IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/jbrese/v67y2014i2p190-199.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Why do firms seek to share human resource management knowledge? The importance of inter-firm networks

Author

Listed:
  • Martin-Rios, Carlos

Abstract

This study untangles the social processes and inter-firm mechanisms underlying human resource management (HRM) knowledge networks. The research questions serve to advance understanding of why HRM knowledge flows between firms under contractual relationships and in the absence of formal relationships. The study analyzes data from a complete network of 51 high-technology firms located in a science and technology park to report the structural properties and relational dimensions of inter-firm flow of HRM knowledge. The results from this social network analysis show that the firms in the study actively engage in the sharing of HRM knowledge. Specifically, the results not only indicate the preeminence of formal ties but also of relational factors relating to firm legitimacy, prestige, and collaborative interaction. Participation in inter-firm knowledge networks appears to be an effective tool for obtaining HRM knowledge as well as for enhancing legitimacy and prestige between firms and developing trust and reciprocity within collaborative relationships.

Suggested Citation

  • Martin-Rios, Carlos, 2014. "Why do firms seek to share human resource management knowledge? The importance of inter-firm networks," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 67(2), pages 190-199.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jbrese:v:67:y:2014:i:2:p:190-199
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jbusres.2012.10.004
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0148296312003049
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.jbusres.2012.10.004?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Bruce Kogut, 1988. "Joint ventures: Theoretical and empirical perspectives," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 9(4), pages 319-332, July.
    2. Sumantra Ghoshal & Harry Korine & Gabriel Szulanski, 1994. "Interunit Communication in Multinational Corporations," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 40(1), pages 96-110, January.
    3. Anne Parmigiani & Miguel Rivera-Santos, 2011. "Clearing a Path Through the Forest : A Meta-Review of Interorganizational Relationships," Post-Print hal-02313129, HAL.
    4. Christine Oliver, 1997. "Sustainable competitive advantage: combining institutional and resource‐based views," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 18(9), pages 697-713, October.
    5. Motohiro Morishima, 1995. "Embedding HRM in a Social Context," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 33(4), pages 617-640, December.
    6. Mark Easterby‐Smith & Marjorie A. Lyles & Eric W. K. Tsang, 2008. "Inter‐Organizational Knowledge Transfer: Current Themes and Future Prospects," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 45(4), pages 677-690, June.
    7. Oliver, Amalya L., 0. "On the duality of competition and collaboration: network-based knowledge relations in the biotechnology industry," Scandinavian Journal of Management, Elsevier, vol. 20(1-2), pages 151-171, March.
    8. Stephen P. Borgatti & Rob Cross, 2003. "A Relational View of Information Seeking and Learning in Social Networks," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 49(4), pages 432-445, April.
    9. David J. Teece & Gary Pisano & Amy Shuen, 1997. "Dynamic capabilities and strategic management," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 18(7), pages 509-533, August.
    10. Bruce Kogut, 2000. "The network as knowledge: generative rules and the emergence of structure," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 21(3), pages 405-425, March.
    11. Alessia Sammarra & Lucio Biggiero, 2008. "Heterogeneity and Specificity of Inter‐Firm Knowledge Flows in Innovation Networks," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 45(4), pages 800-829, June.
    12. Gary Hamel, 1991. "Competition for competence and interpartner learning within international strategic alliances," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 12(S1), pages 83-103, June.
    13. Hakansson, Hakan & Ford, David, 2002. "How should companies interact in business networks?," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 55(2), pages 133-139, February.
    14. Johnston, Wesley J. & Peters, Linda D. & Gassenheimer, Jule, 2006. "Questions about network dynamics: Characteristics, structures, and interactions," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 59(8), pages 945-954, August.
    15. Ron Boschma & Anne L. J. ter Wal, 2007. "Knowledge Networks and Innovative Performance in an Industrial District: The Case of a Footwear District in the South of Italy," Industry and Innovation, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 14(2), pages 177-199.
    16. Wouter Stam, 2010. "Industry Event Participation and Network Brokerage among Entrepreneurial Ventures," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 47(4), pages 625-653, June.
    17. Daniel Z. Levin & Rob Cross, 2004. "The Strength of Weak Ties You Can Trust: The Mediating Role of Trust in Effective Knowledge Transfer," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 50(11), pages 1477-1490, November.
    18. Anders Malmberg & Dominic Power, 2005. "(How) Do (Firms in) Clusters Create Knowledge?," Industry and Innovation, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 12(4), pages 409-431.
    19. Rank, Charlotte & Rank, Olaf & Wald, Andreas, 2006. "Integrated Versus Core-Periphery Structures in Regional Biotechnology Networks," European Management Journal, Elsevier, vol. 24(1), pages 73-85, February.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Martin-Rios, Carlos & Parga-Dans, Eva, 2016. "Service response to economic decline: Innovation actions for achieving strategic renewal," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 69(8), pages 2890-2900.
    2. Carlos Martin-Rios, 2016. "Innovative management control systems in knowledge work: a middle manager perspective," Journal of Management Control: Zeitschrift für Planung und Unternehmenssteuerung, Springer, vol. 27(2), pages 181-204, May.
    3. Niclas Erhardt & Carlos Martin-Rios, 2016. "Knowledge Management Systems in Sports: The Role of Organisational Structure, Tacit and Explicit Knowledge," Journal of Information & Knowledge Management (JIKM), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 15(02), pages 1-21, June.
    4. Martin-Rios, Carlos & Erhardt, Niclas L. & Manev, Ivan M., 2022. "Interfirm collaboration for knowledge resources interaction among small innovative firms," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 153(C), pages 206-215.
    5. Srivastava, Mohit & Moser, Roger & Hartmann, Evi, 2018. "The networking behavior of Indian executives under environmental uncertainty abroad: An exploratory analysis," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 82(C), pages 230-245.
    6. Carlos Martin-Rios & Eva Parga-Dans & Susana Pasamar, 2019. "Innovation strategies and complementarity between innovation activities: the case of commercial archaeological firms," Service Business, Springer;Pan-Pacific Business Association, vol. 13(4), pages 695-713, December.
    7. To, Chester K.M., 2016. "Collaboration modes, preconditions, and contingencies in organizational alliance: A comparative assessment," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 69(11), pages 4737-4743.
    8. Mohammed BELAL UDDIN, 2017. "Evaluation Of Theoretical Paradigms Of Interfirm Relationship Formation," Management and Marketing Journal, University of Craiova, Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, vol. 0(1), pages 106-114, May.
    9. Adam Jabłoński, 2016. "Scalability of Sustainable Business Models in Hybrid Organizations," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 8(3), pages 1-36, February.
    10. Rubinstein, Saul & Martin-Rios, Carlos & Erhardt, Niclas & Hoffer Gittell, Jody & George, Varghese P., 2016. "Organizational responses to uncertainty in the airline industry: Changes in patterns of communication networks," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 57(C), pages 217-227.
    11. Isabel Diez-Vial & Angeles Montoro-Sanchez, 2017. "Research evolution in science parks and incubators: foundations and new trends," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 110(3), pages 1243-1272, March.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Namgyoo Park & John Mezias & Jinju Lee & Jae-Hoon Han, 2014. "Reverse knowledge diffusion: Competitive dynamics and the knowledge seeking behavior of Korean high-tech firms," Asia Pacific Journal of Management, Springer, vol. 31(2), pages 355-375, June.
    2. Haider, Sajjad & Mariotti, Francesca, 2016. "The orchestration of alliance portfolios: The role of alliance portfolio capability," Scandinavian Journal of Management, Elsevier, vol. 32(3), pages 127-141.
    3. José A. Belso-Martínez, 2015. "Resources, Governance, and Knowledge Transfer in Spanish Footwear Clusters," International Regional Science Review, , vol. 38(2), pages 202-231, April.
    4. Yoruk, Deniz E., 2019. "Dynamics of firm-level upgrading and the role of learning in networks in emerging markets," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 145(C), pages 341-369.
    5. BeomJu Park & Chang-Yang Lee, 2023. "Does R&D cooperation with competitors cause firms to invest in R&D more intensively? evidence from Korean manufacturing firms," The Journal of Technology Transfer, Springer, vol. 48(3), pages 1045-1076, June.
    6. Jeremy Galbreath & David Charles & Des Klass, 2014. "Knowledge and the Climate Change Issue: An Exploratory Study of Cluster and Extra-Cluster Effects," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 125(1), pages 11-25, November.
    7. Steffen Runge & Christian Schwens & Matthias Schulz, 2022. "The invention performance implications of coopetition: How technological, geographical, and product market overlaps shape learning and competitive tension in R&D alliances," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 43(2), pages 266-294, February.
    8. Marco-Lajara, Bartolomé & Zaragoza-Sáez, Patrocinio del Carmen & Claver-Cortés, Enrique & Úbeda-García, Mercedes, 2016. "Knowledge sources, agglomeration, and hotel performance," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 69(11), pages 4856-4861.
    9. Díez-Vial, Isabel & Montoro-Sánchez, Ángeles, 2016. "How knowledge links with universities may foster innovation: The case of a science park," Technovation, Elsevier, vol. 50, pages 41-52.
    10. Richard A. Hunt, 2017. "The Oxpecker and the Rhino: The Positive Effects of Symbiotic Mutualism on Organizational Survival," Working Papers 2017-03, Colorado School of Mines, Division of Economics and Business.
    11. Stefano Elia & Rajneesh Narula & Silvia Massini, 2015. "Disentangling the Role of Modularity and Bandwidth in Entry Mode Choice: The Case of Business Services Offshoring," John H Dunning Centre for International Business Discussion Papers jhd-dp2015-06, Henley Business School, University of Reading.
    12. Stefano Ghinoi & Riccardo Vita & Bodo Steiner & Alessandro Sinatra, 2024. "Family firm network strategies in regional clusters: evidence from Italy," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 62(1), pages 87-103, January.
    13. Foss, Nicolai J. & Pedersen, Torben, 2001. "The MNC as a Knowledge Structure: The Roles of Knowledge Sources and Organizational Instruments for Knowledge Creation and Transfer," Working Papers 12-2001, Copenhagen Business School, Department of International Economics and Management.
    14. Chengli Shu & Cuijuan Liu & Shanxing Gao & Mark Shanley, 2014. "The Knowledge Spillover Theory of Entrepreneurship in Alliances," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 38(4), pages 913-940, July.
    15. Lee, Cheng-Yu & Wang, Ming-Chao & Huang, Yen-Chih, 2015. "The double-edged sword of technological diversity in R&D alliances: Network position and learning speed as moderators," European Management Journal, Elsevier, vol. 33(6), pages 450-461.
    16. Xiaoqing Li & Yu Zheng & Catherine L. Wang, 2016. "Inter-firm collaboration in new product development in Chinese pharmaceutical companies," Asia Pacific Journal of Management, Springer, vol. 33(1), pages 165-193, March.
    17. Casanueva, Cristóbal & Gallego, Ángeles & Castro, Ignacio & Sancho, María, 2014. "Airline alliances: Mobilizing network resources," Tourism Management, Elsevier, vol. 44(C), pages 88-98.
    18. Tulin Dzhengiz, 2020. "A Literature Review of Inter-Organizational Sustainability Learning," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(12), pages 1-52, June.
    19. Blind, Knut & Mangelsdorf, Axel, 2016. "Motives to standardize: Empirical evidence from Germany," Technovation, Elsevier, vol. 48, pages 13-24.
    20. Ruiz-Ortega, María J. & García-Villaverde, Pedro M. & Parra-Requena, Gloria, 2018. "How structural embeddedness leads to pioneering orientation," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 134(C), pages 186-198.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:jbrese:v:67:y:2014:i:2:p:190-199. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/jbusres .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.