Impact of key organizational factors on knowledge transfer success in multi-national enterprises

Abstract

The study, which was designed as a survey, sets to establish the capacity of some organizational components to predict knowledge transfer success in multinational enterprises. It involved a sample size of 125 drawn from employees in the production unit of Cadbury Nigeria Plc and Nestle Foods Plc. Questionnaires that contained scales which measured dimensions of organizational components and knowledge transfer success were used for data collection. It was hypothesized that organizational components (organizational culture, strategy, information technology, training and organizational performance) will significantly predict knowledge transfer success. The hypothesis was confirmed by the results [R2 = .21, F (5,124) = 7.74; p < .05]. However, training was the main significant contributor with 44%. It was concluded that training as a major factor interact with other components to significantly predict knowledge transfer success in the multinational enterprises examined. This implied that organizations emphasizing knowledge management have to ensure effective training while taking into consideration other organizational components. Therefore, it is essential to incorporate effective training in the effort to drive successful knowledge transfer that enhances productivity. Organizations are advised to de-emphasize demographic characteristics of employees and focus on result-oriented training programs.