Fear of Exploitation and Fear of Contamination: Impediments to Knowledge Transfer in Mergers between Professional Service Firms

TLDR

Prior research identifies impediments to knowledge transfer arising from knowledge bases and organizational contexts, yet it overlooks the central role of individuals in articulating, legitimizing, and interpreting these contexts, with professionals’ resistance also driven by personal and subjective factors. The study examines the merger process in six accounting and consulting firms to identify the twin fears of exploitation and contamination that impede knowledge transfer. The authors examined the merger process in six accounting and consulting firms. The study finds that professionals resist knowledge transfer when they perceive fundamental differences in external image quality and knowledge base form, framing this resistance as the twin fears of exploitation and contamination.

Abstract

Previous studies of knowledge transfer have identified a variety of impediments that derive from the knowledge base and the organizational context. However such explanations do not take account of the central role that individuals play in the knowledge transfer process, specifically in articulating and legitimizing the knowledge base and in shaping and interpreting the organizational context. This article examines the merger process as experienced within six accounting and consulting firms. It finds that professionals resist knowledge transfer when they perceive that the merging firms differ fundamentally in terms of the quality of their external image and the form of their knowledge base. Whilst professionals may attribute their resistance to commercial and objective concerns, their responses are also governed by highly personal and subjective factors. This study identifies this complex combination of factors as the twin fears of exploitation and contamination.