Managing Knowledge Flow in Inter-Organizational Knowledge Transfer: The Dual Hazard Model

Moral hazards and cognitive hazards play as dual barriers in inter-organizational knowledge transfer. However, in order to overcome these dual barriers, the governance mechanisms of appropriation concern and coordination are designed to assist focal firm to facilitate knowledge flow for inter-organizational knowledge transfer. The main purpose of this study is to develop an inter-organizational knowledge transfer model for governing inter-organizational knowledge flow. For this purpose, this study explores and examines the governance determinants (coordination factors & appropriate factors), knowledge flow, and knowledge transfer performance of inter-organizational relationship in the high-tech sector. This study empirically tested the theoretical model at inter-organization level. The empirical setting is the semiconductor industry in Taiwan. Our findings suggest that the inter-organizational knowledge flow are influenced by coordination factors & appropriate factors and impact the collaborative knowledge sharing performance. Finally, in addition to discussing the theoretical and managerial implications of the research findings, this study compares related arguments in the literature to show that our framework offers a new way of conceptualizing research on governing inter-organizational knowledge flow and new directions for future research.