Unified theories of cognition
Interunit communication in multinational corporations
Management Science
Computational & Mathematical Organization Theory
Management Science - Special issue on frontier research in manufacturing and logistics
Organizational Learning: Creating, Retaining, and Transferring Knowledge
Organizational Learning: Creating, Retaining, and Transferring Knowledge
Working Knowledge: How Organizations Manage What They Know
Working Knowledge: How Organizations Manage What They Know
Knowledge Networks: Explaining Effective Knowledge Sharing in Multiunit Companies
Organization Science
Sticky Knowledge: Barriers to Knowing in the Firm
Sticky Knowledge: Barriers to Knowing in the Firm
A Relational View of Information Seeking and Learning in Social Networks
Management Science
More Than an Answer: Information Relationships for Actionable Knowledge
Organization Science
A Test of the Individual Action Model for Organizational Information Commons
Organization Science
Franchising, Ownership, and Experience: A Study of Pizza Restaurant Survival
Management Science
Transactive Memory Systems, Learning, and Learning Transfer
Organization Science
Power, Status, and Learning in Organizations
Organization Science
Hi-index | 0.00 |
When does knowledge transfer benefit performance? Combining field data from a global consulting firm with an agent-based model, we examine how efforts to supplement one's knowledge from coworkers interact with individual, organizational, and environmental characteristics to impact organizational performance. We find that once cost and interpersonal exchange are included in the analysis, the impact of knowledge transfer is highly contingent. Depending on specific characteristics and circumstances, knowledge transfer can better, matter little to, or even harm performance. Three illustrative studies clarify puzzling past results and offer specific boundary conditions: 1 At the individual level, better organizational support for employee learning diminishes the benefit of knowledge transfer for organizational performance. 2 At the organization level, broader access to organizational memory makes global knowledge transfer less beneficial to performance. 3 When the organizational environment becomes more turbulent, the organizational performance benefits of knowledge transfer decrease. The findings imply that organizations may forgo investments in both organizational memory and knowledge exchange, that wide-ranging knowledge exchange may be unimportant or even harmful for performance, and that organizations operating in turbulent environments may find that investment in knowledge exchange undermines performance rather than enhances it. At a time when practitioners are urged to make investments in facilitating knowledge transfer and collaboration, appreciation of the complex relationship between knowledge transfer and performance will help in reaping benefits while avoiding liabilities.