Research On The Influence Of Knowledge Distance Between Supply Chain Enterprises On Knowledge Transfer Effect

Knowledge plays an important role in achieving enterprises' competitive advantage.Under the background that the modern competition mode is gradually transformed from inter-enterprise competition to competition among supply chains,how to promote effective knowledge transfer among supply chain enterprises has become a common concern of academic research and enterprise practice.Enterprises in the supply chain have formed differences in knowledge base and structure due to different geographical locations and development backgrounds.This objective knowledge difference has an important impact on the knowledge transfer effect.Unfortunately,the research on knowledge transfer between supply chain enterprises from the perspective of knowledge differences is still lacking.The influence mechanism of knowledge distance on knowledge transfer effect needs to be further explored.The member enterprises in the supply chain are in line with the “rational economic man” hypothesis,and the cost involved will be taken into account when participating in knowledge transfer,and the cost is the key factor affecting the size of their willingness to participate in knowledge transfer.This study introduces knowledge distance to describes the knowledge difference between supply chain enterprises,introduces the willingness to send knowledge and the willingness to receive knowledge to describe the willingness of knowledge source and recipient enterprise to participate in knowledge transfer,and use these as mediator variables to explore the influence mechanism of knowledge distance on knowledge transfer effect.The tacitness of knowledge is introduced as a moderator variable to reflect the key knowledge characteristics in knowledge transfer.Based on the literature review,this study defines the variables of knowledge distance between supply chain enterprises,knowledge transfer effect,the willingness to transfer knowledge and knowledge tacitness,and establishes a mechanism model of interaction among these variables.The middle and high-level managers or key employees engaged in procurement,production,marketing,and research in the enterprises that have experienced the supply chain management are asked to issue and answer questionnaires.This study uses SPSS 24.0 and AMOS 24.0 to statistically analyze the effective questionnaires collected.The results show that:(1)The enterprise age,the nature of the enterprise and the cooperation age between the enterprise and other members of the supply chain have significant influence on the knowledge transfer effect;(2)The knowledge distance between the supply chain enterprises has a significant negative impact on the knowledge transfer effect;(3)The willingness to send knowledge of source enterprise and the willingness to receive knowledge of the receiving enterprise have a significant positive impact on the knowledge transfer effect,and the positive influence of the willingness to receive knowledge is stronger;(4)The willingness to send knowledge of the knowledge source enterprise and the willingness to receive the knowledge of the receiving enterprise play a mediating role between the knowledge distance and the knowledge transfer effect,and the mediating effect of the willingness to receive knowledge is stronger;(5)The knowledge tacitness plays a moderating role in the relationship between the knowledge distance and the willingness of knowledge source to send knowledge,and the higher the knowledge tacitness is,the stronger the negative relationship between knowledge distance and the willingness to send knowledge,and vice versa.