Knowledge transfer in organizations: The roles of members, tasks, tools, and networks

• Published in: Organizational behavior and human decision processes Vol. 136; pp. 146 - 159
• Main Authors: Argote, Linda, Fahrenkopf, Erin
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York Elsevier Inc 01.09.2016; Elsevier Science Publishing Company, Inc
• Subjects: Behavior; Competitive advantage; Decision making; Entrepreneurship; Information sharing; Knowledge; Knowledge management; Knowledge repositories; Knowledge transfer; Measurement; Networks; Organizational behavior; Organizational behaviour; Organizational learning; Organizational performance; Routines; Studies; Transactive memory; Routines; Networks; Transactive memory; Competitive advantage; Organizational learning; Knowledge repositories; Knowledge transfer
• ISSN: 0749-5978; 1095-9920
• DOI: 10.1016/j.obhdp.2016.08.003

This article describes advances in the study of knowledge transfer in organizations over the fifteen years since Argote and Ingram (2000) appeared in Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes. Argote and Ingram developed mechanisms of knowledge transfer and discussed factors that facilitate or impede transfer. Conditions under which knowledge transfer improves organizational performance were identified and conditions under which knowledge transfer is a source of competitive advantage for organizations were theorized. The current article concludes that research subsequent to the publication of Argote and Ingram has both increased the depth of our understanding of knowledge transfer and broadened the factors considered as predictors and consequences of transfer. Challenges to studying knowledge transfer, primarily in the area of measurement, are described, and new measurement approaches are discussed. We conclude with a discussion of future research directions that are likely to be productive and suggest that expanding the study of knowledge transfer to new problem domains, such as entrepreneurship, would advance knowledge of those domains as well as increase understanding of knowledge transfer.