Knowledge effectiveness, social context and innovation

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to conduct an investigation into knowledge‐sharing mechanisms by empirically testing the role that context plays in the transfer of actionable knowledge, and, in turn, for innovation.Design/methodology/approach – A multiple‐respondents survey was performed in 72 business units of companies belonging to the ICT, pharmaceutical and food industries in Greece. In total, 295 useful questionnaires were collected using a multiple respondent strategy. All constructs were measured with multi‐item scales and validated using exploratory factor analyses. A total of seven hypotheses were generated following a literature review on the key determinants of context for effective knowledge sharing. The hypotheses were tested using ordinary least squares regression.Findings – The research shows that when units pursue knowledge transfer between their different actors, contextual factors such as trust, motivation to transfer knowledge, management support and learning orientation are cruc...

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