Editing Organizational learning (section)

=== Knowledge transfer ===
[[Knowledge transfer]] concerns the mechanisms by which experience spreads and embeds itself within the organization. Knowledge transfer can be evaluated using various metrics, including learning curves that demonstrate process improvements over time by comparing the decrease in labor hours to complete a unit of production with the cumulative units produced over time. Wright's identification of organizational learning curves preceded more complex outcome considerations<ref name="Argote Book5" /> that now inform measures of knowledge transfer. While knowledge may transfer tacitly and explicitly as direct experience, organizations can introduce processes and knowledge management systems that facilitate this transfer. Researchers investigate the context of various factors and mechanisms affecting knowledge transfer to determine their beneficial and detrimental effects.

Factors of knowledge transfer include the dimensions of the knowledge described in the prior section, as well as the contexts in which it occurs and mechanisms through which it can occur:
* ''Relational context'' concerns whether knowledge is interconnected.<ref name="Darr ED 19952">{{cite journal | last1 = Darr | first1 = ED | last2 = Argote | first2 = L | last3 = Epple | first3 = D | year = 1995 | title = The acquisition, transfer and depreciation of knowledge in service organizations: Productivity in franchises | journal = Management Science | volume = 41 | issue = 11| pages = 1750–1762 | doi=10.1287/mnsc.41.11.1750}}</ref> 
* ''Cognitive context'' concerns mental abilities and processes regarding knowledge.<ref>Szulanski, G. (1996).  Exploring external stickiness:  Impediments to the transfer of best practice within the firm.  Strategic Management Journal, 17.</ref>
* ''Motivational context'' of personal preferences and social influences affect direct or indirect knowledge transfer behaviors.<ref>(Osterloh & Frey, 2000; Quigley, Tesluk, Locke & Bartol, 2007)</ref> 
* ''Emotional context'' impacts mental state and sense of security, which affect knowledge transfer.<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Elkjaer | first1 = B | year = 2004 | title = Organizational learning: The 'third way' | journal = Management Learning | volume = 35 | issue = 4| pages = 419–434 | doi=10.1177/1350507604048271| s2cid = 143927836 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Levin | first1 = DZ | last2 = Kurtzberg | first2 = T | last3 = Phillips | first3 = KW | last4 = Lount | first4 = RB | last5 = Jnr | year = 2010 | title = The role of affect in knowledge transfer | journal = Group Dynamics | volume = 14 | issue = 2| pages = 123–142 | doi=10.1037/a0017317}}</ref>
* ''Social networks'' determine the flows through which knowledge can transfer and the node-based conditional limitations on transfer.<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Hansen | first1 = M | year = 1999 | title = The search-transfer problem: The role of weak ties in sharing knowledge across organizational subunits | journal = Administrative Science Quarterly | volume = 44 | issue = 1| pages = 82–112 | doi=10.2307/2667032| jstor = 2667032 | s2cid = 19016767 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Reagans | first1 = R | last2 = McEvily | first2 = B | year = 2003 | title = Network structure and knowledge transfer: The effects of cohesion and range | journal = Administrative Science Quarterly | volume = 48 | issue = 2| pages = 240–267 | doi=10.2307/3556658| jstor = 3556658 | citeseerx = 10.1.1.458.1753 | s2cid = 14702711 }}</ref>
* ''Personnel movement'' between units and organizations impacts available knowledge and geographical, chronological, and social limitations on knowledge transfer.<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Almedia | first1 = P | last2 = Kogut | first2 = B | year = 1999 | title = Localization of knowledge and the mobility of engineers in regional networks | doi = 10.1287/mnsc.45.7.905 | journal = Organization Science | volume = 45 | issue = 7| pages = 905–917 | citeseerx = 10.1.1.568.8647 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Kane | first1 = AA | last2 = Argote | first2 = L | last3 = Levine | first3 = JM | year = 2005 | title = Knowledge transfer between groups via personal rotation: Effects of social identity and knowledge quality | journal = Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes | volume = 96 | issue = 1| pages = 56–71 | doi=10.1016/j.obhdp.2004.09.002}}</ref> 
* ''Routines'' impact knowledge transfer as they contain embedded knowledge and teach it through experience repeating the routine.<ref name="Argote Book5" /><ref name="Argote L 19902">{{cite journal | last1 = Argote | first1 = L | last2 = Beckman | first2 = SL | last3 = Epple | first3 = D | year = 1990 | title = The persistence and transfer of learning in industrial settings | journal = Management Science | volume = 36 | issue = 2| pages = 140–154 | doi=10.1287/mnsc.36.2.140| citeseerx = 10.1.1.357.3312 }}</ref> 
* ''Templates'' affect knowledge transfer as they affect the framing, priming, volume, and content parameters for formal exchanges of knowledge.<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Jensen | first1 = RJ | last2 = Szulanski | first2 = G | year = 2007 | title = Template use and the effectiveness of knowledge transfer | url = https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/facpub/226| journal = Management Science | volume = 53 | issue = 11| pages = 1716–1730 | doi=10.1287/mnsc.1070.0740| s2cid = 17975371 }}</ref> 
* ''Alliances'' impact knowledge transfer between formal and informal groups.<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Gulati | first1 = R | year = 1999 | title = Network location and learning: The influence of network resources and firm capabilities on alliance formation | journal = Strategic Management Journal | volume = 20 | issue = 5| pages = 397–420 | doi=10.1002/(sici)1097-0266(199905)20:5<397::aid-smj35>3.3.co;2-b}}</ref>