Cultural Variations in the Cross-Border Transfer of Organizational Knowledge: An Integrative Framework

Abstract

Little is known about the effectiveness of cross-border transfer of organizational knowledge involving dissimilar cultural contexts. We propose a theoretical framework for understanding the significance of four transacting cultural patterns, defined in terms of the dimensions of individualism-collectivism and verticalness-horizontalness, for their potential in moderating the effectiveness of cross-border transfer of organizational knowledge. Drawing foundational support for this new framework from recent research advances in the area of knowledge transfer, we explore implications for future research.