Boundary spanners and intra-MNC knowledge sharing: The roles of controlled motivation and immediate organizational context

TY - JOUR

T1 - Boundary spanners and intra-MNC knowledge sharing

T2 - The roles of controlled motivation and immediate organizational context

AU - Minbaeva, Dana

AU - Santangelo, Grazia D.

N1 - Funding Information: For comments on earlier versions of this article, we thank Associate Editor Anupama Phene and two anonymous reviewers. We are also thankful to Marie Louise Mors and Lena Zander for insightful discussions and suggestions. Grazia D. Santangelo gratefully acknowledges the financial support received by the European Commission under the Erasmus + programme-Jean Monnet Activities. This publication reflects the views only of the authors, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use that may be made of the information contained therein. Publisher Copyright: Copyright © 2017 Strategic Management Society

PY - 2018/5

Y1 - 2018/5

N2 - Research summary: We examine the conditions under which boundary spanners positively contribute to intra-MNC knowledge sharing. Specifically, we argue that the knowledge-sharing behavior of boundary spanners should not be taken for granted, as it is affected by the individual's motivation to share knowledge and is contingent upon the immediate organizational context in which the individual is located. An analysis of data covering 482 individuals located in different business units of a Danish MNC confirms our arguments. Managerial summary: Boundary spanners are employees who act as knowledge intermediaries between many individuals from within and outside their organizations. They are well connected internally and externally and share knowledge across MNC units to a greater extent than non-boundary spanners. However, their contribution to knowledge sharing should not be taken for granted as it depends on their motivation and their immediate context.

AB - Research summary: We examine the conditions under which boundary spanners positively contribute to intra-MNC knowledge sharing. Specifically, we argue that the knowledge-sharing behavior of boundary spanners should not be taken for granted, as it is affected by the individual's motivation to share knowledge and is contingent upon the immediate organizational context in which the individual is located. An analysis of data covering 482 individuals located in different business units of a Danish MNC confirms our arguments. Managerial summary: Boundary spanners are employees who act as knowledge intermediaries between many individuals from within and outside their organizations. They are well connected internally and externally and share knowledge across MNC units to a greater extent than non-boundary spanners. However, their contribution to knowledge sharing should not be taken for granted as it depends on their motivation and their immediate context.

KW - boundary spanners

KW - controlled motivations

KW - intra-MNC knowledge sharing

KW - knowledge hub units

UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/85030091666

U2 - 10.1002/gsj.1171

DO - 10.1002/gsj.1171

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:85030091666

SN - 2042-5805

VL - 8

SP - 220

EP - 241

JO - Global Strategy Journal

JF - Global Strategy Journal

IS - 2

ER -