Intergenerational Knowledge Sharing in Family Firms: Case-based Evidence From the New Zealand Wine Industry

Date
2017-01
Authors
Woodfield, P
Husted, K
Supervisor
Item type
Journal Article
Degree name
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Elsevier
Abstract

This paper examines intergenerational knowledge sharing within family firms in traditional industries. We position our analysis against the background of the knowledge-based view of the firm and utilize knowledge creation theory and perspectives on knowledge sharing behavior to analyse how knowledge is shared in an organization. We employ a multiple case study approach and use the New Zealand wine industry as the context of our analysis. Our study extends family business and knowledge sharing literature by challenging traditional views of incumbent-successor relationships. We reason that family business literature is sympathetic to the senior generation nurturing the next generation while leaving a gap in our understanding of how the next generation contributes knowledge to the firm. We suggest that the knowledge bases of the senior and next generation are different in terms of how they are generated and the relative weight of tacit and explicit knowledge they contain. We also argue that knowledge sharing in family firms is bidirectional leading to innovative outcomes and change.

Description
Keywords
Family business; Intergenerational knowledge sharing; Bidirectional knowledge sharing; Knowledge-based view; Wine industry; New Zealand
Source
Journal of Family Business Strategy, 8(1), 57-69.
Rights statement
Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. This is the author’s version of a work that was accepted for publication in (see Citation). Changes resulting from the publishing process, such as peer review, editing, corrections, structural formatting, and other quality control mechanisms may not be reflected in this document. Changes may have been made to this work since it was submitted for publication. The definitive version was published in (see Citation). The original publication is available at (see Publisher's Version).