Barriers to knowledge transfer of the franchisor to franchisee: an application in language schools
ISSN: 1366-5626
Article publication date: 23 April 2020
Issue publication date: 30 June 2020
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to measure the influence of the barriers present in the knowledge transfer at the sales process, by the franchisor to the franchisee, in language schools in the São Paulo/SP city, Brazil. The theoretical aspects include the transfer of knowledge displayed through communication model and barriers inherent in this process. Using (Szulanski 1996) approach the barriers may occur in relation to, namely, the content of knowledge; context; the source; the recipient.
Design/methodology/approach
The methodology is quantitative and the type of research is exploratory and descriptive. For this investigation was used an adapted version of the questionnaire developed by Szulanski (1996), applied to a sample of 79 franchised language schools linked to the Brazilian Franchise Association. Beyond factor analysis it was used the nonparametric test of Jonckheere-Terpstra and analysis of variance, to comparing schools.
Findings
The results of this analysis revealed that certain types of knowledge transfers are evaluated by the franchisees as more favorably or unfavorably according to the brand franchise. These results show a lack of standardization trend of the activities of the sales process and mismatches with the guidelines of the franchisor. The authors highlight that in the comparison between the brands is evident the dominance of the CNA in relation to other networks of language franchises when analyzed the relationship factors, technical adequacy, absorption of knowledge, competence to absorb knowledge and in the indicators contribution to revenue, acceptance of guidelines and bring results.
Originality/value
This research contributes to the identification of barriers that are involved during the transfer of practices of the franchisor to the franchisee on the knowledge of the sales process in language schools, awakening in franchisee reflections of improvements and solutions that can be worked on and developed in their units. Specifically, the study contributes to the knowledge management literature in franchises, as this topic is still emerging, as it presents conflicting findings.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
This study was financed in part by the Coordenação de Aperfeiãoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior – Brasil (CAPES) – Finance Code 001.
Citation
Araújo, D.L.A.d., Popadiuk, S. and Pereira, R.M. (2020), "Barriers to knowledge transfer of the franchisor to franchisee: an application in language schools", Journal of Workplace Learning, Vol. 32 No. 5, pp. 317-334. https://doi.org/10.1108/JWL-09-2019-0110
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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