6. The missing links to a management view of knowledge flows and conclusions
6.2 Some final conclusions and remarks
It is time to take a step back and draw some broader conclusions. As mentioned, we take a management perspective, which focus on how to govern knowledge flows. Our review has shown
there are commonalities, but also differences in internal and external knowledge flows. From a management perspective, this immediately raises the question ‘are different governance mechanisms required for internal and external knowledge flows?’ After all, if the knowledge flows to be governed differ, the governance mechanisms might have to be different, too. A topic for further research is to scrutinize the differences between internal and external knowledge flows with regard to their governance and identify the differences that actually require different governance mechanisms. Such research will then allow the following question to be answered whether internal knowledge flows can be governed just like external knowledge flows or else, how their governance mechanisms need to be adapted.
For the governance of knowledge flows, it is probably necessary to discuss the level of causal mechanisms underlying the transfer. Our distinction of different types of definition of knowledge flows has contributed to the insight that many actually do not explicitly consider the mechanism. In order to design an effective governance mechanism, it is probably helpful to design it in such a way that it works directly on the causal mechanism of transfer. One possibility is to consider the transfer of knowledge as the replication of routines and investigate the replication mechanism further (Winter et al. 2001). Another possibility would be to consider experts as the crucial repository of knowledge. The research program would then be to investigate how experts are best governed.
Second, it should by now have become clear through the review exercise, how important it is to place the analysis of knowledge transfer in a more comprehensive perspective. Figure 2 and the accompanying section have shown the benefits of setting the many articles in the perspective of a comprehensive framework. Amongst others, it becomes much clearer that many of the articles focus on one, or a few, elements that matter for knowledge transfers. There seems to lie still quite some mileage in casting light on the knowledge transfer process from a comprehensive picture. For instance, in many cases the review has shown that different factors have been taken into account in the internal and external knowledge transfer case. Rarely have all factors been taken into account in both cases. Often, however there seems to be no apparent reason why the list of factors considered could not be extended by those additional ones considered in the other case. Considering a more comprehensive list of factors should allow to answer more research questions in a more specific way by being able to draw on the most pertinent category. Less pertinent factors risk being overlooked.
In taking a management perspective and an interest in the governance of knowledge flows, the review also raises questions regarding the importance of legal aspects. How important are legal aspects (such as intellectual property rights or the legal boundaries of the firm) for governance mechanisms? How important are they for governing internal knowledge flows? How important are they for governing external knowledge flows? How important are they as opposed to other influences in governance mechanisms, such as intrinsic motivation or de-facto operational boundaries of the firm (for instance, consider guest engineers of a supplier in the design center of an auto manufacturer).
Other broader insights from the review are that specificities should be taken much more seriously than they have been so far. For instance, partner-specific aspects in relationships have been shown to matter for knowledge transfer (Lane and Lubatkin 1998). History, and the point of time at which knowledge is accessed matters (see above). Work like that of Lane and Lubatkin (1998) shows how one could follow up on this point. Moreover, many important influences on knowledge transfer seem to remain hidden if one stops short of applying a dyadic perspective. Although it is true that tacitness of knowledge is an important influence on the success of knowledge transfer, it is also true that the characteristics required from the 'sender' and the 'receiver' are somewhat different. More importantly, their interaction also matters, as Larsson et al. (1998) have shown. Finally, in line with a more comprehensive perspective on knowledge flows, we should remind ourselves that barriers and facilitators of knowledge flows are not two separate 'entities', but can be interpreted as the flip sides of the same coin. Whether they hinder or foster knowledge flows will be decided by the strength with which the various characteristics are expressed. Which of the other characteristics matter for deciding whether a particular characteristic acts as a barrier or facilitator, in turn, is something that needs to be identified in further research formulating a comprehensive management perspective on knowledge transfer processes.
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