Effect of organisatinal culture on knowledge transfer in professional services firms

Abstract

Professional services firms, with their product being the knowledge embedded in their employees, poses a unique challenge in having a sustainable, competitive advantage. The transfer and reutilisation of this knowledge leads to increased performance, growth and the ultimate survival of a firm and therefore, companies spend billions of dollars annually in an attempt to promote knowledge transfer and sharing. In this research, a quantitative study was conducted to understand the effect of organisational culture on knowledge transfer, specifically within a professional services firm. A survey in the form of an online questionnaire was utilised to gather the data from different professional services firms in South Africa. Organisational culture was measured using Hofstede’s six cultural dimension framework, whereas knowledge transfer was assessed on three levels including the frequency and involvement of an individual, implicit and explicit knowledge transfer. The data was statistically analysed and conclusions were drawn from the results. It was found that certain organisational culture aspects can influence knowledge transfer within professional services firms. Management can therefore, depending on what kind of knowledge transfer is desired within a specific professional services firm, promote certain cultures to enhance this process, which can then increase the overall growth and performance of the firm.