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Transferring knowledge by transferring individuals : innovative technology usage and organizational performance in multi-unit firms
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Stadler, Christian, Helfat, Constance and Verona, Gianmario (2022) Transferring knowledge by transferring individuals : innovative technology usage and organizational performance in multi-unit firms. Organization Science, 33 (1). pp. 253-274. doi:10.1287/orsc.2021.1446 ISSN 1047-7039.
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Official URL: https://doi.org/10.1287/orsc.2021.1446
Abstract
Transferring individuals who possess relevant knowledge from one organizational unit to another – a form of resource redeployment – may help to overcome impediments to knowledge transfer. Despite the promise of this mechanism, which often occurs through intra-firm geographic mobility, relatively little research has examined how the knowledge and expertise of individuals interacts with the organizational resources of the units to which individuals move. This study examines whether intra-firm geographic mobility improves organizational performance by providing a conduit for the transfer of knowledge, while accounting for the interaction between individual knowledge and factors at the organization-unit level of analysis. We analyze the performance effects of the transfer of engineers who have expertise in innovative process technologies. The results from a large multinational company show that the innovative process technology-related expertise of an individual engineer who moves to a new organizational unit is positively associated with the performance of that unit, suggesting that intra-firm geographic mobility improves organizational performance by providing a conduit for the transfer of knowledge. The results also show that the technology-related knowledge of engineers is a substitute for organization-level factors when a unit uses only technologies with which it is already familiar, whereas the technology-related knowledge of engineers is a complement to organization-level factors when units introduce new technologies. Thus, individuals who bring novel expertise to their organizational units through intra-firm mobility may be important vehicles for organizational learning and building new competences, helping to diffuse best practices.
Item Type: | Journal Article | ||||||||
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Subjects: | H Social Sciences > HD Industries. Land use. Labor H Social Sciences > HD Industries. Land use. Labor > HD28 Management. Industrial Management H Social Sciences > HF Commerce |
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Divisions: | Faculty of Social Sciences > Warwick Business School > Strategy & International Business Faculty of Social Sciences > Warwick Business School |
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Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH): | Knowledge management, Manpower planning, Human capital, Organizational learning | ||||||||
Journal or Publication Title: | Organization Science | ||||||||
Publisher: | Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences (I N F O R M S) | ||||||||
ISSN: | 1047-7039 | ||||||||
Official Date: | January 2022 | ||||||||
Dates: |
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Volume: | 33 | ||||||||
Number: | 1 | ||||||||
Page Range: | pp. 253-274 | ||||||||
DOI: | 10.1287/orsc.2021.1446 | ||||||||
Status: | Peer Reviewed | ||||||||
Publication Status: | Published | ||||||||
Access rights to Published version: | Restricted or Subscription Access | ||||||||
Copyright Holders: | Copyright © 2021, INFORMS | ||||||||
Date of first compliant deposit: | 17 December 2020 | ||||||||
Date of first compliant Open Access: | 6 July 2021 | ||||||||
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