Anne Burmeister

A practical perspective on repatriate knowledge transfer

Purpose - – The purpose of this paper is to identify organizational support practices that facilitate repatriate knowledge transfer (RKT) in order to overcome the lack of strategic utilization of repatriate knowledge. Design/methodology/approach - – In Study 1, 134 repatriates responded to an online questionnaire and evaluated the organizational support that their organizations provided to facilitate RKT. In Study 2, 22 repatriates and human resource managers were interviewed. Interviewees were asked to assess to which extent the use of seven high-performance work practices – selection and staffing, training, career development, job design, performance appraisal, compensation and rewards, and internal communication – before, during, and after international assignments facilitated RKT. They also explained how these practices were implemented in their organizations. Findings - – The results of Study 1 showed that organizations primarily provide administrative repatriation support, while more strategic and knowledge transfer-related support is missing. Study 2 indicated that certain support practices are more important for the utilization of repatriate knowledge than others. Knowledge-related debriefing sessions after repatriation and targeted internal communication mechanisms were seen as important enablers of RKT. In contrast, selection and financial rewards were not seen as relevant facilitators of RKT. Originality/value - – Research on RKT reports that organizations still lack the right tools to harvest repatriate knowledge. This study indicates which organizational support practices appear to be most important for the facilitation of RKT, and provides some guidance regarding their implementation.

The micro-processes during repatriate knowledge transfer: the repatriates’ perspective

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to add a process perspective to the literature on repatriate knowledge transfer (RKT) and to understand how the knowledge transfer process unfolds in the repatriation context. Thus, this qualitative study uses existing knowledge transfer process models to assess their applicability to the context of repatriation and explain the micro-processes during RKT. Design/methodology/approach – To provide a rich understanding of these processes from the repatriate perspective, critical incidents reported by 29 German and US American repatriates were content-analyzed. Findings – The findings are summarized in a proposed RKT process model, which describes the roles and knowledge transfer-related activities of repatriates, recipients and supervisors as well as their interaction during four transfer phases: assessment, initiation, execution and evaluation. Research limitations/implications – The experiences of repatriates from different geographic areas as well as the perspectives...

The micro-processes during repatriate knowledge transfer

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to add a process perspective to the literature on repatriate knowledge transfer (RKT) and to understand how the knowledge transfer process unfolds in the repatriation context. Thus, this qualitative study uses existing knowledge transfer process models to assess their applicability to the context of repatriation and explain the micro-processes during RKT. Design/methodology/approach – To provide a rich understanding of these processes from the repatriate perspective, critical incidents reported by 29 German and US American repatriates were content-analyzed. Findings – The findings are summarized in a proposed RKT process model, which describes the roles and knowledge transfer-related activities of repatriates, recipients and supervisors as well as their interaction during four transfer phases: assessment, initiation, execution and evaluation. Research limitations/implications – The experiences of repatriates from different geographic areas as well as the perspectives...

Being perceived as a knowledge sender or knowledge receiver: A multistudy investigation of the effect of age on knowledge transfer

As a result of demographic changes, workforces are becoming older and more age diverse. While interactions between workers from different age groups can provide opportunities for mutual learning through bidirectional knowledge transfer, research has yet to investigate how age influences knowledge transfer between age-diverse colleagues. Building on the organizational theory of age effects, we conducted two studies to examine how age influenced the roles assigned to individuals in knowledge transfer processes, that is, whether they were perceived as knowledge senders or knowledge recipients. In Study 1, we used an experimental vignette design with 450 employees to assess how age affected perceived ability and motivation to share and receive knowledge. Further, we tested the extent to which trustworthiness moderated these relationships. In Study 2, we extended these findings using a dyadic research design with data from 53 age-diverse knowledge transfer dyads. We examined through which mechanisms the age of one’s colleague affected one’s knowledge transfer behaviour. We found that the age of one’s colleague had a positive effect on one’s knowledge receiving behaviour and a negative effect on one’s knowledge sharing behaviour. Further, perceived ability to receive knowledge and perceived motivation to share knowledge mediated these effects.

Being perceived as a knowledge sender or knowledge receiver

As a result of demographic changes, workforces are becoming older and more age diverse. While interactions between workers from different age groups can provide opportunities for mutual learning through bidirectional knowledge transfer, research has yet to investigate how age influences knowledge transfer between age-diverse colleagues. Building on the organizational theory of age effects, we conducted two studies to examine how age influenced the roles assigned to individuals in knowledge transfer processes, that is, whether they were perceived as knowledge senders or knowledge recipients. In Study 1, we used an experimental vignette design with 450 employees to assess how age affected perceived ability and motivation to share and receive knowledge. Further, we tested the extent to which trustworthiness moderated these relationships. In Study 2, we extended these findings using a dyadic research design with data from 53 age-diverse knowledge transfer dyads. We examined through which mechanisms the age of one’s colleague affected one’s knowledge transfer behaviour. We found that the age of one’s colleague had a positive effect on one’s knowledge receiving behaviour and a negative effect on one’s knowledge sharing behaviour. Further, perceived ability to receive knowledge and perceived motivation to share knowledge mediated these effects.

Karrieremanagement von Talenten

In diesem Kapitel fokussieren wir uns auf einige zentrale Themen, die beim Karrieremanagement von Talenten eine wichtige Rolle spielen. Zuerst gehen wir auf aktuelle Karriereformen und deren Implikationen fur das Karriere- und Talent Management ein. Danach wird die Wichtigkeit der Berucksichtigung der Balance zwischen Arbeit und Familie fur erfolgreiches Karrieremanagement naher erlautert. Im letzten Teil beschreiben wir ausgewahlte Herausforderungen der alternden Gesellschaft fur das Karrieremanagement.

Karrieremanagement von Talenten - Bedeutung und Zukunftsperspektiven des Talent Managements aus Sicht der Wissenschaft

In diesem Kapitel fokussieren wir uns auf einige zentrale Themen, die beim Karrieremanagement von Talenten eine wichtige Rolle spielen. Zuerst gehen wir auf aktuelle Karriereformen und deren Implikationen fur das Karriere- und Talent Management ein. Danach wird die Wichtigkeit der Berucksichtigung der Balance zwischen Arbeit und Familie fur erfolgreiches Karrieremanagement naher erlautert. Im letzten Teil beschreiben wir ausgewahlte Herausforderungen der alternden Gesellschaft fur das Karrieremanagement.

Knowledge transfer in age-diverse co-worker dyads in China and Germany: How and When do Age-Inclusive Human Resource Practices have an Effect?

Knowledge transfer between age-diverse employees is gaining importance because of demographic change. We took a relational perspective to examine the indirect effect of human resource practices on knowledge transfer through age-diversity climate in age-diverse coworker dyads, and contextualized our model by testing country difference and dyadic age difference as moderators. We used data from 159 age-diverse coworker dyads from China and Germany to test our hypotheses. We found that perceived age-inclusive human resource practices were positively associated with knowledge sharing and receiving through age-diversity climate. However, we did not find support for our hypothesis that these indirect effects differed when comparing China and Germany as examples of collectivist and individualist countries. Furthermore, we did not identify the proposed moderating effects of dyadic age difference as the indirect effects of age-inclusive human resource practices were not significantly different for age-diverse coworker dyads in which dyadic age difference was high (vs. low).

The Influence of Motivation, Opportunity, Ability, and Tacitness on Repatriate Knowledge Transfer

This paper examines the dyadic aspect of repatriate knowledge transfer using time-lagged multi-source data from 101 knowledge transfer dyads comprised of repatriates as knowledge senders and domest...

Repatriate Knowledge Transfer - Erste Ergebnisse eines multinationalen Forschungsprojekts

Wissen ist seit langem als zentrale Ressource im kompetitiven und dynamischen Wirtschaftsumfeld anerkannt, insbesondere fur die nachhaltige Sicherstellung von Wettbewerbsvorteilen (Drucker, 1969; 1992). Zudem fuhrt die heute weit verbreitete dezentrale Organisation von Unternehmen dazu, dass der unternehmensinterne Wissenstransfer uber nationale Grenzen hinweg und der Auf- und Ausbau einer global versierten Belegschaft an Wichtigkeit gewinnt (Stahl, Chua, Caligiuri, Cerdin, & Taniguchi, 2009). Eine weit verbreitete Moglichkeit um diesen Herausforderungen zu begegnen, ist die internationale Entsendung von Mitarbeitern, da Menschen die Fahigkeit haben, Wissen dem jeweiligen und einem sich verandernden Kontext anzupassen (Welch & Steen, 2013).