TY - JOUR

T1 - Taking the rough with the smooth

T2 - a qualitative inquiry into social and cultural practices of knowledge-sharing work in international consultancy alliances

AU - Aslam, Muhammad Shakeel

AU - O'Reilly, Dermot

AU - Shah, Uzair

N1 - 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

PY - 2023/8/31

Y1 - 2023/8/31

N2 - 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.

AB - 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.

KW - Knowledge-sharing work

KW - Communicative interaction

KW - Inter-organizational alliance

KW - Loosely coupled partnership

KW - Engineering consultancy

KW - International business

KW - Developing country

KW - Qualitative research

U2 - 10.1016/j.ibusrev.2022.102081

DO - 10.1016/j.ibusrev.2022.102081

M3 - Journal article

VL - 32

JO - International Business Review

JF - International Business Review

SN - 0969-5931

IS - 4

M1 - 102081

ER -