The mediating effect of organisations' dynamic capabilities on tacit and explicit knowledge sharing processes in virtual enterprises

This study examines the dynamics of knowledge sharing among firms that are engaged in a special case of collaborative networks known as Virtual Enterprises. Virtual enterprises use information technology to manage the constraints imposed on business ventures by space (geography), organisational structure, and time-barred operations. The study adopts the Socialisation-Externalisation-Combination-Internalisation (SECI) process-based model of knowledge sharing developed by Nonaka and Takeuchi (1995) to operationalise the processes for tacit and explicit knowledge sharing. Using survey data collected from 202 firms with current or past virtual enterprise experience, the study set out to examine the mediating role of three organisational dynamic capabilities that have been implicated in previous studies as antecedent knowledge sharing meta-routines in collaborative networks, namely; Absorptive Capacity, Transactive Memory Systems, and Organisational Interoperability. Nine hypotheses were proposed to examine the mediating role played by these three dynamic capabilities on the knowledge sharing processes for achieving three key knowledge sharing outcomes - innovation, adaptation, and replication - in virtual enterprises. Two additional hypotheses were put forward to examine the interactions between the processes for tacit knowledge sharing (socialisation and externalisation) and explicit knowledge sharing (combination and internalisation) respectively. The survey data was analysed using structural equation modeling. The findings showed that the three dynamic capabilities played varying mediation roles in the process of tacit and explicit knowledge sharing for innovation, adaptation, and replication. The interaction effects for both tacit and explicit knowledge sharing processes on innovation was significant but non-significant results were obtained for the interaction effects on adaptation and replication. The study makes an important theoretical contribution by reconceptualising the somewhat static SECI model of knowledge sharing and incorporating a gestalt of dynamic capabilities to account for the dynamism that is required for knowledge sharing in such collaborative ventures. Dynamic capabilities have been conceptualized in the literature as cumulative, experience-based meta-routines that enable firms to improve their ordinary capabilities. This study contributes to practice by demonstrating the role of a gestalt of dynamic capabilities in enabling effective knowledge sharing processes in collaborations, which could inform the assessment of potential VE partners to select those with dynamic capabilities that either complement or augment those of focal firms in collaborative ventures.