Developing and Validating Field Measurement Scales for Absorptive Capacity and Experienced Community of Practice

Abstract

Research on knowledge transfer in organizations has been hampered by the lack of tools yielding valid scores for studying critical constructs in concert. The authors developed survey measures of absorptive capacity (the ability to transform new knowledge into usable knowledge) and experienced community of practice (the extent to which a person is engaged with the given practice community) to provide tools appropriate for field research. A holdout sample of 1,971 engineers in a Fortune 100 science/technology company yielded 583 responses. Confirmatory factor analysis was used to assess internal structure, and convergent and discriminant evidence of validity. Path analysis was used to assess criterion-related validity. Results demonstrate that the new measures are internally consistent, are related in meaningful ways to other organizational variables, and provide distinct explanatory power. An additional 231 responses from a second Fortune 100 science/technology company provides cross-validation.

Impact of Language Diversity and Social Interaction on Knowledge Transfer

“…Knowledge transfer. The questionnaire survey (see Appendix) partially adapted communication survey scales (Lowry et al, 2006) and measurement scales for absorptive capacity (Cadiz et al, 2009). Scales adapted for the dependent variables of knowledge transfer measure three aspects of absorptive capacity in assessment High F2F interactions with multiple media provided by CMC.…”

“…Evidence indicates that the antecedents of effective communication include quality (Burgoon, Bonito, Ramirez, Kam, Dunbar, & Fischer, 2002), openness (Lauring & Selme, 2012;Cadiz, Griffith, & Sawyer, 2009) , richness (Luo & Shenkar, 2006), and accuracy (O'Reilly, 1982;Gurtner, Tschan, Semmer, & Nägele, 2007), as explained below.…”

“…Openness in communication is the willingness of a set of people bound together through common interest to be receptive to the communication of others (Lauring & Selme, 2012;Cadiz et al, 2009).…”

“…Griffith, Sawyer, and Neale (2003) argued that the analysis of absorptive capacity (Cohen & Levinthal, 1990) relates to how information is noticed and how individuals in group decode and transform knowledge, and then, integrate the information and knowledge into the group's knowledge. Through the processes of assessment, assimilation, and application, individuals coordinate knowledge and transform new knowledge into useable knowledge (Cadiz et al, 2009).…”

“…The communication setting that provides wider bandwidth and better synchrony allows parallel information for simultaneous interactions. Cadiz et al (2009) suggested that F2F setting can provide more engaging opportunities for sense making, facilitation, and deep discussion, perform affection that signals a person's reaction to a message, as well as encourage the counterpart react to the message, i.e., explicit work products, technological expertise, and social aspects of tacit knowledge. CMC setting can result in choices to perform more direct forms of communication and provide a more presentable and amenable information to transfer knowledge (Tidwell & Walther, 2002;DeSanctis & Poole, 1994).…”