Mediating Effects in Reverse Knowledge Transfer Processes

Bridging Knowledge Gaps: Returnees and Reverse Knowledge Spillovers from Chinese Local Firms to Foreign Firms

“…This integrated approach enriches our understanding of the social aspects of knowledge flows and helps to provide new insights into the role of individuals with special characteristics in inter-firm knowledge spillovers. Extending existing studies on the relationship between socialization and knowledge flows (Ahuja et al 2008;Eapen 2012;Najafi-Tavani, et al, 2012;Spencer, 2008), we go a step further to investigate whether returnees help to bridge knowledge gaps between local firms and foreign firms and increase the effectiveness of reverse knowledge spillovers. The findings help advance research on knowledge flows by placing more emphasis on returnees as a special channel of reverse knowledge spillovers.…”

Reverse Knowledge Transfer in Multinational Companies: A Systematic Literature Review

“…A greenfield subsidiary, on the other hand, usually depends more on the parent company's knowledge base, which tends to indicate a smaller stock of knowledge to transfer to parent company (RKT), fact which also facilitates the knowledge transfer process (Najafi-Tavani et al, 2012a). BAR, Rio de Janeiro, v. 14, n. 1, art.…”

“…Additionally, (a) having similar cultural aspects and a shared vision or logic (Betz, Oberweis, & Stephan, 2014;Colakoglu, 2012;Criscuolo & Narula, 2007;Ghauri & Park, 2012;Nair et al, 2015;Najafi-Tavani et al, 2012a;Öberg, 2013;Verbeke, 2010); (b) creating specific organizational structures such as project or joint R&D teams (Criscuolo & Narula, 2007;Lichtenthaler, 2010;Minbaeva et al, 2014); (c) having a more integrated business in general, with strategy and practices aligned (Hakanson & Nobel, 2001; J. H. Li et al, 2014;Najafi-Tavani et al, 2012b); and, finally, (d) having formal rules and the necessary information and communication tools well established (Chung, 2014;Criscuolo, 2009;Zaragoza-Sáez & Claver-Cortés, 2011) seem to improve the RKT process in the studies analyzed.…”

“…On the other end of the spectrum, willingness to transfer knowledge has also been tackled by authors such as Huang, Chiu and Lu (2013), Najafi-Tavani et al (2012a) and Criscuolo and Narula (2007). Indeed, it turns out that subsidiaries or executives may be unwilling to transfer their knowledge BAR, Rio de Janeiro, v. 14, n. 1, art.…”

“…It is worth noting that even when the type of knowledge being transferred was not the focus of their research, several authors emphasized or mentioned the general tacit nature of knowledge and the consequent challenges of transferring it (Hakanson & Nobel, 2001;Huang et al, 2013;Najafi-Tavani et al, 2012a;Sofka, 2008;Zaragoza-Sáez & Claver-Cortés, 2011). …”