This dissertation examines how knowledge exchange behavior is affected by factors like inter-organizational trust and knowledge interdependence in supply chain relationships. The author develops a research model using game theory and social exchange theory to study how incentives and interdependence impact knowledge sharing between organizations. A lab experiment is conducted to test the model, finding that inter-organizational trust has little effect on knowledge sharing when interdependence is high or low, but a significant effect when interdependence is moderate. The hypothesized role of dependence asymmetry is not supported by the experimental results.

1. Knowledge Exchange Behavior in Supply Channel Relationships:
A Social Exchange and Game-theoretic Approach
A dissertation submitted to the
Graduate School
of the University of Cincinnati
in partial fulfillment of the
requirements for the degree of
Doctor of Philosophy
in the Dept. of Operations, Business Analytics & Info. Systems
of the Carl H. Lindner College of Business
by
Fred Ahrens
M.S. Mech. Engr., University of Toledo
MBA, University of Cincinnati
M.S. Quant. Analysis and Operations Management, University of Cincinnati
Committee Chair: Amit Raturi, Ph.D.

2. Abstract
Knowledge exchange behavior is often portrayed as a key determinant of the competitive
position of a firm operating in a knowledge intensive environment. Of interest to researchers
and managers alike are the conditions that promote, attenuate or even retard knowledge sharing
between firms. This research employs a supply channel context to study knowledge exchange
behavior (KEB). Whether knowledge exchange occurs, and if so, to what extent, may be
contingent on various factors.
While inter-organizational trust has widely been posited to be a key antecedent of knowledge
exchange behavior, a review of the literature reveals that the evidence is conflicting. Sometimes
a high level of inter-organizational trust may not be necessary for a decision to exchange
valuable knowledge. Likewise, despite high inter-organizational trust KEB may not be present.
A recent empirical study by Kim, Umanath, Kim, Ahrens & Kim, (2012) found that increasing
levels of inter-organizational trust actually resulted in inhibition of knowledge exchange
behavior in supply channel dyads even with a high level of knowledge complementarity. This
specific finding has served as the springboard for this project; that is, this inquiry is focused on
identifying conditions that render inter-organizational trust unimportant. In short, this research
seeks to examine the contingent effect of knowledge interdependence (joint dependence +
dependence asymmetry) on KEB – speculated to be a missing contingency by Kim, et al (2012).
In this research project, the role of inter-organizational trust is examined by using game
theory to characterize the incentives associated with knowledge sharing. Social exchange
theory, along with the relational and social capital perspectives, is used to complement the
game-theoretic view by characterizing the behavioral implications of the incentive structure for
each actor in a supply channel dyad.

3. A research model is proposed and tested using data obtained in a lab experiment conducted
at two sites. The findings suggest that inter-organization trust has little, if any, effect on
knowledge sharing behavior when interdependence is high or low. However, the impact of inter-
organizational trust on knowledge exchange behavior is significant when interdependence is
moderate. The theorized role of dependence asymmetry in the research model is not empirically
supported. An ex post analysis sheds some light on the effect of dependence asymmetry in the
model.
Keywords: Knowledge exchange, Supply chain management, Knowledge complementarity,
Interdependence, Inter-organizational trust, Game theory, Social exchange theory, Relational
view, Social capital