W.H.Bender Quote 62 - Always strive to be a Hospitality Service professional
Kmo 2015 - presentation - A study on the influence of national culture on knowledge sharing
1. A Study On The Influence of National
Culture on Knowledge Sharing
Laitinen, J. A. (Tokyo Institute of Technology, Japan)
Pawlowski, J. M. (Hochschule Ruhr West University of Applied
Sciences, Germany)
Senoo, D (Tokyo Institute of Technology, Japan)
2. Content
Background
On knowledge sharing and national culture
Research question, methodology
Results
Future work
References
3. Background
Culture
“[…] definitive, dynamic purposes and tools (values, ethics,
rules, knowledge systems) that are developed to attain group
goals” (Mabawonku, 2003)
Significant variance in national culture can exist within a
single country (Hofstede, 1980)
Significant overlap can also be found in national cultures
(Hofstede, 1980)
While simplifications of reality, cultural models can give
guidelines on where the differences can be found.
E.g. Hofstede (1980) and updated versions
4. On knowledge sharing and
national culture
Various approaches to encompass the relevant aspects
More abstract frameworks (Bhagat et al., 2002)
Country-specific approach (Huang et al., 2008)
Frameworks discusses either organization or individual level
variables in regards to a key topic
E.g. individual level trust (Usoro et al., 2007)
E.g Existence of formal knowledge sharing policy (Strach and
Everett, 2006),
Need for frameworks detailing relevant factors in both
organizational and individual levels, and how they interact
with national culture and knowledge sharing
5. Research methodology
To discover the relevant influencing factors,
researchers decided to carry out semi-structured
interviews
Countries: Finland and Japan
Interviewee candidates: industry and academic
professionals, who have experience in knowledge
management, and had experience in both countries. In
total 9 interviews (4 Japanese and 5 Finnish)
7. Overview of influencing
factors
Influencing factor Influencing attributes Links to
National Culture • Individualistic –
collectivistic
• Horizontal – vertical
• Long-term orientation
• Individual
• Organization
• Trust
• Willingness
Individual • Cultural distance
• Language fluency of the
individual
• Organization
• Trust
• Willingness
Organization • Incentives
• Management support
for knowledge sharing
practices
• Existence of formal
knowledge sharing
strategies
• Common goal
• Individual
• Trust
• Tools
• Willingness
Trust • Competency-based
• Integrity-based
• Benevolence-based
• Willingness
• Organization
• Individual
Tools • Support communication
with other employees
• Ease of use
• Willingness
Willingness • Sharing outside of
group
• Knowledge sharing
8. Overview of influencing
factors
Influencing factor Influencing attributes Links to
National Culture • Individualistic –
collectivistic
• Horizontal – vertical
• Long-term orientation
• Individual
• Organization
• Trust
• Willingness
Individual • Cultural distance
• Language fluency of the
individual
• Organization
• Trust
• Willingness
Organization • Incentives
• Management support
for knowledge sharing
practices
• Existence of formal
knowledge sharing
strategies
• Common goal
• Individual
• Trust
• Tools
• Willingness
Trust • Competency-based
• Integrity-based
• Benevolence-based
• Willingness
• Organization
• Individual
Tools • Support communication
with other employees
• Ease of use
• Willingness
Willingness • Sharing outside of
group
• Knowledge sharing
9. Benefits of the proposed
framework
Proposed framework encompasses individual, organizational
and national cultural influence factors
None of the previous frameworks do this
Combination of three different cultural influence factors and
other influence factors seem to to cover culture specific
features
Individualistic-collectivistic, Horizontal-vertical, Long-term
orientation
E.g. Guanxi (China), Face (Japan)
Clearly shows where influence of culture can be found in
individual and organizational level
The framework clearly shows the directions of influences
making it easier for practitioners and researchers to apply the
framework
10. Future research directions
Further confirmation of the results through quantitative
methods.
Subsections of the framework can be fruitful
Influence of national culture on tool customization
Preferences between explicit and tacit knowledge
11. References
Bhagat, R. S., Kedia, B.L., Harveston, P. D., Triandis, H. C.: Cultural variations on the
cross-border transfer of organizational knowledge: an integrative framework. Academy of
Management Review, 27(2), 204–221 (2002)
Huang, Q., Davison, R. M., Gu, J.: Impact of personal and cultural factors on knowledge
sharing in China. Asia Pacific Journal of Management, 25(3), 451–471 (2008)
Hofstede, G.: Cultures Consequences: International Differences in Work-related Values.
Beverly Hills, CA: SAGE Publications (1980)
Mabawonku, A. O.: Cultural framework for the development of science and technology in
Africa. Science and Public Policy, 30(2), 117-125 (2003).
Strach, P., Everett, A. M.: Knowledge transfer within Japanese multinationals: Building a
theory. Journal of knowledge Management, 10(1), 55–68 (2006)
Usoro, A., Sharratt, M. W., Tsui, E., Shekhar, S.: Trust as an antecedent to knowledge
sharing in virtual communities of practice. Knowledge Management Research & Practice,
(5), 199–212 (2007)
13. Tokyo Institute of Technology, Senoo
Laboratory
Located at Tokyo Institute of Technology, Tokyo, Japan
Professor Dai Senoo
Graduated from Hitotsubashi University, was supervised
by Nonaka
Currently focusing on knowledge management
4 full time PhD students, (3 foreigners, 1 Japanese)
Additional part-time PhD students
14. 14Prof. Dr. Jan M. Pawlowski
History
• Founded in 2009
• Public institution, regional development
• 3000 students, 70 professors and growing
• Western Ruhr area (Bottrop, Mülheim)
Business Information Systems
• Business Information Systems
• (Global) Process Management
• Supporting globally distributed workgroups in
knowledge-intensive organizations
• Knowledge Management, E-Learning & Open
Educational Resources
• Reference Modeling
• Cultural adaptation
Hochschule Ruhr West
Ruhr West University of Applied Sciences
16. Licensing: Creative CommonsYou are free:
to Share — to copy, distribute and transmit the
work
to Remix — to adapt the work
Under the following conditions:
Attribution. You must attribute the work in the
manner specified by the author or licensor
(but not in any way that suggests that they
endorse you or your use of the work).
Noncommercial. You may not use this work for
commercial purposes.
Share Alike. If you alter, transform, or build
upon this work, you may distribute the
resulting work only under the same or
similar license to this one.
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/
