Culture and Knowledge Transfe: Theoretical Considerations

Jing Liu

.

DOI: 10.4236/jssm.2010.31020                

Abstract

Knowledge and culture are indissolubly linked together in organizations. Considerable evidence supports the importance of culture in the success or failure of knowledge management. Then, the effectiveness of knowledge transfer needs both cultural understanding and new considerations in the knowledge transfer of intercultural organizations. This paper identifies the influence of different dimensions of culture on knowledge transfer in different types of knowledge. Based on a topology that classified national culture into four dimensions provided by [12,13], power distance and individualism/collectivism are chosen as the representatives of national culture in this work and discuss the effect of national culture on knowledge transfer. The aim of this paper is to propose a theoretical framework for knowledge transfer processes based on differences in national culture for future research.

Keywords

Knowledge, Knowledge Types, Knowledge Transfer, Culture, Cultural Dimensions

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

References

[1]	H. Takeuchi, “Towards a universal management of the concept of knowledge, managing industrial knowledge: Creation, transfer and utilization,” in I. Nonaka and D. J. Teece, Eds. London: Sage, 2001.
[2]	B. L. Simonin, “Ambiguity and the process of knowledge transfer in strategic alliances,” Strategic Management Journal, Vol. 20, No. 7, pp. 595–623, July 1999.
[3]	A. K. Gupta and V. Govindarajan, “Knowledge flows within multinational corporations,” Strategic Manage- ment Journal, Vol. 21, No. 4, pp. 473–496, April 2000.
[4]	R. Jensen and G. Szulanski, “Stickiness and the adaptation of organizational practices in cross-border knowledge transfers,” Journal of International Business Studies, Vol. 35, No. 6, pp. 508–523, November 2004.
[5]	N. Holden, “Knowledge management: Raising the specter of the cross-cultural dimension,” Knowledge and Process Management, Vol. 8, No. 3, pp. 155–163, July/September 2001.
[6]	D. J. Pauleen and P. Murphy, “In praise of cultural bias,” MIT Sloan Management Review, Vol. 46, No. 2, pp. 21–22, Winter 2005.
[7]	S. C. Voel and C. Han, “Managing knowledge sharing in China: The case of Siemens ShareNet,” Journal of Knowledge Management, Vol. 9, No. 3, pp. 51–63, 2005.
[8]	N. Finestone and R. Snyman, “Corporate south africa: Making multicultural knowledge sharing work,” Journal of Knowledge Management, Vol. 9, No. 3, pp. 128–141, 2005.
[9]	C. Grimm and K. Smith, “Strategy as action: 1ndustry rivalry and coordination,” Cincinnati, OH: South- Western College Publishing, 1997.
[10]	T. L. Friedman, “The world is flat: A brief history of the twenty-first century,” New York, NY: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2005.
[11]	J. Li, L. Karakowsky and K. Lam, “East meets east and east meets west: The case of Sino-Japanese and Sino- West joint ventures in China,” Journal of Management Studies, Vol. 39, No. 6, pp. 841–863, September 2002.
[12]	Hofdtese, “Management scientists are human,” Manage- ment Science, Vol. 40, No. 1, pp. 4–13, January, 1994.
[13]	G. Hofstede, “Culture’s Consequences: International Differences in Work-related Values (2nd Edtion),” Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 2001.
[14]	I. Nonaka, “A dynamic theory of organizational knowledge creation,” Organization Science, Vol. 5, No. 1, pp. 14–37, February 1994.
[15]	J. C. Spender, “Making knowledge as the basis of a dynamic theory of the firm,” Strategic Management Journal, Special Issues: Knowledge and the Firm, Vol. 17, pp. 45–62, Winter 1996.
[16]	D. Vance, “Information knowledge and wisdom: The epistemic hierarchy and computer-based information systems,” in Proceedings of the Third America’s Conference on Information Systems, Indianapolis, August 1997.
[17]	N. Kock and R. McQueen, “Knowledge and information communication in organizations: An analysis of core, support and improvement process,” Knowledge and Process Management, Vol. 5, No. 1, pp. 29–40, March 1998.
[18]	M. Zack, “Managing codified knowledge,” Sloan Management Review, Vol. 40, No. 4, pp. 45–58, Summer 1999.
[19]	F. I. Dretske, “Knowledge and the flow of information,” Stanford, CA: CLSI Publications, 1999.
[20]	I. Nonaka and V. Peltokorpi, “Objectivity and subjectivity in knowledge management-a review of 20 top articles,” Knowledge and Process Management, Vol. 13, No. 2, pp. 73–82, 2006.
[21]	R. McDermot, “Why information technology inspired but cannot deliver knowledge management,” California Management Review, Vol. 41, No.4, pp. 103–117, Summer 1999.
[22]	C. Frappaolo and S. Capshaw, “Knowledge management software: Capturing the essence of know-how and innovation,” Information Management Journal, Vol. 33 No. 3, pp. 44–48, July 1999.
[23]	I. Nonaka and H. Takeuchi, “The knowledge creating company,” New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 1995.
[24]	T. H. Davenport, D. W. Long, and M. C. Beers, “Successful knowledge management projects,” Sloan Management Review, Vol. 39, No. 2, pp. 43–57, Winter 1998.
[25]	D. W. De Long and L. Fahey, “Diagnosing cultural barriers to knowledge management,” Academy of Management Executive, Vol. 14, No. 4, pp. 113–128, November 2000.
[26]	R. Glazer, “Measuring the knower: Towards a theory of knowledge equity,” California Management Review, Spring, Vol. 40, No. 3, pp. 175–194, 1998.
[27]	R. Garud and P. R. Nayyar, “Transformative capacity: Continual structuring by intertemporal technology transfer,” Strategic Management Journal, Vol. 15, No. 5, pp. 365–385, June 1994.
[28]	G. Szulanski, “Exploring internal stickiness: Impediments to the transfer of best practice within the firm,” Strategic Management Journal, Special Issue: Knowledge and the Firm, pp. 27–44, Vol. 17, Winter 1996.
[29]	E. H. Schein, “Organizational culture and leadership,” San Francisco, CA: Jossy-Bass Inc, 1985.
[30]	G. Hofstede, B. Neuijen, D. D. Ohayv, and G. Sanders, “Measuring organizational cultures: A qualitative and quantitative study across twenty cases,” Administrative Science Quarterly, Vol. 35, No. 2, pp. 286–316, June 1990.
[31]	G. Johns, “Organizational behavior: Understanding and managing life at work,” New York, NY: HarperCollins College Publishers, 1996.
[32]	G. Hofstede, “Attitudes, values and organizational culture: Disentangling the concepts,” Organization Studies, Vol. 19, No. 3, pp. 477–492, 1998.
[33]	P. X. Meschi and A. Roger, “Cultural context and social effectiveness in international joint ventures,” Management International Review, Vol. 34, No. 3, pp. 197–216, 1994.
[34]	B. L. Kedia and R. S. Bhagat, “Cultural constraints on transfer of technology across nations: Implications for research in international and comparative management,” Academy of Management Review, Vol. 13, No. 4, pp. 559–571, October 1988.
[35]	R. T. Watson, T. H. Ho and K. S. Raman, “Culture: A fourth dimension of group support systems,” Communi- cations of the ACM, Vol. 37, No. 10, pp. 44–55, October 1994.
[36]	M. Srite and E. Karahanna, “The role of espoused national culture values in technology acceptance,” MIS Quarterly, Vol. 30, No. 3, pp. 679–704, September 2006.
[37]	R. S. Bhagat, B. L. Kedia, P. D. Harveston, and H. C. Triandis, “Cultural variations in the cross-border transfer of organizational knowledge: An integrative framework,” Academy of Management Review, Vol. 27, No. 2, pp. 204–221, April 2002.
[38]	H. C. Triandis, “Individualism and collectivism,” Boulder, CO: Westview, 1995.
[39]	C. Triandis, “Vertical and horizontal individualism and collectivism: Theory and research implications for international comparative management,” in Advances in International Comparative Management, J. L. Cheng and R. B. Peterson, Eds., Stanford, CT and London: JAI Press Inc, Vol. 12, pp. 7–35, 1998.
[40]	E. Hall, “Beyond Culture (2”d Edtion),” New York, NY: Anchor Books/Random House, 1989.
[41]	J. Michael, “A conceptual framework for aligning managerial behaviors with cultural work values,” Inter- national Journal of Commerce & Management, Vol. 7, No. 3/4, pp. 81–102, 1997.
[42]	I. Vertinsky, D. K. Tse, D. A. Wehrung, and K. Lee, “Organizational design and management norms: A comparatives study of managers’ perceptions in the People’s Republic of China, Hong Kong, and Canada,” Journal of Management, Vol. 16, No. 4, pp. 853–867, December1990.
[43]	C. W. Chow, T. M. Lindquist, and A. Wu, “National culture and the implementation of high-stretch performance standards: An exploratory study,” Behavi- oral Research in Accounting, Vol. 13, pp. 85–109, 2001.
[44]	M. C. Marchese, “Matching management practices to national culture in India, Mexico, Poland, and the U.S,” The Academy of Management Executive, Vol. 15, No. 2, pp. 130–132, May 2001.
[45]	T. H. Cox, S. A. Lobel, and P. L. McLeod, “Effects of ethnic group cultural differences on cooperative and competitive behavior on a group task,” Academy of Management Journal, Vol. 34, No. 4, pp. 827–847, December 1991.
[46]	Y. Yoo and B. Torrey, “National culture and knowledge management in a global learning organization: The strategic management of intellectual capital and organizational knowledge,” New York, NY: Oxford University Press, Inc., 2002.