Cross-cultural Knowledge Management (Routledge Advances in Management and Business Studies)

Knowledge has become increasingly complex and important for organizations. Despite the growing recognition of the factors that enable knowledge management in organizations, our understanding about the unique cross-cultural challenges is rather limited. In particular, how cultural differences influence people’s participation in knowledge management activities still remains unclear.

By conducting qualitative case studies and analytic hierarchical process (AHP) with multinational firms in Brazil and China, this book addresses the broader issue of cultural influences on knowledge management. Specific emphasis has been put on their indigenous cultural norms, including guanxi, face and jeitinho and the impacts they have on knowledge sharing. Drawing on an integrative knowledge management model, the results from AHP analysis reveal how some cultural-specific factors related to people, process and knowledge can affect the effectiveness of socialization, externalization and internalization processes in a production context.

The book will be useful to both management academics and business practitioners. While academics will gain insight into the intricacies of knowledge sharing activities in production organizations, managers will find some useful conceptual tools to resolve the challenges of knowledge management in a cross-cultural context.

Jacky Hong is Professor of Management at the University of Macau. He received his PhD from Lancaster University. His research interests fall into the areas of organizational learning and knowledge management with publications in Journal of Management Studies, Organization Studies and others.

Jorge Muniz Jr. is Professor of Operations Management at the Sao Paulo State University. He received his PhD from University of Sao Paulo. His research interests fall into the areas of organizational and knowledge management with publications in Journal of Knowledge Management and others.