知识接收方视角下社会资本对知识转移的影响研究

Research on the Impacts of Social Capital on Knowledge Transfer in View of Knowledge Recipient

已有关于知识转移的研究大多集中于如何激励知识源促使其进行知识转移,并假定知识接收方能够接收来自于知识源的知识。为克服此种偏见,基于知识接收方视角,在分析社会资本对知识转移作用的基础上,以6家广东省企业的7个研发团队为样本,运用多层线性回归分析方法实证研究知识接收方社会资本、知识接收方与知识源间的对偶关系对于知识转移的影响,检验知识接收方社会资本在对偶关系与知识转移间的调节作用。研究结果表明,知识接收方社会资本3个维度中信任水平显著促进知识转移,公司任期对知识转移存在负向影响,而网络中心性对知识转移的作用不显著;对偶关系方面,知识源专业知识感知和关系强度对知识转移都存在显著正向影响,知识接收方网络中心性在对偶关系与知识转移之间起调节作用。

Knowledge is the resource most critical to a firm＇s core competitiveness. Active knowledge transfer among employees enables a firm to make the best use of its internal knowledge so as to foster its survival and prosperity. Most studies on the im- pacts of social capital on knowledge transfer have focused on motivating knowledge source, assuming that a recipient is always ready to adopt the knowledge of source. To compensate this deficiency, this research, based on social capital theory and relevant research on knowledge transfer and from the perspective of knowledge recipient ,focuses on the role of social capital in the process of knowledge transfer. The study takes six companies including seven R＆D teams in Guangdong Province, China as research samples. Employing hier- archical linear regression modeling, this study empirically tests the social capital of the knowledge recipient moderating role between the dyadic relationship and knowledge transfer. The results show that, at an individual level, the relational dimension of a recipient＇s social capital（ i. e. , trust） showed a significantly positive effect on knowledge transfer, indicating that a knowledge recipient＇s trust in his or her group members can lead to successful knowledge transfer even without a dyadic relationship within a source. The cognitive dimension（ i. e. , company tenure） also showed a significant impact, but in a negative direction. That is as a recipient＇s tenure lengthened, he or she became less inclined to adopt the knowledge offered. The impacts of the structural di- mension（i, e. , centrality） were of insignificance. At a dyadic level, knowledge source＇s expertise perceived by a recipient and the strength of ties between knowledge sources and recipients were in positive relationship to knowledge transfer. Therefore, infor- mation on internal expertise should be clearly communicated among employees to facilitate knowledge transfer. Hence this study suggests that more focus should be laid to both the dyadic and individual-level antecedents of knowledge transfer. In addition, these research findings were derived from cross sectional analysis. Although the authors developed a causal research model and hypotheses based on extensive literature study and strong theoretical foundations, first of all, the results of the cross sectional analysis offer only an inference rather than a perfect proof of a causal re- lationship; Secondly, the study＇s research context comprised R＆D groups in Guangdong firms. Therefore, generalizing these re- suits will not be made until further replication studies are to be done in different contexts; What＇s more, the study＇s multi-level analysis was limited to the dyadic and individual levels, yet organizational and group-level effects may exist, which was not included in the model.