The Bridging Role of Expatriates and Inpatriates in Knowledge Transfer in Multinational Corporations
基于对13个国家800多家子公司的调查，研究了外派和内派人员在不同管理职能中如何促进总部与子公司之间的知识转移，发现外派人员普遍提升职能特定的知识转移，而两类人员的贡献因知识流向而异。
Drawing on the knowledge‐based view of the firm, this article provides the first empirical study that explicitly investigates the relationship between different categories of international assignees and knowledge transfer in multinational corporations (MNCs). Specifically, we examine (1) the extent to which expatriate presence in different functional areas is related to knowledge transfer from and to headquarters in these functions and (2) the extent to which different categories of international assignees (expatriates vs. inpatriates) contribute to knowledge transfer from and to headquarters. We base our investigation on a large‐scale survey, encompassing data from more than 800 subsidiaries of MNCs in 13 countries. By disaggregating the role of knowledge transfer across management functions, directions of knowledge transfer, and type of international assignees, we find that (1) expatriate presence generally increases function‐specific knowledge transfer from and, to a lesser extent, to headquarters; and that (2) the relevance of expatriates and former inpatriates varies for knowledge flows between headquarters and subsidiaries. Additionally, we discuss implications for research and practice, in particular regarding different management functions and different forms of international assignments, and provide suggestions for future research. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.