thesis_Daniela Noethen_print final - Jacobs University

ehaviors that happen in the first phases of knowledge transfer. Using Szulanski’s (1996)
stage model of knowledge transfer, I only investigated initiation and parts of implementation.
When knowledge transfer is initiated, it is either the recipient who is searching for a specific
piece of knowledge (seeking knowledge) or it is the source who has a certain piece of
knowledge and deems it important for a colleague. The implementation of knowledge transfer
would then comprise the actual sharing, but furthermore the absorption which has not been
covered here. Of course, not all knowledge transfers that are initiated (i.e., knowledge is
sought, or shared, or both) will eventually become successful knowledge transfers in that
knowledge is shared and absorbed. Thus, by looking at seeking and sharing knowledge only,
we can, strictly speaking, only draw conclusions about predictors and outcomes of the
initiation and part of the process of knowledge transfer, but not about complete, successful
knowledge transfers. Although this limitation still allows for important theoretical
conclusions, it certainly impairs practical implications, as the main interest of practitioners is,
and should be, successful knowledge transfer.
5.2.4. More knowledge transfer is better
The fourth limitation concerns a general assumption that was implicitly made throughout the
dissertational work: The assumption that more knowledge transfer is always better.
Knowledge transfer has so far been presented as merely positive, as a strategy to prevent
knowledge loss, as a means to spike productivity, and as a way to gain competitive advantage.
But although knowledge transfer has been shown to have positive effects, for example on
performance (Collins & Smith, 2006; Cummings, 2004; Darr, Argote, & Epple, 1995;
Mesmer-Magnus & DeChurch, 2009; Quigley et al. 2007; van Wijk, Jansen, & Lyles, 2008),
knowledge transfer benefits are very much situation-specific (Foss et al., 2010), that is, not in
all work situations is knowledge transfer beneficial. According to Foss and colleagues (2010)
182