Rights statement: This is the author’s version of a work that was accepted for publication in International Business Review. Changes resulting from the publishing process, such as peer review, editing, corrections, structural formatting, and other quality control mechanisms may not be reflected in this document. Changes may have been made to this work since it was submitted for publication. A definitive version was subsequently published in International Business Review, 32 (4) 102081, 07/12/2022 DOI: 10.1016/j.ibusrev.2022.102081
Accepted author manuscript, 587 KB, PDF document
Available under license: CC BY: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
Final published version
Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
Article number | 102081 |
---|---|
<mark>Journal publication date</mark> | 31/08/2023 |
<mark>Journal</mark> | International Business Review |
Issue number | 4 |
Volume | 32 |
Number of pages | 17 |
Publication Status | Published |
Early online date | 24/05/23 |
<mark>Original language</mark> | English |
Knowledge sharing in inter-organizational alliances has been predominantly studied by investigating causal influencing factors in tightly-coupled alliances. In contrast, we empirically study how individuals accomplish knowledge sharing activities in the context of various social and cultural differences within a loosely-coupled international business-consultancy alliance. Through an in-depth qualitative case-study approach, we find that the local knowledge-seeking and -accessing partners socially and culturally deal with various influencing factors, through two broad sets of ‘knowledge-sharing work’. This includes harmonization development work, and disharmony mitigation work, that are both supported through an accompanying mode of work: auto-learning. These forms of work at the micro (individual and interactional) level, are enabled through modes of communicative interaction, not just strategic action. Further, this work mediates between the influencing factors and the knowledge sharing of the alliances in an iterative and recursive manner. Our findings thus contribute to showing how knowledge sharing is enacted in inter-organizational alliances, by highlighting the significance and dynamics of the micro-level social and cultural practices of knowledge-sharing work.