Establishing a high-technology knowledge transfer network: The practical and symbolic roles of identification

• Published in: Industrial marketing management Vol. 37; no. 6; pp. 641 - 652
• Main Authors: Bond, Edward U., Houston, Mark B., Tang, Yihui (Elina)
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York Elsevier Inc 01.08.2008; Elsevier Sequoia S.A
• Subjects: Business studies; Commitment; High tech industries; High technology; Identification; Knowledge management; Knowledge transfer; Market statistics; Network industries; Organizational change; Organizational learning; Social network analysis; Social networks; Startups; Studies; United Kingdom; United Kingdom > UK; Identification; Social network analysis; Organizational learning; Commitment; Knowledge transfer
• ISSN: 0019-8501; 1873-2062
• DOI: 10.1016/j.indmarman.2008.04.012

Knowledge transfer networks (KTNs) are composed of interconnected firms, government entities, and research organizations that play a critical role in the funding, development, and dissemination of knowledge in high-technology industries. Despite the common use of KTNs in situations that require technology inputs spanning multiple firms, little research has examined the start-up of KTNs and the marketing literature has essentially ignored them. Using social network, social identity, and relevant attribution and motivation theories, the authors build a conceptual model that explains key outcomes of start-up KTNs. A preliminary empirical investigation of a UK-wide KTN start-up finds evidence that social identification with the network is a key moderating mechanism. Identification plays a practical role in creating positive knowledge-transfer benefits for firms that are central in the KTN's social network. Identification also plays a symbolic role by affecting participants' perceptions of overall KTN performance in light of knowledge-transfer benefits that they received, and as an antecedent to affective commitment to the KTN.