The Mediating Role of Tacit Knowledgel in Knolwedge Recontexualisation by Returnee Entrepreneurs

Abstract

Recontextualising knowledge is the key to effective knowledge transfer across different business contexts. While knowledge recontextualization has been explored in intra-firm knowledge transfer within multinational enterprises, few studies have extended the concept of knowledge recontextualization to returnee mobility - an effective international knowledge transfer mechanism by returnee entrepreneurs. Using our own surveyed data of 91 Vietnamese returnee entrepreneurs, this study examines under what institutional conditions and individual characteristics returnee entrepreneurs can successfully recontextualize brought back international knowledge and enhance firm performance when operating in their home country. We found that the transfer of tacit knowledge plays an important mediating role to achieve the effective knowledge recontextualization. Keeping home embeddedness while living aboard is critical to help returnees fit back to home country while too much or too little host embeddedness can harm their knowledge recontextualization back to home market.