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Knowledge leakage, an Achilles’ heel of knowledge sharing

Author

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  • Ali Vafaei-Zadeh

    (Universiti Sains Malaysia)

  • Haniruzila Hanifah

    (Universiti Sains Malaysia)

  • Behzad Foroughi

    (Universiti Sains Malaysia)

  • Yashar Salamzadeh

    (Universiti Sains Malaysia)

Abstract

In today’s knowledge-based economy, organizations are progressively accumulating the knowledge, which they required for innovation, from outside their boundaries. Having accepted the important role of knowledge sharing in innovation performance, it is disappointing to note that the potential harmful impacts of accidental and intentional knowledge leakage on this relationship are still neglected or undeveloped in the literature. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the impact of knowledge sharing and entrepreneurial orientation on organization’s innovation performance, considering intentional and accidental leakage of knowledge. Data were collected using a structured questionnaire from 151 manufacturing SMEs operating in Malaysia, listed in Federation of Malaysian Manufacturers (FMM) directory of 2017. Purposive sampling technique was used in this study and data were analyzed using partial least squares technique. The findings of this study show that there is a positive and significant relationship between entrepreneurial orientation and knowledge sharing (R2 = 0.140). Moreover, knowledge sharing and entrepreneurial orientation have a positive and significant effect on innovation performance (R2 = 0.500). In addition, the results show that accidental knowledge leakage negatively moderates the relationship between knowledge sharing and innovation performance. However, accidental knowledge leakage has no moderating effect in the same relationship. This research is important due to the increasing complexity and the networked nature of innovation and high risk of knowledge leakage in this environment. The findings of this study contribute to the understanding of the potentially positive and negative issues related to entrepreneurial orientation, knowledge sharing, innovation performance, and knowledge leakage, which have thus far remained empirically under-researched.

Suggested Citation

  • Ali Vafaei-Zadeh & Haniruzila Hanifah & Behzad Foroughi & Yashar Salamzadeh, 2019. "Knowledge leakage, an Achilles’ heel of knowledge sharing," Eurasian Business Review, Springer;Eurasia Business and Economics Society, vol. 9(4), pages 445-461, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:eurasi:v:9:y:2019:i:4:d:10.1007_s40821-019-00128-7
    DOI: 10.1007/s40821-019-00128-7
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Ge, Shuang & Liu, Xielin, 2022. "The role of knowledge creation, absorption and acquisition in determining national competitive advantage," Technovation, Elsevier, vol. 112(C).
    2. Mariia Molodchik & Carlos Jardon & Ekaterina Yachmeneva, 2021. "Multilevel analysis of knowledge sources for product innovation in Russian SMEs," Eurasian Business Review, Springer;Eurasia Business and Economics Society, vol. 11(2), pages 247-266, June.
    3. Job Rodrigo-Alarcón & Gloria Parra-Requena & María José Ruiz-Ortega, 2020. "Cognitive social capital and absorptive capacity as antecedents of entrepreneurial orientation: a configurational approach," Eurasian Business Review, Springer;Eurasia Business and Economics Society, vol. 10(4), pages 493-517, December.

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