The use of knowledge transfer mechanisms in franchising

✍ Scribed by Nina Gorovaia; Josef Windsperger

• Book ID: 102448358
• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 2010
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 164 KB
• Volume: 17
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 1092-4604
• DOI: 10.1002/kpm.337

✦ Synopsis

Abstract

In this paper, we try to explain the use of knowledge transfer mechanisms in franchising firms by applying the knowledge‐based view of the firm that integrates results from the information richness theory. Starting from the information richness theory we argue that the degree of tacitness of system‐specific knowledge determines the information richness of the knowledge transfer mechanisms of franchising firms. We examine the following hypotheses: (1) the franchisor uses more knowledge transfer mechanisms with a lower degree of information richness (such as email, intra‐ and internet), if the tacitness of system‐specific knowledge is low, and (2) the franchisor uses more knowledge transfer mechanisms with a higher degree of information richness (such as training, seminar, meetings, visits), if the tacitness of system‐specific knowledge is high. We test these hypotheses by using data from 83 franchising firms in the Austrian franchise sector. The data provide partial support for the hypotheses. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.