Knowledge Transfer and Collaboration in Distributed U.S.-Thai Teams

This article reports on a study that investigates factors influencing knowledge transfer in the context of cross-cultural distributed teams engaged in information systems development. The goal was to examine the validity of a four-factor framework of knowledge transfer (the “4 C Framework”), which proposes that capability, credibility, communication, and culture of the source significantly affects knowledge transfer. The framework is examined in the context of US-Thai distributed teams, as well as within the local subgroups. Results support the role of credibility and communication on knowledge transfer in the cross-cultural distributed teams, and within the local subgroups. Capability was not found to be related to knowledge transfer either in the distributed teams or within the local subgroups. Finally, culture of the source did affect knowledge transfer in the distributed teams, although in a direction opposite to that hypothesized.

[1]  G. Krogh,et al.  Future Research into Knowledge Management , 1998 .

[2]  G. Hofstede.  Culture′s Consequences: Comparing Values, Behaviors, Institutions and Organizations Across Nations , 2001 .

[3]  Michael R. Mullen,et al.  Individualism and collectivism: toward a strategy for testing measurement equivalence across culturally diverse groups , 2002 .

[4]  R. Walton,et al.  The diffusion of new work structures: Explaining why success didn't take , 1975 .

[5]  Aimée A. Kane,et al.  Knowledge transfer between groups via personnel rotation: Effects of social identity and knowledge quality , 2005 .

[6]  Joey F. George,et al.  Modern Systems Analysis and Design , 1996 .

[7]  Andrew Parker,et al.  Knowing What We Know: Supporting Knowledge Creation and Sharing in Social Networks , 2001 .

[8]  Daniel Robey,et al.  Situated learning in cross-functional virtual teams , 2000 .

[9]  Suprateek Sarker,et al.  Understanding Virtual Team Development: An Interpretive Study , 2003, J. Assoc. Inf. Syst..

[10]  A. Edmondson,et al.  Bridging Knowledge Gaps: Learning in Geographically Dispersed Cross-Functional Development Teams , 2000 .

[11]  Curtis J. Bonk,et al.  Cross-Cultural Comparisons of Online Collaboration , 2006, J. Comput. Mediat. Commun..

[12]  K. D. Joshi,et al.  Knowledge transfer in virtual systems development teams: an exploratory study of four key enablers , 2005, IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication.

[13]  Richard T. Watson,et al.  Reducing Status Effects with Computer-Mediated Communication: Evidence from Two Distinct National Cultures , 1998, J. Manag. Inf. Syst..

[14]  Sarmad Alshawi,et al.  Managing knowledge in business requirements identification , 2003 .

[15]  Richard M. Burton,et al.  Virtual Teams: What are their Characteristics, and Impact on Team Performance? , 2000, Comput. Math. Organ. Theory.

[16]  Daniel Z. Levin,et al.  Trust and knowledge sharing: A critical combination , 2002 .

[17]  Bernard L. Simonin.  Transfer of Marketing Know-How in International Strategic Alliances: An Empirical Investigation of the Role and Antecedents of Knowledge Ambiguity , 1999 .

[18]  Julian Birkinshaw,et al.  Knowledge transfer in international acquisitions , 1999 .

[19]  D. Leonard,et al.  The Role of Tacit Knowledge in Group Innovation , 1998 .

[20]  Georg von Krogh,et al.  Enabling Knowledge Creation: New Tools for Unlocking the Mysteries of Tacit Understanding , 2000 .

[21]  Gabriel Szulanski.  Exploring internal stickiness: Impediments to the transfer of best practice within the firm , 1996 .

[22]  Rolf T. Wigand,et al.  ICT Enabled Virtual Collaboration through Trust , 2006, J. Comput. Mediat. Commun..

[23]  K. D. Joshi,et al.  Knowledge transfer in virtual information systems development teams: an empirical examination of key enablers , 2003, 36th Annual Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences, 2003. Proceedings of the.

[24]  H. Triandis.  Individualism And Collectivism , 1995 .

[25]  Gabriel Szulanski,et al.  When and How Trustworthiness Matters: Knowledge Transfer and the Moderating Effect of Causal Ambiguity , 2004, Organ. Sci..

[26]  Gabriel Szulanski.  The Process of Knowledge Transfer: A Diachronic Analysis of Stickiness , 2000 .

[27]  Dubravka Cecez-Kecmanovic,et al.  What enables and what prevents knowledge sharing via computer‐mediated communications? , 2001 .

[28]  Edward M. Roche,et al.  Global Software Teams , 1999 .

[29]  Suprateek Sarker,et al.  Implications of space and time for distributed work: an interpretive study of US–Norwegian systems development teams , 2004, Eur. J. Inf. Syst..

[30]  Thomas H. Davenport,et al.  Book review:Working knowledge: How organizations manage what they know. Thomas H. Davenport and Laurence Prusak. Harvard Business School Press, 1998. $29.95US. ISBN 0‐87584‐655‐6 , 1998 .

[31]  David C. Thomas.  Essentials of International Management: A Cross-Cultural Perspective , 2001 .

[32]  I. Nonaka,et al.  Enabling Knowledge Creation , 2000 .

[33]  Paul S. Goodman,et al.  Computer-Aided Systems for Organizational Learning , 1996 .

[34]  Bill Curtis,et al.  A field study of the software design process for large systems , 1988, CACM.

[35]  B. Kogut,et al.  Knowledge and the Speed of the Transfer and Imitation of Organizational Capabilities: An Empirical Test , 1995 .

[36]  L. Bannon.  Issues in Computer Supported Collaborative Learning , 1995 .

[37]  Eric D. Darr,et al.  An Investigation of Partner Similarity Dimensions on Knowledge Transfer , 2000 .

[38]  Pamela J. Hinds,et al.  Bothered by abstraction: the effect of expertise on knowledge transfer and subsequent novice performance. , 2001, The Journal of applied psychology.