Abstract
In today’s knowledge-based economy, organizations are progressively accumulating the knowledge, which they required for innovation, from outside their boundaries. Having accepted the important role of knowledge sharing in innovation performance, it is disappointing to note that the potential harmful impacts of accidental and intentional knowledge leakage on this relationship are still neglected or undeveloped in the literature. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the impact of knowledge sharing and entrepreneurial orientation on organization’s innovation performance, considering intentional and accidental leakage of knowledge. Data were collected using a structured questionnaire from 151 manufacturing SMEs operating in Malaysia, listed in Federation of Malaysian Manufacturers (FMM) directory of 2017. Purposive sampling technique was used in this study and data were analyzed using partial least squares technique. The findings of this study show that there is a positive and significant relationship between entrepreneurial orientation and knowledge sharing (R2 = 0.140). Moreover, knowledge sharing and entrepreneurial orientation have a positive and significant effect on innovation performance (R2 = 0.500). In addition, the results show that accidental knowledge leakage negatively moderates the relationship between knowledge sharing and innovation performance. However, accidental knowledge leakage has no moderating effect in the same relationship. This research is important due to the increasing complexity and the networked nature of innovation and high risk of knowledge leakage in this environment. The findings of this study contribute to the understanding of the potentially positive and negative issues related to entrepreneurial orientation, knowledge sharing, innovation performance, and knowledge leakage, which have thus far remained empirically under-researched.
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Appendix 1
Appendix 1
Adapted/adopted items used to measure the constructs
Entrepreneurial orientation (De Clercq et al. 2015) |
EO1: Our company spends more time on long-term R&D (3 + years) than on short-term R&D |
EO2: Our company is usually among the first in the industry to introduce new products |
EO3: Our company rewards risk-taking |
EO4: Our company shows a great deal of tolerance for high-risk projects |
EO5: Our company favors “tried-and-true” procedures, systems, and methods |
EO6: Our company challenges, rather than responds to, its major competitors |
EO7: Our company takes bold, wide-ranging strategic actions rather than minor changes in tactics |
Knowledge sharing (Masa’deh et al. 2016) |
KS1: Knowledge sharing with others in our organization is valuable |
KS2: Knowledge sharing with others in our organization is beneficial |
KS3: Knowledge sharing with others in our organization is pleasant |
KS4: Our organization supports knowledge sharing |
KS5: The knowledge in our organization is located in databases and is shared efficiently |
KS6: The opportunities to share knowledge within the organization are sufficient |
KS7: It is easy to find the person with the knowledge I need |
KS8: There are valid processes/channels to share knowledge between different locations and departments |
KS9: It is hard to share knowledge in other ways than in discussions because it is hard to express in written form |
Intentional knowledge leakage (Jiang et al. 2013; Ritala et al. 2015) |
IKL1: Our employees purposely leak business confidential knowledge to our partners |
IKL2: Our company partner has illegally encroached our private knowledge and technologies |
Accidental knowledge leakage (Jiang et al. 2013) |
AKL1: Our business confidential knowledge has sometimes been unconsciously transferred to the partner through daily communication and interaction |
AKL2: Our company confidential knowledge has sometimes been accidentally transferred to the partner due to unwanted facilities in the alliance (such as unrestrained collaborative environments created or easy access) |
AKL3: Our company confidential knowledge has sometimes been accidentally transferred to the partner by offering detailed information to the partner |
Innovation performance (Scuotto et al. 2017) |
IP1: Faster time to market |
IP2: Faster to product adoption |
IP3: Product lifecycle management |
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Vafaei-Zadeh, A., Hanifah, H., Foroughi, B. et al. Knowledge leakage, an Achilles’ heel of knowledge sharing. Eurasian Bus Rev 9, 445–461 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40821-019-00128-7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40821-019-00128-7