The DOI matches its Crossref record; 57 of the 57 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
Fear of Exploitation and Fear of Contamination: Impediments to Knowledge Transfer in Mergers between Professional Service Firms
Abstract
Previous studies of knowledge transfer have identified a variety of impediments that derive from the knowledge base and the organizational context. However such explanations do not take account of the central role that individuals play in the knowledge transfer process, specifically in articulating and legitimizing the knowledge base and in shaping and interpreting the organizational context. This article examines the merger process as experienced within six accounting and consulting firms. It finds that professionals resist knowledge transfer when they perceive that the merging firms differ fundamentally in terms of the quality of their external image and the form of their knowledge base. Whilst professionals may attribute their resistance to commercial and objective concerns, their responses are also governed by highly personal and subjective factors. This study identifies this complex combination of factors as the twin fears of exploitation and contamination.
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Cites
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Cited by
The reification of absorptive capacity: A critical review and rejuvenation of the construct
Lane, P. J., Koka, B. R., & Pathak, S. (2006) · Academy of Management Review · doi:10.5465/amr.2006.22527456 · Cited by 2,880
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Ipe, M. (2003) · Human Resource Development Review · doi:10.1177/1534484303257985 · Cited by 1,608
WHAT IS A PROFESSIONAL SERVICE FIRM? TOWARD A THEORY AND TAXONOMY OF KNOWLEDGE-INTENSIVE FIRMS.
VON NORDENFLYCHT, A. (2010) · Academy of Management Review · doi:10.5465/amr.2010.45577926 · Cited by 1,077
Björkman, I., Stahl, G. K., & Vaara, E. (2007) · Journal of International Business Studies · doi:10.1057/palgrave.jibs.8400287 · Cited by 526
Transitional Identity as a Facilitator of Organizational Identity Change during a Merger
Clark, S. M., Gioia, D. A., Ketchen, D. J., & Thomas, J. B. (2010) · Administrative Science Quarterly · doi:10.2189/asqu.2010.55.3.397 · Cited by 469
Metadata
- Authors
- Empson, L.
- Venue
- Human Relations
- Publisher
- SAGE Publications
- Published
- 2001-07
- Volume
- 54
- Issue
- 7
- Pages
- 839-862
- ISSN
- 0018-7267 (ISSN-L)
- 1741-282X
- OpenAlex
- W2141897008
- Cited by
- 447
- References
- 57
- FWCI
- 24.55
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
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Bibliographic data: Semantic Scholar, OpenAlex, Crossref.
Contains information from the Semantic Scholar Academic Graph Datasets, made available under the ODC Attribution License (ODC-BY 1.0).
Semantic Scholar’s data is described in: Kinney, R., et al. (2023). The Semantic Scholar Open Data Platform. arXiv:2301.10140.
