| Knowledge transfer is important to activities such as product development that involve multiple decision makers who must frequently make decisions outside their area of expertise. While the research on product development is voluminous, research measuring shared knowledge and its subsequent effects on performance is still rudimentary.; This research is unique as it pioneers a method for measuring knowledge transfer directly. Instead of just measuring the impression of success, this dissertation tracks the knowledge held by participants in terms of 3 knowledge dimensions: depth, scope and action. The approach uses focused interviews to gather evidence of the depth and scope of the knowledge held by various participants. Methods were refined on four product development projects conducted within a bi-cultural manufacturing firm located in the Midwest.; Three propositions involving organizational complexity, locus of learning, shared knowledge and project performance were investigated. Regarding the locus of learning dimension, projects involving learning before doing were associated with increased knowledge transfer as expected (in comparison of learning-by-doing). As for the organizational complexity dimension, two opposite perspectives of management research were examined. The findings suggest emphasis should be placed on the cognitive, not affective, aspects of knowledge sharing. Finally, contrary to expectations, all of knowledge sharing was not associated with increased performance as claimed in the prior literature. This led to the discovery that a sharp distinction ought to be drawn between the prior shared knowledge and the resultant one. This heretofore ignored distinction carries implications for both research and practice. |
