Valuable knowledge in organizations is too often ‘locked in’ within one unit. The contribution of this paper is to provide insights into the knowledge-sharing effect of inter-unit coordination mechanisms. This topic has not yet received in-depth study. We fill this gap with a case study of a UK-based multinational, in which we explore knowledge sharing between business units. Data was collected using a questionnaire and interviews. The findings from our study highlight that formal coordination is preferable. Informal networking as an inter-unit coordination mechanism was not perceived as beneficial for knowledge sharing. The knowledge-sharing enablers, trust and knowledge complexity, largely dominated the possibilities for inter-unit knowledge sharing whatever coordination was used. Especially, the perceived knowledge complexity caused problems that could not be fully compensated for by any type of coordination mechanism. The study also highlights the unexpectedly minor role of common knowledge and the only indirect effect of coordination through values.
A.K. Gupta and V. Govindarajan , Knowledge flows within multinational corporations , Strategic Management Journal21 (2000) 473–496 .
2.
W.G. Egelhoff , Information-processing theory and the multinational enterprise , Journal of International Business Studies22(3) (1991) 341–367 .
3.
B. Chae and J.M. Bloodgood , The paradox of knowledge management: an eastern philosophical perspective , Information and Organization16(1) (2006) 1–26 .
4.
W. Tsai , Social structure of “coopetition” within a multinunit organization: coordination, competition, and interorganizational knowledge sharing , Organization Science13(2) (2002) 179–190 .
5.
M.T. Hansen , The search-transfer problem: the role of weak ties in sharing knowledge across organization subunits , Administrative Science Quarterly44 (1999) 82–111 .
6.
L. Argote and P. Ingram , Knowledge transfer: a basis for competitive advantage in firms , Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes82(1) (2000) 150–169 .
7.
J.R. Galbraith , Designing Organizations ( Jossey-Bass, San Francisco , 1995).
8.
R.M. Grant , Toward a knowledge-based theory of the firm , Strategic Management Journal17 (1996) 109–122 [Winter Special Issue].
9.
H. Mintzberg , Mintzberg on Management ( Free Press, New York , 1989).
10.
C.U. Ciborra and R. Andreu , Sharing knowledge across boundaries , Journal of Information Technology16 (2001) 73–81 .
11.
S.R. Nidumolu , A comparison of the structural contingency and risk-based perspectives on coordination in software develoment projects , Journal of Information Systems13(2) (1996) 77–113 .
12.
G. Widén-Wulff and M. Ginman , Explaining knowledge sharing in organizations through the dimensions of social capital , Journal of Information Science30(5) (2004) 448–458 .
13.
S. Ghoshal , H. Korine and G. Szulanski , Interunit communication in multinational corporations , Management Science40(1) (1994) 96–110 .
14.
L. Argote , Input uncertainty and organizational coordination in hospital emergency units , Administrative Science Quarterly27 (1982) 420–434 .
15.
A.H. Van De Ven , A.L. Delbecq and R. Koenig , Determinants of coordination modes within organizations , American Sociological Review41(April) (1976) 322–338 .
16.
G.W. Meyer , Social information processing and social networks: a test of social influence mechanisms , Human Relations47(9) (1994) 1013–1048 .
17.
J. Birkinshaw , R. Nobel and J. Ridderstrale , Knowledge as a contingency variable: do the characteristics of knowledge predict organization structure? , Organization Science13(3) (2002) 274–289 .
18.
B. Kogut and U. Zander , Knowledge of the fitm and the evolutionary theory of the multinational corporation , Journal of International Business Studies24(4) (1993) 624–645 .
S. Newell and J. Swan , Trust and inter-organizational networking , Human Relations53(10) (2000) 1287–1327 .
21.
D. Constant , S. Kiesler and L. Sproull , What's mine is ours, or is it? A study of attitudes about information sharing , Information Systems Research5(4) (1994) 400–421 .
22.
S.L. Jarvenpaa and D.S. Staples , Exploring perceptions of organizational ownership of information and expertise , Journal of Management Information Systems18(1) (2001) 151–183 .
23.
Y.M. Mei , S.T. Lee and S. Al-Hawamdeh , Formulating a communication strategy for effective knowledge sharing , Journal of Information Science30(1) (2004) 12–22 .
24.
S.W. Chou and M.Y. He , Knowledge management: the distinctive roles of knowledge assets in facilitating knowledge creation , Journal of Information Science30(4) (2004) 146–164 .
25.
P.S. Adler and S. W. Kwon , Social capital: prospects for a new concept , Academy of Management Review27(1) (2002) 17–40 .
26.
D. Krackhardt , Assessing the political landscape: structure, cognition, and power in organizations , Administrative Science Quarterly35 (1990) 342–369 .
27.
H. Hall , Input-friendliness: motivating knowledge sharing across intranets , Journal of Information Science27(3) (2001) 139–146 .
28.
B. Levitt and J. March , Organizational learning , Annual Review of Sociology14 (1988) 319–340 .
29.
S. Nidumolu , M. Subramani and A. Aldrich , Situated learning and the situated knowledge web: exploring the ground beneath knowledge management , Journal of Management Information Systems18(1) (2001) 115–150 .
30.
R.L. Daft and R.H. Lengel , Organizational information requirements, media richness and structural design , Management Science32(5) (1986) 554–571 .
31.
M. Gargiulo and M. Benassi , Trapped in your own net? Network cohesion, structural holes, and the adaptation of social capital , Organization Science11(2) (2000) 183–196 .
32.
B. Choi and H. Lee , An empirical investigation of KM styles and their effect on corporate performance , Information and Management40 (2003) 203–217 .
33.
M. Earl , Knowledge management strategies: towards a taxonomy , Journal of Management Information Systems18(1) (2001) 215–233 .
34.
T.D. Jick , Mixing qualitative and quantitative methods: triangulation in action , Administrative Science Quarterly24(December) (1979) 602–611 .
35.
T.A. Scandura and E.A. Williams , Research methodology in management: current practices, trends, and implications for future research , Academy of Management Journal43(6) (2000) 1248–1264 .
36.
G. Szulanski , The process of knowledge transfer: a diachronic analysis of stickiness , Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes82(1) (2000) 9–27 .
37.
P.J. Lane and M. Lubatkin , Relative absorptive capacity and interorganizational learning , Strategic Management Journal19(1998) 461–477 .
38.
D.G. Hoopes and S. Postrel , Shared knowledge, “glitches” and product development performance , Strategic Management Journal20 (1999) 837–865 .
39.
C. Gresov and C. Stephans , The context of interunit influence attempts , Administrative Science Quarterly38(2) (1993) 252–270 .
40.
P.K. Kopalle and D.R. Lehmann , Alpha inflation? The impact of eliminating scale items on Cronbach's Alpha , Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes70(3) (1997) 189–197 .
41.
J.C. Nunnally , Psychometric Theory ( McGraw-Hill, New York , 1978).
42.
P.M. Podsakoff and D.W. Organ , Self-reports on organizational research: problems and prospects , Jounal of Management12(4) (1986) 531–544 .
43.
J.L. Arbuckle , AMOS: analysis of moment structures , Psychometrika59 (1994) 135–137 .
44.
R.B. Kline , Principles and Practices of Structural Equation Modelling ( Guilford Press, New York , 1998).
45.
P.S. Adler , Market, hierarchy, and trust: the knowledge economy and the future of capitalism , Organization Science12(4) (2001) 215–234 .
46.
P. Cohendet , F. Kern , B. Mehmanpazir and F. Munier , Knowledge coordination, competence creation and integrated networks in globalised firms , Cambridge Journal of Economics23 (1999) 225–241 .
47.
P.J. Buckley and M.J. Carter , Managing cross-border complementary knowledge , International Studies of Management and Organization29(1) (1999) 80–104 .
48.
H. Lee and B. Choi , Knowledge management, enablers, processes and organizational performance: an integrative view and empirical examination , Journal of Management Information Systems20(1) (2003) 179–228 .
49.
I. Becerra-Fernandez and R. Sabherwal , Organizational knowledge management: a contingency perspective , Journal of Management Information Systems18(1) (2001) 32–55 .
50.
G. Szulanski , Exploring internal stickiness: impediments to the transfer of best practice within the firm , Strategic Management Journal17 (1996) 27–43 .[Winter Special Issue].
51.
H. Mintzberg , The Structuring of Organizations ( Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliffs , 1979).
52.
S.B. Bacharach and M. Aiken , Structural and process constraints on influence in organizations: a level specific analysis , Administrative Science Quarterly21(4) (1976).
53.
H.A. Simon , Administrative Behavior ( Free Press, New York , 1997).
54.
D. Miller and C. Droge , Psychological and traditional determinants of structure , Administrative Science Quarterly31 (1986) 539–560 .
55.
L.F. Edelman , M. Bresnen , S. Newell and H. Scarbrough , The benefits and pitfalls of social capital: empirical evidence from two organizations in the United Kingdom , British Journal of Management15(S1) (2004) 59–69 .
56.
D.H. Kim , The link between individual and organizational learning, Sloan Management Review (Fall 1993) 37–50.
57.
L.L. Thompson , J.M. Levine and D.M. Messick (eds.), Shared Cognition in Organisations ( Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Mahwah , 1999).
58.
U. Zander and B. Kogut , Knowledge and the speed of the transfer and imitation of organizational capabilities: an empirical test , Organization Science6(1) (1995) 76–92 .
59.
P. Baumard , Tacit Knowledge ( Sage, London , 1999).
60.
M. Polanyi , Tacit knowledge. In: L. Prusak (ed.), Knowledge in Organizations ( Butterworth-Heinemann, Boston , 1997).
61.
H. Tsoukas , The firm as a distributed knowledge system: a constructionist approach , Strategic Management Journal17 (1996) 11–25 .[Winter Special Issue].
62.
M. Augier , S.Z. Shariq and M.T. Vendelo , Understanding context: its emergence, transformation and role in tacit knowledge sharing , Journal of Knowledge Management5(2) (2001) 125–136 .
63.
D. Cohen and D.A. Levinthal , Absorptive capacity: a new perspective on learning and innovation , Administrative Science Quarterly35 (1990) 129–152 .
64.
B. Kogut and U. Zander , What firms do? Coordination, identity, and learning , Organization Science7(5) (1996) 502–518 .
65.
G.M. Spreitzer and A.K. Mishra , Giving up control without losing control , Group and Organization Management24(2) (1999) 155–187 .
66.
G. Devos, K. Vanderheyden and H. van den Broeck , A Framework for Assessing Commitment to Change: Process and Context Variables of Organizational Change ( AOM, Washington , 2001).
67.
R. Berman Brown and M.J. Woodland , Managing knowledge wisely: a case study in organisational behaviour , Journal of Applied Management Studies8(2) (1999) 175–198 .
68.
K.R. Conner and C.K. Prahalad , A resource-based theory of the firm: knowledge versus opportunism , Organization Science7(5) (1996) 477–501 .
69.
B. Heiman and J.A. Nickerson , Towards reconciling transaction cost economics and the knowledge-based view of the firm: the context of interfirm collaborations , International Journal of the Economics of Business9(1) (2002) 97–116 .
