AMBIGUITY AND THE PROCESS OF KNOWLEDGE TRANSFER IN STRATIEGIC ALLIANCES

摘要

This research examines the role played by the 1causally ambiguous' nature of knowledge in the process of knowledge transfer between strategic alliance partners. Based on a crosssectional sample of 147 multinationals and a structural equation methodology, this study empirically investigawtes the simultaneous effects of knowledge ambiguity and its antecedents-tacitness, asset specificity, prior experience, complexity, partner protectiveness, cultural distance, and organizational distance-on tecnological knowledge transfer. In contrast to past research that generally assumed a direct relation between these explanatory variables and transfer outcomes, this study's findings highlight the critical role played by knowledge ambiguity as a full mediator of tactness, prior experience, complexity, cultural distnace, and organizational distance on knowledge transfer. These signficant effects are further found to be moderated by the firm's level of collaborative know-how, its learning capacity, and the duration of the alliance.