Proceedings of the 3rd European Conference on Intellectual Capital

Factors Influencing <strong>the</strong> Acquiring <strong>of</strong> Technological
Knowledge Among Technology Transfer Recipients – a
Perspective From a Radar Manufacturing Firm
Thanaletchumi Sathasivam, Zuraini Ismail and Ahmad Rahman Songip
University Technology Malaysia, Malaysia
thanalp@yahoo.com
zurainisma@citycampus.utm.my
ahmadrs@fkkksa.utm.my
Abstract: Technology transfer is becoming increasingly important for business and economic growth in
developing nations. The transfer and adoption <strong>of</strong> technology is essential from <strong>the</strong> perspective <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> strength <strong>of</strong>
national economies in self-reliance and enhancing international competitiveness. Without proper knowledge
acquisition, transfer <strong>of</strong> technology cannot take place. The process <strong>of</strong> acquiring knowledge comprises learning to
understand, utilise and internalise <strong>the</strong> knowledge <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> technology, and requires <strong>the</strong> organisation to choose or
adapt elements <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> technology to local cultural conditions to integrate it with indigenous technologies. The
cultural context <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> recipient can also affect <strong>the</strong> process <strong>of</strong> acquiring knowledge. In many cases, adopting <strong>the</strong>
technology may require changes to <strong>the</strong> organizational culture to support greater acceptance and use <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong>
technology among employees. The culture and social environment <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> individual creates a schema for
organising knowledge and understanding reality. This paper has two objectives. Firstly, to investigate how
organisational culture affects readiness for technology transfer. Second,to identify elements <strong>of</strong> organisational
culture affecting readiness for technology transfer. A qualitative mode <strong>of</strong> data collection was used in this study.
Interviews and focus group discussions were conducted. The findings were used to identify <strong>the</strong> components and
to create <strong>the</strong> framework. Hypo<strong>the</strong>ses were formulated between <strong>the</strong> constructs <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> framework to understand
better <strong>the</strong> effectiveness <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> technology transfer process. The implementation was tested using post-hoc
interviews.
Keywords: readiness, organisational culture, technological knowledge, absorption capacity, transfer <strong>of</strong>
technology, developing countries
1. Introduction
Technology transfer is crucial to developing nations and businesses. However, many organizations
experience failure in <strong>the</strong> technology transfer process. Researchers have identified many potential
causes for failure, such as insufficient technical support from <strong>the</strong> transferring entity, insufficient basic
knowledge among an organisation‟s employees to use <strong>the</strong> technology, and inadequate management
<strong>of</strong> change in <strong>the</strong> organisation (Cohen, 2004).Significant variability exists in <strong>the</strong> way organisations
approach <strong>the</strong> process, and <strong>the</strong> success rate, with no recognised or established standard for
approaching <strong>the</strong> technology transfer process (Cohen, 2004). Previous research has identified
organisational culture as an important factor influencing <strong>the</strong> outcome <strong>of</strong> technology transfer, with <strong>the</strong>
organisational culture affecting readiness (Cui, et al., 2006). The processes necessary to capture <strong>the</strong>
explicit and tacit knowledge necessary to adopt a transferred technology <strong>of</strong>ten require significant
change in employee behaviour.
Effective technology transfer requires <strong>the</strong> organisational culture to foster knowledge sharing
behaviour to facilitate <strong>the</strong> spread <strong>of</strong> tacit knowledge. Organisational factors such as highly
compartmentalised departments, lack <strong>of</strong> a team approach, and internal competition could prevent <strong>the</strong>
organisation from developing <strong>the</strong> cooperation necessary for adopting <strong>the</strong> new technology. In addition,
<strong>the</strong> new technology may represent a change that <strong>the</strong> employees perceive as threatening, which
induces resistance to adopting <strong>the</strong> technology. In this context, reference was made to recent research
investigating <strong>the</strong> technology transfer process in developing countries. It concluded that organisational
culture influences <strong>the</strong> interaction between <strong>the</strong> source and recipients <strong>of</strong> a new technology (Kasimin,
Ibrahim, & bin Yus<strong>of</strong>f, 2009). It also emphasised that in any processes based on human initiatives,
importance has to be placed on organisational culture.
Based on <strong>the</strong>se considerations, <strong>the</strong> aim <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> study was to address <strong>the</strong> following two research
questions:
How does organisational culture affect readiness for technology transfer?
Which elements <strong>of</strong> organisational culture affect readiness for technology transfer?
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