Going the distance: The pros and cons of expanding employees' global knowledge reach

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Morris, Shad S.; Zhong, Bijuan; Makhija, Mona
• 署名单位: Brigham Young University; City University of New York (CUNY) System; Baruch College (CUNY); University System of Ohio; Ohio State University
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS STUDIES
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0047-2506
• DOI: 10.1057/jibs.2014.73
• 发表日期: 2015
• 页码: 552-573
• 关键词: knowledge seeking behavior; human resource management (HRM); multinational corporations (MNCs) and enterprises (MNEs); knowledge-based view

摘要

While some scholars have suggested MNEs to be superior to markets for managing knowledge across geographically distant boundaries, how they actually accomplish this has not been fully considered. We address this void by developing and testing a model that highlights the critical role of organizational incentives in enhancing employees' internal search and use of knowledge. Data from 166 knowledge-intensive projects support our argument that, in contrast to process-based incentives that influence more local search, outcome-based incentives motivate employee teams to reach well beyond their immediate location, which in turn enhances performance. At the same time, we demonstrate that expanded reach also increases the likelihood of accessing more codifiable knowledge, which can hurt performance. Our model examines the contradictory - and previously unknown effects of global knowledge reach.