An investigation of barriers to knowledge transfer

Peter Y. T. Sun · John Lee Scott

314 citations0/0 files storedJournal of Knowledge Management

No readable copy stored yet — this record is metadata only.

No open-access location is known for this record yet.

Literature note Cite in a project Citation map

Knowledge Management and Sharing Innovation and Knowledge Management Organizational Learning and Leadership

Abstract

Abstract Purpose – The purpose of this research is to provide academics and practitioners with an insight to the barriers involved in knowledge transfer, arising from the levels of learning in the organization (i.e. individual, team, organizational, and inter‐organizational). Design/methodology/approach – An empirical research methodology, called the Delphi technique, was employed to investigate these barriers. Owing to the non‐threatening nature of the process, and its usefulness in obtaining a reliable consensus of opinion from a group of experts, it was deemed suitable for this research. The Delphi process was applied in two stages. In the first stage the major barriers in the transfer of knowledge in the levels of learning were obtained. Only the primary paths of transfer were considered, i.e. individual to team (and vice versa), team to the organization (and vice versa), and organization to inter‐organization. In the second stage Delphi process, the critical sources from which these barriers arise were derived. Findings – A total of 14 sources from which the barriers arise were obtained. The significant impact of these sources on the levels of learning, as perceived by the Delphi participants, was derived. Practical implications – This research provides useful insights for practitioners wanting to minimize barriers and optimize knowledge transfer across the organizations. It also serves as a useful base for researchers to expand further research into barriers of knowledge transfer. Originality/value – This research is the first attempt made, using Delphi methodology, to analyze the barriers to knowledge transfer from a holistic perspective. It considers the levels of learning, providing academics with a base to consider other paths of knowledge transfer.

Paper brief

Loading…

Cite this work

Citation unavailable for this work.

BibTeX RIS CSL-JSON

No public copy is stored for this record, so only the metadata is cited.

Citations in this library

Citation map →

Stored only when both papers are in the corpus — 314 citations exist upstream.

References

1991The fifth discipline, the art and practice of the learning organization 1994A Dynamic Theory of Organizational Knowledge Creation 1998The Knowledge-Creating Company 1991Organizational Learning: The Contributing Processes and the Literatures 1992A Theory of Structure: Duality, Agency, and Transformation 1994Organizational Images and Member Identification 1999An Organizational Learning Framework: From Intuition to Institution 1939Patterns of Aggressive Behavior in Experimentally Created “Social Climates”

Cited by

2015Knowledge Management as an important tool in Organisational Management: A Review of Literature 2008Barriers to organizational learning: An integration of theory and research 2010Relevant factors for tacit knowledge transfer within organisations 2021Organisational learning, learning organisation, and learning orientation: An integrative review and framework 2014Factors affecting knowledge sharing intention among academic staff

Explore the map →

Papers that cite the same references — the relational fallback while embeddings are still backfilling.

Imported from OpenAlex (CC0) — nothing here is generated.