Organizational values and knowledge sharing in multinational corporations: The Danisco case

Abstract

While the existing knowledge sharing literature, in general, emphasizes the link between organizational culture and knowledge sharing, it remains rather ambiguous about how certain components of the former may shape the latter. This issue is especially relevant to multinational corporations (MNCs), which typically consist of multiple organizational (sub)cultures and whose existence depends, to a great extent, on sharing knowledge across borders. The present study examines the influence of one key component of organizational culture – organizational values – on knowledge sharing. From 2003 to 2007, we studied Danisco, a Danish MNC, to examine the processes of espousement, enactment and internalization of a core organizational value – dialogue. In particular, we studied how these processes influence knowledge sharing behavior among employees. We collected original empirical data using content analysis and a questionnaire-based survey among 219 managers and employees in 11 countries in four continents. We argue that knowledge sharing behavior is not influenced by organizational values per se but by the degree of their internalization by organizational members.