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The main purposes of this study are to develop a knowledge governance mechanism-fit-barrier matrix mode to resolve transfer problems resulting from knowledge characteristics and to clarify the relationship among knowledge characteristics, barriers of knowledge transfer, and effective knowledge transfer in inter-organizational contexts.

The vast literature on knowledge transfer in inter-organizational context has been reviewed. Moreover, to develop a theoretical framework, the authors developed a set of arguments based on literature pertaining to the knowledge-based view of knowledge characteristics and barriers and the response of network to inter-organizational knowledge transfer.

Knowledge-based view of knowledge characteristics and barriers and knowledge governance may provide a new understanding for network organizations seeking effective knowledge transfer strategies in inter-organizational context.

The main contribution to organizational theory is extending information-processing theory to form a new strategic model for inter-organizational knowledge transfer.

The fit model of governance mechanisms may help managers to make effective strategies for inter-organizational knowledge transfer.

Theoretically, this paper extends Information Processing Theory to inter-organizational relationships research. The developed model here also helps to explain the importance of cognitive dimensions for successful inter-organizational knowledge transfer. In KM practice, the proposed well-developed strategic models may help managers to link inter-organizational knowledge transfer processes to business strategy, and validate of the way to convert the goal of making their network organizations more intelligent into a strategic action.

The study adopts congruence theory to explore the structure of inter-organizational compatibility and its structural effects on knowledge transfer in cross-border merger and acquisitions (M&As).

This paper built a moderated-mediation model that presented the relationship between inter-organizational compatibility and knowledge transfer. Regression analysis was conducted with 182 samples from China to examine the model and hypotheses.

The results indicate that inter-organizational compatibility is a four-dimensional construct comprising culture, strategy, routine and knowledge. Additionally, inter-organizational compatibility has structural effects on knowledge transfer. Specifically, routine compatibility mediates the relationships between cultural compatibility and knowledge transfer and between strategic compatibility and knowledge transfer. Moreover, the mediating roles are moderated by knowledge compatibility.

This study updates the construct and provides a comprehensive and fresh understanding of inter-organizational compatibility. Additionally, it presents the structural effects of inter-organizational compatibility on knowledge transfer.

The purpose of this paper is to provide a critical review of the current body of research on inter‐organizational knowledge transfer, indicating some of its limitations and openings for future studies. It maps research in an integrative framework of knowledge‐specific, organizational and network‐level antecedents and performance outcomes of transfer. When assuming that transfer of knowledge does not by itself influence organizational performance, this study gives special attention to a mediating role of knowledge acquisition in relationship between antecedents and performance outcomes of transfer.

In this conceptual paper the author consolidates, annotates and critiques existing research on antecedents and consequences of inter‐firm knowledge transfer. The author reveals limitations of the current body of literature and provides directions for future research.

This paper points to the underestimated role of knowledge acquisition in conceptual models of inter‐firm knowledge transfer. The author suggests that the extent, type and nature of “new knowledge learned” mediate the relationship between various antecedents of transfer and financial, product/market and strategic performance of firms. Related to this, the study calls future research to analyze knowledge transfer as a two‐stage process that involves acquisition of knowledge and its exploitation.

Although research on inter‐organizational knowledge transfer is burgeoning, yet our understanding of its antecedents and consequences remains unclear. As a first step to filling this gap, this study provides a comprehensive literature review, reveals its limitations and suggests meaningful directions for further research. It points to high explanatory value of theoretical frameworks that examine linkages between antecedents of transfer, learning outcomes and firm performance results.

External knowledge is generally believed to be of prime importance to small to medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs). However, a review of the literature shows that no empirical research has looked at knowledge management issues at the inter‐organizational level in SMEs. This paper seeks to report on an empirical investigation with UK SMEs in the service sector to identify their needs and practices regarding inter‐organizational knowledge transfer, and thus provide empirical evidence to support the above belief.

A two‐tier methodology (i.e. using both questionnaire survey and interview approaches) is deployed to address the main research objectives. A questionnaire survey of SMEs is carried out to investigate their current inter‐organizational knowledge transfer situation and managers' perception on various relevant issues. Then 12 face‐to‐face interviews with SME managers are conducted to further validate key findings drawn from the questionnaire survey.

The empirical evidence collected from the survey and interviews confirms the general belief that external knowledge is of prime importance for SMEs, and demonstrates that SMEs have very strong needs for external knowledge and inter‐organizational knowledge transfer.

The findings provide very strong underpinning for further theoretical research on inter‐organizational knowledge transfer in SMEs. However, this study has certain limitations: its results may not be applicable to other industrial sectors or the same sector in other countries; or to micro or large companies; nor does it involve cross‐cultural issues.

By adopting a two‐tier research methodology, this study provides more reliable understanding and knowledge on SMEs' inter‐organizational knowledge transfer needs and practices, and fills the gap that exists in the empirical investigations on the subject.

The purpose of this paper is to focus on the interaction process between organizations of a knowledge network as a means to promote learning. In particular, the authors aim to answer the following research questions: how do dyadic and network relationships contribute to inter-organizational creation and transfer of knowledge? More specifically, which joint activities between organizations facilitate inter-organizational learning within a knowledge network? That is, the authors are interested in the relationship processes for inter-organisational learning, aiming to identify and understand the joint activities through which organizations within an institutional network generate and transfer knowledge.

Aiming at studying how six institutional actors generate and transfer knowledge, the existing dyadic relationships between a focal actor (a technological center of the textile and clothing industry – CITEVE) and each one of the other five institutional actors were studied. In the study of this knowledge network the authors analyzed several documental sources and carried out 19 interviews.

This study shows how dyadic and network relationships contribute to inter-organisational creation and transfer of knowledge. It assesses several joint activities through which organizations in the studied network learn with each other and compares the five dyadic relationships in terms of their distinctive features. Through the cooperative effort based on joint activities between actors, the studied network generates complementary and multidisciplinary knowledge aiming to promote network learning of the studied organizations. Management implications and suggestions for further research on network learning are discussed.

This paper adds to the literature on network learning and management by empirically illustrating how a network of organizations in a given industry contributes to knowledge generation. It is an original contribution because, first, it allows a better understanding of how organizations of a knowledge network interact and contribute for network learning. In particular, the paper identifies a large number of joint activities for inter-organizational learning in the context of a traditional industry. Second, the research shows empirically how such interaction and learning occur in practice within a network context that comprises only institutional actors.

The purpose of this paper is to build upon Chen et al.'s work by investigating inter‐organizational knowledge transfer needs and practices among small and medium enterprises (SMEs) which have received relatively little research attention to date.

A questionnaire survey was conducted on SMEs which have been accorded the Multimedia Super Corridor Malaysia status. Data were analyzed using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences.

In total, nine important areas have been the focus of this study, i.e. the importance of external knowledge; the extent to which external knowledge is more important than internal knowledge to organizational success; areas in which insufficient knowledge contributes to costly errors or mistakes in the SMEs; SMEs' involvement in knowledge transfer activities; number of social networks involved; SMEs' perceptions about networks; use of tools and technologies to transfer inter‐organizational knowledge; constraints of inter‐organizational knowledge transfer; and SMEs' effectiveness in leveraging knowledge. The data collected from 70 owners/managers of SMEs suggest that to some extent external knowledge is believed to be an important need by the enterprises.

The small sample size raises the question of generalizability of the findings.

Overall, the empirical findings point to the need for the SMEs to pursue inter‐organizational knowledge transfer practices.

This paper is one of the first to address the inter‐organizational knowledge transfer needs in Malaysian SMEs.

Knowledge management seeks collaborative practices among organisations to generate technical, adapt and share knowledge to obtain a sustainable competitive advantage in cross-border business activities. This paper aims to disentangle the crucial determinants of knowledge management in inter-organisational arrangements settings.

In the first stage, after an in-depth literature review, the main knowledge management drivers are identified. In the second stage, based on the identified drivers, the importance and relationship between the drivers are evaluated by expert opinions from academic and executive activists. Eventually, in the last stage, a multi-layer decision-making approach has been proposed and used to determine the relationship and the importance of the drivers.

The findings of this paper assess the ranking of the different elements from experts’ opinions and discuss important theoretical and managerial implications. The influential factors were identified through an extensive literature review, which combined with the views of experts from academia and industry (international firms). Furthermore, the ranking of factors based on the experts’ overall opinion was used to discuss theoretical and managerial contributions.

This research provides a better understanding of the interrelationships between the key drivers of knowledge management, which helps management draw more effective strategies to address the cultural differences between firms. Moreover, understanding of the importance of the systems and structures that define the nature of the collaboration in inter-organisational settings, as well as the risks related to those are presented in this research.

The purpose of this paper is through a literature study and a study of the Saab offset cases to identify strategies to increase inter-organizational transfer capability.

This paper is based on a literature study and a study of three of Saab’s offset cases and Saab’s process for technology transfer.

This study has identified inter-organizational transfer strategies based on the importance of the hierarchy of decision-making and the change from capacity transfers to capability transfers in offset business. The type of performance goals set in the business agreement decides how to realize the transfer. The hierarchy of decision-making creates a need to align the understanding of the performance goals between the different parts of the organization, which affect the plans for how to transfer knowledge between the organizational as well as the individual levels. To reach the performance goals of the technology transfer, there needs to be a balance between the disseminative capability of the sender and the absorptive capability of the receiver.

This study is based on a single case within a relatively unique industry with an offset perspective and production transfers. Therefore, there is also a need for future studies to confirm the identified relationships within outsourcing/offset within other industries and other types of transfers.

A change from capacity transfers to capability transfers in both outsourcing/offshoring and offset business indicates that more research should be placed on the disseminative capacity of the sender. The literature review revealed that the disseminative capacity of the sender has been the subject of less research than the absorptive capacity of the receiver.

Inter-organizational knowledge transfer (IOKT) is important especially for small and medium enterprises (SMEs). Organizations need external knowledge to improve learning capabilities and their own competitiveness. SMEs are important for every nation’s economy. IOKT can enable SMEs’ learning and innovation and consequently its contribution to the national economy. This study aims to examine the factors that influence the IOKT process in Omani SMEs.

This study uses qualitative methodology. Participants were ten Omani SMEs from the information and communications technology sector, a knowledge-intensive sector. The study is based on face-to-face semi-structured interviews and content analysis.

The results confirmed that inter-organizational knowledge is considered to be important to SMEs. This research also showed that IOKT is affected by many factors related to the donor organization, recipient organization, nature of the knowledge and inter-organizational dynamics. The core factor to IOKT in SMEs is risk and trust.

Literature shows that there is an emphasis on the importance of studying knowledge management in SMEs; however, there is little work that has been done. Such study is even more important for Omani SMEs to improve their learning, innovation and contribution to a national diversified economy. This study provides valuable insights to establish an effective foundation for IOKT in Omani SMEs.

The purpose of this study is to explore a phenomenon in knowledge management that has been given scant attention: the influence of cultural distance on inter-organizational knowledge transfer in the context of multinational companies involving headquarters in the USA and a subsidiary in Sri Lanka.

Designed as a qualitative exploratory study, data was collected through in-depth interviews of 15 participants and documents review.

The findings of this study implied that the theoretically introduced cultural dimensions shall be relevant to analyze the phenomenon of this study. Consequently, through the findings of this study, it is argued that inter-organizational knowledge transfer in multinational companies is influenced by cultural distance.

This study theoretically and empirically contributes to the debates on knowledge transfer in knowledge management research in general and, inter-organizational knowledge transfer in multinational companies between headquarters and subsidiaries with respect to the influence of cultural distance in particular, through the light of Trompenaars’ (1993) cultural dimensions theory.

The findings of this study could motivate the practitioners to take into account: the influence of cultural distance on inter-organizational knowledge transfer, if inter-organizational knowledge transfer happens in similar contexts: multinational companies with a headquarters in the USA (a western context) and a subsidiary in Sri Lanka (a non-western context) in the practical business world.

This study provides theoretical and empirical insights into the influence of cultural distance on inter-organizational knowledge transfer in multinational companies between headquarters and subsidiaries in the selected context while suggesting various avenues for further research toward the influence of cultural distance on such phenomenon in similar/dissimilar contexts.