perspectives and key studies from the KM community but presents a predominately personal view and position on the future evolution of KM.
If employees have access to additional relevant knowledge and information, they can be more innovative, which is a reason for many firms to ally. Key in an alliance is the sharing of existing and creating of new knowledge, but transferring knowledge inside an alliance is not obvious or easy. Knowledge exchanged within an alliance must be perceived as relevant in order for it to be used. If individuals in an alliance can readily perceive knowledge to be relevant, the right knowledge is transferred and is transferred in an efficient manner. Building on stickiness of knowledge and knowledge relevance theory, we examine the relationship between an individual's job experience as well as intrinsic motivation on the one hand, on their perception of the relevance of others' knowledge on the other hand. These relationships are positively moderated by an individual's favourable position and connection strength in the network of individuals engaged in the alliance, respectively. We find a weak but insignificant negative relationship between job experience and perceived knowledge relevance. Being well‐positioned in a network brings out the positive effect of job experience, as expected, whereas connection strength does not further enhance the positive effect of intrinsic motivation.
Judging by its doctrinal publications, the UK Defence establishment stands poised to begin a process of unprecedented change. The language of ‘multi-domain’ thinking is prominent within this discourse and is identified as being a key vehicle via which UK Defence will deliver upon its programme of reform. This article seeks to offer an initial evaluation of these claims and to assess them in light of the burgeoning literatures on Western defence ‘transformation’ and military innovation that have emerged since the early 2000s. We argue that ‘multi-domain’ thinking reflects a form of ‘cosmetic’ emulation by the British Defence establishment and that its appearance within UK doctrine has been driven more by internal politics than by a clearly thought-through adoption of a new form of military practice.
Technical knowledge transfer within an organization is expected to enhance organizational innovation capability. These activities seem to be influenced by organizational climate, individual knowledge-hiding behaviors, psychological ownership of knowledge, and trust and organizational time pressure. However, few studies examine in an integrated manner, the impact of these factors on the individual’s technical knowledge transfer activities. This study focuses on IT professionals and analyzes this influence using the Theory of Planned Behavior to set the research framework. A questionnaire survey was administered to 399 IT professionals. Based on the results of a structural equation modeling analysis, we show how factors related to knowledge transfer behavior, namely communications and internal and external company rules can enhance a creative climate, reduce the potential of knowledge-hiding behavior and instead, promote knowledge transfer.
Designed to bridge the gap between theorists and methodologists by presenting an integrated approach to measurement. It differentiates between random and systematic error thus conveying both statistical techniques and their theoretical underpinnings. The book is written at a level accessible to students of social sciences with some statistical training, and does not assume a sophisticated mathematical background. Chapters include factor analysis, reliability, validity and evaluating systematic error.-K.Clayton
How should we understand why firms exist? A prevailing view has been that they serve to keep in check the transaction costs arising from the self-interested motivations of individuals. We develop in this article the argument that what firms do better than markets is the sharing and transfer of the knowledge of individuals and groups within an organization. This knowledge consists of information (e.g., who knows what) and of know-how (e.g., how to organize a research team). What is central to our argument is that knowledge is held by individuals, but is also expressed in regularities by which members cooperate in a social community (i.e., group, organization, or network). If knowledge is only held at the individual level, then firms could change simply by employee turnover. Because we know that hiring new workers is not equivalent to changing the skills of a firm, an analysis of what firms can do must understand knowledge as embedded in the organizing principles by which people cooperate within organizations.
Based on this discussion, a paradox is identified: efforts by a firm to grow by the replication of its technology enhances the potential for imitation. By considering how firms can deter imitation by innovation, we develop a more dynamic view of how firms create new knowledge. We build up this dynamic perspective by suggesting that firms learn new skills by recombining their current capabilities. Because new ways of cooperating cannot be easily acquired, growth occurs by building on the social relationships that currently exist in a firm. What a firm has done before tends to predict what it can do in the future. In this sense, the cumulative knowledge of the firm provides options to expand in new but uncertain markets in the future.
We discuss at length the example of the make/buy decision and propose several testable hypotheses regarding the boundaries of the firm, without appealing to the notion of “opportunism.”
Total productivity learning curve results are reported for several departments of an electronic equipment manufacturer with plants in the U.S., Europe and Asia. These results were used to focus qualitative field investigations into the behavioral and cognitive determinants of considerable diversity across departments in learning curve parameters. The field investigation suggested that three forms of shared learning are critical to manufacturing productivity improvement: (1) sharing across the Development/Manufacturing interface, (2) sharing between the primary location and plants that started up later, and (3) the ongoing sharing among plants after start-up. Innovations in each of these three processes are identified and mapped onto Daft and Lengel's information uncertainty/equivocality matrix. Implications for the role of manufacturing engineering are identified.
In the implementation of an organizational innovation, managers are usually presumed to influence the extent to which the innovation is adopted and used by their subordinates. However, the findings presented in this paper suggest that the managerial influence is not equally perceived by all subordinates. Rather, certain context-specific characteristics of individual employees mediate the managerial influence. Users of the expert system studied herein who were low in personal innovativeness toward this class of innovations, for whom the subjective importance of the task being computerized was low, whose task-related skills were low or who were low performers in their sales job---all these user groups perceived their management had encouraged them to adopt. In contrast, users who rated high on any of these measures did not perceive any management influence in their adoption decision. Moreover, although access to the innovation was in fact highly similar for all users, high performers also were inclined to perceive the system as more accessible than were low performers. These findings suggest that the diffusion of an innovation within an organization perhaps could be viewed as a two-step managerial process. Employees whose characteristics incline them to adopt an innovation will do so without management support or urging if it is simply made available. Employees low on these characteristics will await a managerial directive before adopting. Implications for future research are discussed.
This paper describes a case study methodology that combines a real-time longitudinal (three-year) study with nine retrospective case studies about the same phenomenon. These two kinds of case studies offer opportunities for complementary and synergistic data gathering and analysis. That is, specific strengths in each method compensate for some particular weakness in the other. For instance, the retrospective studies offer the opportunity to identify patterns indicative of dynamic processes and the longitudinal study provides a close-up view of those patterns as they evolve over time. The combination of the two types of case studies also enhances three kinds of validity: construct, internal and external. The author also discusses problems with and shortcomings of this dual methodology and suggests the circumstances for which the methodology is especially appropriate.
In this paper, we argue that the ability of a firm to recognize the value of new, external information, assimilate it, and apply it to commercial ends is critical to its innovative capabilities. We label this capability a firm's absorptive capacity and suggest that it is largely a function of the firm's level of prior related knowledge. The discussion focuses first on the cognitive basis for an individual's absorptive capacity including, in particular, prior related knowledge and diversity of background. We then characterize the factors that influence absorptive capacity at the organizational level, how an organization's absorptive capacity differs from that of its individual members, and the role of diversity of expertise within an organization. We argue that the development of absorptive capacity, and, in turn, innovative performance are history- or path-dependent and argue how lack of investment in an area of expertise early on may foreclose the future development of a technical capability in that area. We formulate a model of firm investment in research and development (R&D), in which R&D contributes to a firm's absorptive capacity, and test predictions relating a firm's investment in R&D to the knowledge underlying technical change within an industry. Discussion focuses on the implications of absorptive capacity for the analysis of other related innovative activities, including basic research, the adoption and diffusion of innovations, and decisions to participate in cooperative R&D ventures.
This paper differs from previous examinations of organizational learning in that it is broader in scope and more evaluative of the literatures. Four constructs related to organizational learning (knowledge acquisition, information distribution, information interpretation, and organizational memory) are articulated, and the literatures related to each are described and critiqued.
The literature on knowledge acquisition is voluminous and multi-faceted, and so the knowledge acquisition construct is portrayed here as consisting of five subconstructs or subprocesses: (1) drawing on knowledge available at the organization's birth, (2) learning from experience, (3) learning by observing other organizations, (4) grafting on to itself components that possess knowledge needed but not possessed by the organization, and (5) noticing or searching for information about the organization's environment and performance. Examination of the related literatures indicates that much has been learned about learning from experience, but also that there is a lack of cumulative work and a lack of integration of work from different research groups. Similarly, much has been learned about organizational search, but there is a lack of conceptual work, and there is a lack of both cumulative work and syntheses with which to create a more mature literature. Congenital learning, vicarious learning, and grafting are information acquisition subprocesses about which relatively little has been learned.
The literature concerning information distribution is rich and mature, but an aspect of information distribution that is central to an organization's benefitting from its learning, namely how units that possess information and units that need this information can find each other quickly and with a high likelihood, is unexplored. Information interpretation, as an organizational process, rather than an individual process, requires empirical work for further advancement. Organizational memory is much in need of systematic investigation, particularly by those whose special concerns are improving organizational learning and decision making.
The capabilities of a firm, or any organization, lie primarily in the organizing principles by which individual and functional expertise is structured, coordinated, and communicated. Firms are social communities which use their relational structure and shared coding schemes to enhance the transfer and communication of new skills and capabilities. To replicate new knowledge in the absence of a social community is difficult. A classic demonstration is the well-studied problem of the transfer across country borders of manufacturing capabilities that support production of new product innovations. We show in this article that the degree of codification and how easily capabilities are taught has a significant influence on the speed of transfer. What makes the question of knowledge codification particularly interesting is that firms compete not only through the creation, replication, and transfer of their own knowledge, but also through their ability to imitate the product innovations of competitors. The capacity to speed the internal transfer of a production capability to new markets (e.g., those in other countries) is, consequently, of fundamental significance in a competitive environment. In the attempt to speed the internal transfer of knowledge, the dilemma arises that capabilities which can be easily communicated within the firm are more likely to be easily imitated by competitors. This relationship is tested by analyzing the effects of the ease of codifying and communicating a manufacturing capability not only on the time to its transfer, but also on the time to imitation of the new product. ’The determinants of the time to imitation are found to be the extent to which knowledge of the manufacturing processes is “common” among competitors, and the degree of continuous recombination of capabilities leading to improvement of the product or the manufacturing process. We support this interpretation by a discussion of the results from field research. A wider implication of these findings is the proposition that the transfer and recombination of organizational capabilities are the foundation of an evolutionary theory of the firm. A critical element limiting the expansion of a firm is that the competitive value of codifying knowledge leads to the selection of organizing principles that are not functional in all competitive environments. The pressure of speed is of critical importance to understand the evolutionary advantage of nonoptimal rules of coordinated action within a social community.
This paper explores the sequential structure of work processes in a task unit whose work involves high numbers of exceptions, low analyzability of search, frequent interruptions, and extensive deliberation and that cannot be characterized as routine under any traditional definition. Yet a detailed analysis of the sequential pattern of action in a sample of 168 service interactions reveals that most interactions follow a repetitive, functionally similar pattern. This apparent contradiction presents a challenge to our theoretical understanding of routines: How can apparently nonroutine work display such a high degree of regularity? To answer this question, we propose a new definition of organizational routines as a set of functionally similar patterns and illustrate a new methodology for studying the sequential structure of work processes using rule-based grammatical models. This approach to organizational routines juxtaposes the structural features of the organization against the reflective agency of organizational members. Members enact specific performances from among a constrained, but potentially large set of possibilities that can be described by a grammar, giving rise to the regular patterns of action we label routines.
The causes and consequences of disrupted startups of new product and production processes are examined in relation to examples drawn from several, diverse industries. It is demonstrated that inappropriate management actions can often precipitate significant deviations from expected patterns of productivity increases during startups, resulting in important short- and long-run productivity losses. Based upon the discussion, several guidelines for effective startup management are suggested.
Twenty-four persons from ten GTE organizations conducted a study to determine what factors affected the transfer of technology from GTE Laboratories to GTE business units. The group agreed on a definition of, and model for, technology transfer. Twenty-one examples were analyzed to identify factors facilitating and factors inhibiting the process. They are categorized by the nature of the research to be transferred, the characteristics of the receiving organization, the characteristics of the giving organization, and the nature of the communications between the organizations. The findings are turned into transfer checklists: one for management in the receiving organization, and one for management in the giving organization. In the process, it became clear that: technology transfer is the transfer of knowledge; business strategy affects the likelihood of success in a transfer; culture, particularly the reward system, influences technology transfer; and, technical, management, and time gaps can inhibit the transfer process. Some of these points are included in a conceptual decision model which addresses whether a proposed transfer is likely to be successful. As a result of the study, the authors believe that those who have responsibility for managing transfer are more aware of the factors which influence it and that successful transfer depends on the stability of management objectives.
Adaptation is a dynamic diffusion of innovations process in which adopters change innovations according to their individual needs. Adaptation may be explained by three factors: (a) the differing interpretation of innovation components by individual adopters, (b) an individual's level of adopter innovativeness or readiness to accept change, and (c) the generative learning process whereby an individual relates new information to prior knowledge and experience. Adaptation may occur unconsciously at the beginning of the diffusion process. Those who study the adaptation process should begin at the initial awareness stage when potential adopters are forming their opinions and ideas about an innovation.
Although diffusion processes take place in a variety of social systems, they have rarely been studied within the context of an organization. Yet when the intraorganizational part of the diffusion of an innovation is gradual or differs among organizations, the overall diffusion of that innovation is affected.
The authors explore the applicability of the traditional diffusion perspective in an intraorganizational context. They compare the explanatory power of factors emphasized by the traditional diffusion perspective with that of factors deemphasized or neglected by that perspective. The setting is the diffusion of electronic switching technology within the operating companies of the Bell System before its divestiture. The results suggest that the traditional perspective may not apply exactly within organizations because factors other than those traditionally emphasized seem to play an important role in the diffusion of innovations within organizations.
Why do some organizations learn at faster rates than others? Why do organizations "forget"? Could productivity gains acquired in one part of an organization be transferred to another? These are among the questions addressed in Organizational Learning: Creating, Retaining and Transferring Knowledge. Since its original publication in 1999, this book has set the standard for research and analysis in the field. This fully updated and expanded edition showcases the most current research and insights, featuring a new chapter that provides a theoretical framework for analyzing organizational learning and presents evidence about how the organizational context affects learning processes and outcomes. Drawing from a wide array of studies across the spectrum of management, economics, sociology, and psychology, Organizational Learning explores the dynamics of learning curves in organizations, with particular emphasis on how individuals and groups generate, share, reinforce, and sometimes forget knowledge. With an increased emphasis on service organizations, including healthcare, Linda Argote demonstrates that organizations vary dramatically in the rates at which they learn-with profound implications for productivity, performance, and managerial and strategic decision making. © Springer Science+Business Media New York 2013. All rights are reserved.
The dominant explanation for the spread of technological innovations emphasizes processes of influence and information flow. Firms which are closely connected to pre-existing users of an innovation learn about it and adopt it early on. Firms at the periphery of communication networks are slower to adopt.
This paper develops an alternative model which emphasizes the role of know-how and organizational learning as potential barriers to adoption of innovations. Firms delay in-house adoption of complex technology until they obtain sufficient technical know-how to implement and operate it successfully.
In response to knowledge barriers, new institutions come into existence which progressively lower those barriers, and make it easier for firms to adopt and use the technology without extensive in-house expertise. Service bureaus, consultants, and simplification of the technology are examples. As knowledge barriers are lowered, diffusion speeds up, and one observes a transition from an early pattern in which the new technology is typically obtained as a service to a later pattern of in-house provision of the technology.
Thus the diffusion of technology is reconceptualized in terms of organizational learning, skill development, and knowledge barriers. The utility of this approach is shown through an empirical study of the diffusion of business computing in the United States, reporting survey and ethnographic data on the spread of business computing, on the learning processes and skills required, and on the changing institutional practices that facilitated diffusion.
This paper discusses the problems and processes involved in conducting longitudinal ethnographic research. The author's field study of technological change in radiology provides the context for the discussion. Specific attention is paid to how researchers can design a qualitative study and then collect data in a systematic and explicit manner. Consequently, the paper seeks to dispel the notion that participant observation and quantitative data analysis are immical. Finally, the social and human problems of gaining entry into a research site, constructing a research role, and managing relationships with informants are illustrated.
This chapter is about the institutionalization of organizational change. It is concerned with the persistence of organizational change. Lewin (1951) describes change in terms of three processes unfreezing, moving, and refreezing. Institutionalization is concerned with the process of refreezing. After a new policy or program is introduced into an organization, we plan to focus on factors that affect its persistence. A whole series of questions underlies this problem statement: What does institutionalization or persistence mean? How do we describe different degrees of institutionalization or persistence mean? How do we describe different degrees of institutionalization? What critical processes affect institutionalization? What are the critical predictors? These questions serve to organize this discussion.
The concept of institutionalization, which concerns the process by which organizational change is sustained, is examined. Basic definitional attributes and a two-phase model of institutionalization are presented. Then factors in the literature which affect the degree of institutionalization are reviewed and related to the model. Some of the factors include: the organization's reward system, transmission mechanisms, group forces, diffusion processes, etc. (Author)
The ability to transfer best practices intemally is critical to a firm's ability to build competitive advantage through the appropriation of rents from scarce internal knowledge. Just as a firm's distinctive competencies might be difficult for other firms to imitate, its best practices could be difficult to imitate internally. Yet, little systematic attention has been paid to such intemal stickiness. The author analyzes intemal stickiness of knowledge transfer and tests the resulting model using canonical correlation analysis of a data set consisting of 271 observations of 122 best-practice transfers in eight companies. Contrary to conventional wisdom that blames primarily motivational factors, the study findings show the major barriers to internal knowledge transfer to be knowledge-related factors such as the recipient's lack of absorptive capacity, causal ambiguity, and an arduous relationship between the source and the recipient. The identification and transfer of best practices is emerging as one of the most important and widespread practical management issues of the latter half of the 1990s. Armed with meaningful, detailed performance data, firms that use fact- based management methods such as TQM, bench- marking, and process reengineering can regularly compare the perfonnance of their units along operational dimensions. Sparse but unequivocal evidence suggests that such comparisons often reveal surprising perfonnance differences between units, indicating a need to improve knowledge utilization within the firm (e.g., Chew, Bresnahan, and Clark, 1990).' Because intemal transfers typi-
Discusses 8 organizational work restructuring experiments. Reasons for the blockage of the diffusion of this innovation in the organization are suggested. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
[Excerpt] A large body of research has been generated within the last few years on the forms and functions of organizational culture and on the consequences of culture for organizational control and effectiveness. Surprisingly little attention has been given, however, to the sources of organizational culture and, in particular, to the features of organizations that affect its maintenance and transmission. This chapter uses an institutionalization perspective to explore these issues.
Global competition highlights asymmetries in the skill endowments of firms. Collaboration may provide an opportunity for one partner to internalize the skills of the other, and thus improve its position both within and without the alliance. Detailed analysis of nine international alliances yielded a fine-grained understanding of the determinants of interpartner learning. The study suggests that not all partners are equally adept at learning; that asymmetries in learning alter the relative bargaining power of partners; that stability and longevity may be inappropriate metrics of partnership success; that partners may have competitive, as well as collaborative aims, vis-à-vis each other; and that process may be more important than structure in determining learning outcomes.
The adoption of management science models has typically been studied in time frames of less than two years. Recommendations of government decisionmakers for improving the likelihood of successful model development, diffusion, and adoption have been based on these studies. Yet some factors important to the use of models do not emerge in the short term. This study examines model use over a longer time frame, and draws some policy implications. A survey was taken of 17 police departments live years after they implemented PCAM, the Patrol Car Allocation Model. Utilization (extent of use) and institutionalization (extent of organizational adaptation) were evaluated. Overall, there were few signs that use of PCAM had a major impact on the state of police patrol allocation. PCAM was found to be operational in six departments, and fully institutionalized in two. Based on patterns of use and nonuse, recommendations are made to enhance the long-term impact of future modeling projects. Among them are to survey user needs and give them a larger role in model development, to design models capable of an expanded range of tasks and of running on personal computers, and to include performance evaluation and feedback in all model-building projects. A structured approach to development is suggested to anticipate implementation and institutionalization problems, and to produce integrated solutions.
Traditional approaches to institutionalization do not provide an adequate explanation of cultural persistence. A much more adequate explanation can be found in the ethnomethodological approach to institutionalization, defining acts which are both objective (potentially repeatable by other actors without changing the meaning) and exterior (intersubjectively defined so that they can be viewed as part of external reality) as highly institutionalized. Three levels of institutionalization were created in the autokinetic situation to permit examination of the effects of institutionalization on three aspects of cultural persistence: generational uniformity of cultural understandings, maintenance of these understandings, and resistance of these understandings to change. Three separate experiments were conducted to examine these aspects of cultural persistence. Strong support was found for the predictions that the greater the degree of institutionalization, the greater the generational uniformity, maintenance, and resistance to change of cultural understandings. Implications of these findings for earlier approaches to institutionalization are discussed.
The concept of learning-by-doing has featured prominently in the literature on manufacturing improvement and technological innovation. Much of the focus of this literature is on the ‘doing’ or ‘using’ that takes place in an actual commercial production or usage environment. But problem-solving can also occur long before a new product or process design is introduced into the factory through computer simulations, laboratory experiments, prototype testing, pilot production runs, and other experiments. These approaches to problem-solving are referred to in this paper as ‘learning-before-doing.’ Although there is an extensive literature on prototyping and technical problem-solving in R&D, there have been few attempts to determine the type of conditions under which different approaches to learning are most effective. This paper explores the impact of different learning strategies on development performance with detailed data on 23 process development projects from pharmaceuticals and biotechnology. The empirical analysis focuses specifically on how the timing of technology transfer to the factory influences development costs. The results of the analysis indicate learning-by-doing is essential for efficient development in an environment like biotechnology where underlying theoretical and practical knowledge is relatively thin. In contrast, the need for learning-by-doing is far lower in environments like chemical synthesis where underlying theoretical and practical knowledge is deep enough to enable the design of laboratory experiments that effectively model future production experience. The paper concludes with a discussion of the implication of these findings for the management of process development and learning.
To examine the phenomenon of the transnational transfer of strategic organizational practices within multinational companies, I use a cross-disciplinary approach. After conceptualizing the success of a transfer as the institutionalization of the practice at the recipient unit, I develop a multilevel model of transfer success, based on the notion of the contextual embeddedness of the process of transfer. I propose that three sets of factors at three levels - country, organization, and individual - affect transfer success reflecting social, organizational, and relational embeddedness. Finally, I discuss the theoretical and practical implications of this research.
This paper combines the concept of weak ties from social network research and the notion of complex knowledge to explain the role of weak ties in sharing knowledge across organization subunits in a multiunit organization. I use a network study of 120 new-product development projects undertaken by 41 divisions in a large electronics company to examine the task of developing new products in the least amount of time. Findings show that weak interunit ties help a project team search for useful knowledge in other subunits but impede the transfer of complex knowledge, which tends to require a strong tie between the two parties to a transfer. Having weak interunit ties speeds up projects when knowledge is not complex but slows them down when the knowledge to be transferred is highly complex. I discuss the implications of these findings for research on social networks and product innovation.
This paper examines the introduction and adaptation of technologies that support productive operations. The authors argue that the process of technological adaptation is not gradual and continuous, as often argued in the innovation literature, but is instead highly discontinuous. Evidence from three manufacturing and service organizations indicates that there exists a relatively brief window of opportunity to explore and modify new process technology following initial implementation. Afterwards, modification of new process technologies by users is limited by the increasing routinization that occurs with experience. Thus, the technology and its context of use tend to congeal, often embedding unresolved problems into organizational practice. Subsequent changes appear to occur in an episodic manner, triggered either by discrepant events or by new discoveries on the part of users. These findings have important implications for theories of technological change.
Thesis (Ph. D.)--Insead, 1995. Includes bibliographical references (p. [7-19], 3rd set). Photocopy. s