The Importance of Language in International Knowledge Transfer

Zusammenfassung

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In this article, the authors examine the effects of language on the transfer of knowledge within multinational companies. They unbundle language from the culture box and use the basic communication model to show how language affects all stages. They also examine a range of influences -- cost, transfer medium, teams, networks, trust, staff movements and motivation -- on international knowledge transfer to demonstrate how language effects their operation. They develop the concept of language as a "reconfiguration agent" to explain its extensive, pervasive, on-going and system-altering characteristics.

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Auszug

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The Importance of Language in International Knowledge Transfer

Introduction

As companies expand internationally and their foreign operations become more dispersed, language demands increasingly become an issue in inter-unit knowledge transfers. This seems axiomatic, yet it is surprisingly ignored in the broad sweep of international business research on knowledge transfer. Articles in the 2004 focused issue of the Journal of International Business Studies, and the 2005 special issue of Management International Review - both on knowledge and knowledge transfer in multinationals - are indicative. This neglect is incongruous given the simultaneous rise of research interest in subsidiary management and inter-unit resource and knowledge transfers (e.g., Birkinshaw/Hood 1998, Foss/Pedersen 2002).

This is not to say that language has been ignored. The frequently cited article on international knowledge transfer by Kogut and Zander (1992) recognises that a shared language enhances communication and exchanges in general. Hedlund (1999, p. 11) pointed out: "For knowledge to be exchanged and combined, there has to be a shared medium of communication. People have to be able to make sense to and of each other. One aspect of this is shared spoken general language". Nahapiet and Ghoshal (1998, p. 254) consider that a shared language may provide "a common conceptual apparatus for evaluating the likely benefits of exchange and combination". In this context, language is viewed as a component of corporate identity that enables a multinational to transmit and share knowledge (e.g., Phene/Madhok/Liu 2005). Other writers recognise the existence of professional language and company jargon (what Argote, McEvily and Reagans (2003) term 'short-hand' and 'home-made' language), but this is not taken any further, especially into a multiple foreign language context. Generally speaking, though, in the investigation of international knowledge transfer, language is only hinted at or given fleeting reference. Those citing Kogut and Zander's work tend to treat language as a given, or conveniently ignore it.

In the broad knowledge management literature, the international aspect receives little coverage, so it is not surprising that language aspects are somewhat ignored. For example, Cohen and Levinthal (1990) include a shared language as part of prior related knowledge when defining their concept of absorptive capacity, but there is scant elaboration on this issue. Even Nonaka's much cited work that draws on research on Japanese firms is curiously quiet on the impact that language issues have on communication and knowledge flows (e.g., Nonaka/Takeuchi 1995).

Recognition of the role of language has been emerging in other fields. Apart from the obvious areas of communication and linguistics, researchers in organization behaviour have shown a renewed interest in language related issues, as exemplified by a 2004 special issue of the Academy of Management Review on language and organization. There is also evidence of a movement of language and communication research into areas of in...

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