• Asia pacific journal of information systems
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• v.25 no.3
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• pp.445-472
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• 2015

Although knowledge transfer between two different parties occurs in IS development projects, the majority of prior studies focused on knowledge transfer from IT consultants to clients. Considering two parts of knowledge transfer in IS development projects, we must consider both 'where knowledge is transferred from' and 'where it is transferred to'. Therefore, in this study, we attempt to describe two different routes of knowledge transfer, such as knowledge transfer from an IT consultant to a client and knowledge transfer from a client to an IT consultant. In this regard, we have examined the effect of two different routes of knowledge transfer on system implementation success in IS development project. Specifically, we adopted the knowledge stock-flow theory to examine the causal relationship between IT consulting firms and clients in terms of knowledge transfer and eventual system implementation success. Survey data collected from 213 pairs of individuals (both clients and IT consultants) were used to test the model using three different analytic approaches such as PLS (partial least squares) and two types of mediated regression techniques. We found that knowledge transfers partially mediated both the relationships between IT consultants' IT skills (project members' business knowledge) and system implementation success. Furthermore, the effects of each knowledge transfer were distinguished by depending on the types of system, such as ERP or groupware. Our attempts have significant implications for both research and practice given the importance of effective knowledge transfer to IT consulting.

• Asia-pacific Journal of Multimedia Services Convergent with Art, Humanities, and Sociology
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• v.6 no.1
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• pp.39-48
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• 2016

The tacit knowledge transfer cultivate the value and mount of tacit knowledge. The tacit knowledge transfer plays the most important role for improving the competitiveness of the organization. Despite the tacit knowledge transfer is very important, the research related with tacit knowledge transfer has not been actively carried out. The barriers to tacit knowledge transfer interfere with the tacit knowledge transfer. The barriers to tacit knowledge transfer are lack of understanding knowledge experts, heavy over-work, insufficient compensation, trust shortage and knowledge stickiness. In order to overcome the barrier of the tacit knowledge transfer, it is necessary to promote knowledge broker. The knowledge broker is the foundation for the tacit knowledge transfer and the critical success factor for efficient tacit knowledge transfer. However, most research related on the knowledge broker had focused on the degree, centrality and density of the knowledge network. The framework is needed to performance indicator for diagnosing the tacit knowledge transfer. Therefore, we suggest the knowledge broker framework based on the social network analysis.

• Knowledge Management Research
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.1-16
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• 2011

This study examined the influence of the antecedents of knowledge transfer from both the knowledge source's and recipient's perspectives using a social network survey. Prior research usually focused on either perspective of the knowledge source or recipient, thus could not include both. Analyzing the responses from 335 R&D employees of the five firms, the study showed that all antecedents of knowledge transfer - reward, reciprocity, subjective norm, and perceived behavioral control - are influential on knowledge transfer from the knowledge source's perspective. However, from the knowledge recipient's perspective, perceived behavioral control was influential on the quality of knowledge transfer and subjective norm was on the number of knowledge recipients. Expected reward and reciprocity did not show significant influence. This study proved that the necessity of considering both the knowledge source's and the recipient's perspectives when measuring knowledge transfer and the importance of intrinsic motivations, such as subjective norm and perceived behavioral control.

• Journal of Global Scholars of Marketing Science
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.277-306
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• 2008

Knowledge1 is considered to be a key element of understanding how organizations gain and sustain competitive advantages. But very few firms are capable of creating the requisite knowledge and thus, firms should acquire and exploit new knowledge through knowledge transfer processes. The empirical part of this study involves examining relationships among adaptability of knowledge and knowledge transfer and marketing performance and testing the moderating roles of absorptive capacity, socialization and local marketing knowledge. This study is organized as follows: (1) Previous literature on knowledge, knowledge transfer and absorptive capacity is summarized, followed by the development of hypotheses derived from the knowledge-based view and absorptive capacity. (2) The hypotheses are tested with data collected from MNCs' subsidiaries performing marketing activities in Korea.Thestudyisclosedwithfindings,implications,andconclusions. Following six research hypotheses are drawn from literature review in related areas: H1: Adaptability of knowledge transferred from the MNCs' headquarters and other subsidiaries is positively associated with knowledge inflows into the receiving subsidiary. H2: The level of marketing knowledge transferred from the MNCs' headquarters and other subsidiaries is positively associated with marketing performance of the receiving subsidiary. H3: Increases in potential absorptive capacity will enhance the relationship between adaptability of knowledge and the level of marketing knowledge transfer. H4: Increases in realized absorptive capacity will enhance the relationship between the level of knowledge transfer and marketing performance of the receiving subsidiary. H5: Increases in socialization activity among the headquarters and subsidiaries will enhance the relationship between adaptability of knowledge and the level of marketing knowledge transfer. H6: Increases in the level of locally developed marketing knowledge will enhance the relationship between the level of knowledge transfer and marketing performance of the receiving subsidiary. The research framework that illustrates the proposed hypotheses is presented in figure 1. The unit of analysis for this study is knowledge transfer from the MNCs' headquarters and other subsidiaries to their subsidiaries operating in South Korea. The population for this study consists of subsidiaries established either as joint ventures or as wholly-owned subsidiaries. A group of 603 foreign firms were drawn from diverse industry organizations and business societies. After personal contact, telephone, fax, and e-mail to request that the respondents complete the questionnaire, 282 valid questionnaires from 133 initial sample companies were collected. The results of the empirical analyses significantly support all of the proposed hypotheses except hypothesis 3. Adaptability of external knowledge promotes knowledge transfer and the relationship is moderated by a firm's potential knowledge absorptive capacity. On the other hand, knowledge transfer improves a firm's marketing performance and a firm's realized knowledge absorptive capacity and local marketing knowledge moderate the relationship. The theoretical and practical implications of the findings in this study are as follows: (1) firms must take seeking, transferring, sharing and exploiting of external knowledge into serious consideration, while simultaneously creating knowledge to support the necessary business operations, remain competitive, and achieve superior performance. (2) Firms should continuously seek to develop their knowledge absorptive capacity (both potential and realized capacity) to absorb, learn and utilize valuable external knowledge. (3) Firms should emphasize not only absorptive capacity, but also development of local knowledge. Firms with strong absorptive capability and local knowledge can learn and transfer more external knowledge, which can be translated into greater levels of competence and performance.

• Asia pacific journal of information systems
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• v.10 no.4
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• pp.57-75
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• 2000

Most current literature on knowledge and technology transfer(Appropriability Model, Dissemination Model, and Knowledge Utilization Model), describe the process of transfer in details, but has limitation in terms of their application in contemporary high-tech industries since most studies have not provided plausible explanation on levels and factors affecting transfer of knowledge and/or technology. To overcome these limitations, the four levels of knowledge and technology transfer are suggested: Knowledge and Technology Creation(Level I), Sharing(Level II), Implementation(Level III), and Commercialization(Level IV). Comprehensive literature identifies sixteen variables affecting the process and results of knowledge and technology transfer. The survey results show four key factors in knowledge and technology transfer: Communication, Distance, Equivocality, and Motivation, Communication refers to the degree to which a medium is able to efficiently and accurately conveys task-relevant information and media while distance involves both physical and cultural proximity. Equivocality refers to the degree of concreteness of knowledge and technology to be transferred while motivation involves incentives for and the recognition of the importance of knowledge and technology transfer activities. Further analysis shows that there are four distinctive clusters and they show very contrasting characteristics in terms of four key factors. The careful mapping of the four clusters on the four key factors show very informative knowledge and technology transfer patterns, the Knowledge and Technology Transfer Grid. Finally, actions to increase communication interactivity and motivation, and to reduce cultural distance and equivocality are suggested.

• Knowledge Management Research
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.261-286
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• 2017

Key factors enhancing transfer behavior of training and knowledge sharing are of great interest to researchers and executives because training transfer and knowledge sharing activities are remarkable predictors of organizational growth. This study investigates the core motivations for boosting transfer behavior of training and knowledge sharing. To empirically test the impacts of employee training, servant leadership and self-efficacy, a survey was conducted in small-medium sized companies. The data (N=292) were analyzed using structural equation modeling analysis. The results indicate that higher employee training positively leads to self-efficacy and transfer behavior of training. Servant leadership is positively leads to self-efficacy, transfer behavior of training, and knowledge sharing. Self-efficacy of employees induces greater transfer behavior of training and knowledge sharing. Finally, transfer behavior of training encourages workers to increase knowledge sharing. This study represents an initial step to examine the psychological mechanism of improving employees' transfer behavior of training and knowledge sharing activities based on the employee training qualities and servant leaderships.

• Journal of Technology Innovation
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.21-51
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• 2010

This paper examines the knowledge transfer effect in Korean venture systems. Existing literature has provided rich evidence of the effect of knowledge transfer, but we do not have micro mechanisms inherent in the process of knowledge transfer. This paper argues that knowledge transfer effects vary depending on the knowledge types, sources, and legacy. This paper also tests role of the two important pillars in knowledge transfer of Korean venture startups; venture capital and government. This paper also examines the role of absorptive capacity in the knowledge transfer process. With 1,862 sample of Korean venture firms, this study employed three methods depending on 3 different types of dependent variables: hierarchical regression, logistic regression, and survival analysis. Main findings include that 1) knowledge characteristic itself and its alignment with industry influence the knowledge transfer effects, 2) government support has a negative effect on financial performance of venture firms, but does not have significant interaction effect on knowledge transfer, and 3) the absorptive capacity of each firm moderates the knowledge transfer effects. The theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

• The Journal of Information Systems
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.191-213
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• 2006

The purpose of this research is to identify the structure among determining factors focusing on knowledge transfer and analyze and prove the causal relation on knowledge transfer in Korean companies and public corporations. The results from the analysis of data collected in this study are as follows. First, forum among organization related factors has the positive relation with uncertainty in a significant level. Second, the higher the knowledge presentation and the ease of use are among information systems related factors, the lower the ambiguity and uncertainty are. Third, among process related factors, unification has the negative relation with ambiguity and uncertainty in a significant level. Fourth, a better manpower employment contributes to a worse ambiguity and uncertainty. Fifth, ambiguity has a negative relation with knowledge transfer. In conclusion, the factors that lower the ambiguity and facilitate knowledge transfer include information systems, unification, and manpower employment. These factors, however, influence on uncertainty, which turns out to be nothing to do with knowledge transfer.

• Asia pacific journal of information systems
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.75-97
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• 2012

Knowledge residing in the heads of employees has always been regarded as one of the most critical resources within a firm. However, many tries to facilitate knowledge transfer among employees has been unsuccessful because of the motivational and cognitive problems between the knowledge source and the recipient. Social capital, which is defined as "the sum of the actual and potential resources embedded within, available through, derived from the network of relationships possessed by an individual or social unit [Nahapiet and Ghoshal, 1998]," is suggested to resolve these motivational and cognitive problems of knowledge transfer. In Social capital theory, there are two research streams. One insists that social capital strengthens group solidarity and brings up cooperative behaviors among group members, such as voluntary help to colleagues. Therefore, social capital can motivate an expert to transfer his/her knowledge to a colleague in need without any direct reward. The other stream insists that social capital provides an access to various resources that the owner of social capital doesn't possess directly. In knowledge transfer context, an employee with social capital can access and learn much knowledge from his/her colleagues. Therefore, social capital provides benefits to both the knowledge source and the recipient in different ways. However, prior research on knowledge transfer and social capital is mostly limited to either of the research stream of social capital and covered only the knowledge source's or the knowledge recipient's perspective. Social network theory which focuses on the structural dimension of social capital provides clear explanation about the in-depth mechanisms of social capital's two different benefits. 'Strong tie' builds up identification, trust, and emotional attachment between the knowledge source and the recipient; therefore, it motivates the knowledge source to transfer his/her knowledge to the recipient. On the other hand, 'weak tie' easily expands to 'diverse' knowledge sources because it does not take much effort to manage. Therefore, the real value of 'weak tie' comes from the 'diverse network structure,' not the 'weak tie' itself. It implies that the two different perspectives on strength of ties can co-exist. For example, an extroverted employee can manage many 'strong' ties with 'various' colleagues. In this regards, the individual-level structure of one's relationships as well as the dyadic-level relationship should be considered together to provide a holistic view of social capital. In addition, interaction effect between individual-level characteristics and dyadic-level characteristics can be examined, too. Based on these arguments, this study has following research questions. (1) How does the social capital of the knowledge source and the recipient influence knowledge transfer respectively? (2) How does the strength of ties between the knowledge source and the recipient influence knowledge transfer? (3) How does the social capital of the knowledge source and the recipient influence the effect of the strength of ties between the knowledge source and the recipient on knowledge transfer? Based on Social capital theory and Social network theory, a multi-level research model is developed to consider both the individual-level social capital of the knowledge source and the recipient and the dyadic-level strength of relationship between the knowledge source and the recipient. 'Cross-classified random effect model,' one of the multi-level analysis methods, is adopted to analyze the survey responses from 337 R&D employees. The results of analysis provide several findings. First, among three dimensions of the knowledge source's social capital, network centrality (i.e., structural dimension) shows the significant direct effect on knowledge transfer. On the other hand, the knowledge recipient's network centrality is not influential. Instead, it strengthens the influence of the strength of ties between the knowledge source and the recipient on knowledge transfer. It means that the knowledge source's network centrality does not directly increase knowledge transfer. Instead, by providing access to various knowledge sources, the network centrality provides only the context where the strong tie between the knowledge source and the recipient leads to effective knowledge transfer. In short, network centrality has indirect effect on knowledge transfer from the knowledge recipient's perspective, while it has direct effect from the knowledge source's perspective. This is the most important contribution of this research. In addition, contrary to the research hypothesis, company tenure of the knowledge recipient negatively influences knowledge transfer. It means that experienced employees do not look for new knowledge and stick to their own knowledge. This is also an interesting result. One of the possible reasons is the hierarchical culture of Korea, such as a fear of losing face in front of subordinates. In a research methodology perspective, multi-level analysis adopted in this study seems to be very promising in management research area which has a multi-level data structure, such as employee-team-department-company. In addition, social network analysis is also a promising research approach with an exploding availability of online social network data.

• Journal of Information Technology Applications and Management
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• v.15 no.3
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• pp.209-225
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• 2008

The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between IT human capability and knowledge transfer and the role of absorptive capacity between them. From the test of both measurement and structural model using Partial Least Squares (PLS), IT human capability is found to be significant to absorptive capacity and knowledge transfer. Absorptive capacity is also significantly related to knowledge transfer. The interesting result found in this study is that the path of absorptive capacity drawn from IT human capability to knowledge transfer is stronger than the direct relationship between IT human capability and knowledge transfer, indicating that absorptive capacity plays an important role in knowledge transfer. This result indicates that IT personnel with stronger technical skill, interpersonal skill and management capability are more likely to acquire and learn knowledge effectively from outside expertise. Moreover, this study shows that absorptive capacity, the individual’s ability to utilize external knowledge is derived from IT human capability and strongly effects on transferring knowledge from outsourcing vendors. This study suggests IT related managers that the development of IT human capability and absorptive capacity should be recognized for a successful exploitation of outside knowledge within a firm. It is also a necessary condition for a successful IT implementation and maintenance independently and economically from outside vendors.