Things are not always what they seem: How reputations, culture, and incentives influence knowledge transfer

The purpose of this paper is to illuminate the question ”given all that we know about knowledge transfer in organizations, why do problems persist?” This is achieved by examining the challenges confronting organizations in developing an effective knowledge transfer strategy.

A questionnaire was administered to a Fortune 500 company actively engaged in pursuing a knowledge management strategy that emphasizes intra‐organizational knowledge transfer. Data were analyzed using a hierarchical regression to assess the relative importance of reputation, culture, and incentives to organizational efforts at knowledge transfer.

It was found that culture and reputation have significant positive effects on knowledge transfer. However, the study found no support for the role of incentives. The findings lend credence to the notion that knowledge transfer is a social activity in which employees must willingly engage and is one that cannot be incentivized.

More research is needed on issues related to knowledge transfer. While this study did not exhaust all possible factors affecting knowledge transfer, it does note that identity, knowledge structures, and the upsurge in contingent employment need to be researched because they may play a role in knowledge transfer.

The findings reinforce the idea that knowledge transfer is not a socially neutral process. It is a social activity occurring within a social context, the success of which is largely influenced by who employees see as their partners in this process, how well do they know one another, and whether or not they view knowledge as something to be shared with their colleagues. Therefore, managers need to pay careful attention to the social context within which knowledge transfer efforts are taking place.

The study uses an interesting framework of social information processing theory on which to base the arguments presented here. Moreover, it provides a look at a unique set of factors that, we think, are assumed away when dealing with knowledge transfer issues.