FRAMING THE KNOWLEDGE SEARCH PROBLEM: WHOM DO WE CONTACT, AND WHY DO WE CONTACT THEM?

Abstract

The burgeoning academic literature on knowledge transfer has mainly focused on the obstacles to transferring knowledge from a known source to the desirable destination. There is an underlying assumption in almost all of the knowledge transfer literature that the knowledge source is identified. However, the few academic studies that have broadened their scope in studying the problem have found that lack of management awareness as to whether applicable knowledge already exists in-house is the number one problem precluding knowledge sharing within the MNE. The problem is particularly acute in an MNE as the geographic dispersion and cultural differences among subsidiaries present a worst-case scenario for effective knowledge search. The main contribution of this paper is its theory development to explain the knowledge search process. The paper focuses on the antecedents and results of whom we likely to contact to obtain knowledge. The paper addresses four research questions: 1) what are the determinants of whether an associate is contacted during the search? 2) what factors predict that a colleague provides non-redundant knowledge during the search? 3) what influences the searchers' perceived expertise of a potential contact? and 4) what factors contributed to the cost of conducting the search? A second contribution of the paper is its prescriptions how international teams can facilitate knowledge search. The paper concludes with a discussion of how international teams are a micro-level organizational structure which provide a good fit for an MNE strategy of innovation, learning, and adaptation.