| This dissertation explores the role one social form of exchange governance plays in the occurrence of technological knowledge sharing among R&D scientists in the same firm. Technological knowledge sharing is the informal voluntary conveyance of intermediate scientific know-how from one R&D scientist (source) to another R&D scientist (recipient). This study fills a gap in the literature by exploring the relationship between reputation and the interpersonal intrafirm sharing of technological knowledge in an environment where R&D work (innovative activity) is embedded in a social context and may be broken down physically, organizationally, and by area of technology. R&D workers in the same firm, though comprising a social community, may work in different locations, may be separated by organizational boundaries (e.g., departments), and work in different scientific disciplines.; The academic issue central to this dissertation concerns the role of social governance devices, reputation in particular, in exchange of resources; specifically, the exchange or sharing of non-codified technological knowledge. Social considerations function as an instrument of exchange between members of a firm, providing recompense for services performed and motivating their future performance (La-Valle 1998). The link between reputation and reciprocal interests challenges the standard transaction cost view of exchange that excludes the impact of social mechanisms of governance and repeated interaction. The following question for empirical investigation arises: What effect does an R&D worker's reputation have on a second R&D worker's decision to share technological knowledge with the first individual, when both are in the same firm?; The thesis put forth is that where R&D work takes place within a social setting, reputation---based on (1) history, or past behavior and (2) expectations for future action---influences the occurrence of technological knowledge sharing. The favorable reputation of a potential receiver is posited to facilitate his or her acquisition of technological knowledge from another. If the seeker of assistance has a positive reputation, from the source's perspective, this will affirm the source's decision to share technological knowledge. A positive reputation is conceptualized as emanating from (1) favorable behavior, either directly exhibited, first-hand observation or experience relayed by known others, and (2) expectation for future favorable behavior, including assurance that sanctions inherent in the social community can monitor and enforce actions. From this definition of reputation, the premise is that reputation provides a basis for the informal, voluntary communication of non-trivial technological knowledge.; To give focus to this research, the study examines an R&D worker's decision to provide or not provide personal technological knowledge to another R&D worker in the same firm. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)... |
