Abstract
In this chapter, the concept of knowledge flow is presented from a broad perspective. First, the term of knowledge transfer is explained and on this basis, the concept of knowledge flow is defined. Second, the relations between knowledge flow and the following phenomena are explained: knowledge sharing, perception of resources and streams in organizations and workflow. Third, the subject of knowledge flow and its stages are discussed, together with the relation of knowledge flow with technologies and the flow of data and information. Fourth, the taxonomy of knowledge flows is proposed, based on the following dimensions: flow direction, flow duration, time constraints, flow location, relationship between the sender and recipient of knowledge, flow level, flow planning, flow formalism and the initiating party (push/pull approach), form of knowledge, area of knowledge, the relevance of knowledge. In the final section, the factors influencing knowledge flows are described within three categories: human factors (e.g. function in the organization; sender and recipient motivation; recipient’s absorption and retention capacity or trust), technical factors (e.g. having time; having technical skills; the ambiguity of knowledge or lack of knowledge verification) and organizational factors (e.g. size of the organization; organizational context; organizational relations or organizational structure). All these aspects are crucial especially in the context of the knowledge-intensive business services (KIBS) companies and various knowledge flows taking place inside and outside these companies.
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Notes
- 1.
The voluntary transfer of knowledge is important in the sense that if a participant does not wish to transfer or receive knowledge, the transfer cannot take place. For example, if employee X gives employee Y a document that employee Y does not want to read, the transfer will fail. Similarly, if worker X needs knowledge from worker Y and the latter does not want to pass it on to him, there will be no knowledge transfer either.
- 2.
Business Dictionary, http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/workflow.html (date of access: 06.11.2017).
- 3.
Although these researchers analysed the transfer of knowledge between subsidiaries of multinational corporations, the factors they identified may also be applied to the analysis of knowledge flows within other organizations, as well as between organizations and their environment.
- 4.
Homophilia—the degree to which two or more people who interact with each other is similar in some characteristics, such as beliefs, education, social status, etc. The greater the similarity between two individuals, the greater the potential knowledge gain, more effective shaping of the approach and more visible change of behaviour (Rogers, 1995, pp. 18–19).
- 5.
These factors are related to the sterile organizational context indicated by Szulanski (1996) and to burdensome relations.
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Zieba, M. (2021). Knowledge Transfer and Knowledge Flows. In: Understanding Knowledge-Intensive Business Services. Knowledge Management and Organizational Learning, vol 10. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-75618-5_2
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