A Study of Knowledge Transfer and Organizational Culture in Two Project-Intensive IT Organizations

Abstract

Facilitating knowledge transfer in organizations has proven to be challenging, and one of the most prominent obstacles for successful knowledge transfer is the organization’s culture. Therefore, the core objective of this study was to investigate how organizational culture affects the knowledge transfer process in project-intensive IT organizations. We conducted a multiple-case study with in-depth semi-structured interviews from two IT consultancy companies. We identified five main categories of factors within organizational culture that have a significant effect on knowledge transfer in project-intensive IT companies: organizational values, relationships and communication, leadership, project characteristics, and individual factors. The role of organizational values, cooperation, and leaders’ behavior are all crucial for successful knowledge transfer. Organizational values must support knowledge transfer. Cooperation creates the best environment for knowledge transfer, and leaders must be aware of their behavior.