Purpose

It is largely acknowledged that arbitrating the flow of knowledge can help firms strategically leverage tacit and explicit internal knowledge. However, despite the apparent scholarly and managerial acceptance of the criticality of the flow of knowledge between various stakeholders, the academic understanding of knowledge arbitrage remains coarse-grained. There are practically no empirical insights available to unravel the consequences of firms’ knowledge arbitrage choices regarding rewards and risks. This study aims to identify the risks that emerge as firms channel the flow of knowledge from surplus to deficit areas within organizational boundaries. To this end, the authors investigate several subsumed subprocesses in knowledge arbitrage to map the associated risks.

Design/methodology/approach

This study used an exploratory qualitative approach to examine the risks that emerge as firms attempt to support knowledge flows within their organizational boundaries. The data were collected through open-ended essays via an online research platform from 45 full-time employees of firms operating in different sectors. The collected data were analyzed inductively through open, axial and selective coding.

Findings

The research findings identified three key subprocesses of knowledge arbitrage: knowledge diffusion, knowledge brokering and knowledge absorption. These subprocesses are susceptible to various risks arising the form of channels, champions, sharers and receivers of knowledge flows. In general, the study showed that a firm’s decision regarding knowledge flows, such as structured or random flows, or the presence or absence of designated coordinators to broker the flow carries specific risks for both sharers and receivers. In particular, while the risks of knowledge hiding, misinformation and disinformation manifest in all three subprocesses, low employee engagement, loss of knowledge and information overload also emerged as key risks in any two of the three subprocesses.

Originality/value

This study offers valuable insights by uncovering the hitherto unexplored risks in intrafirm knowledge arbitrage. Given that knowledge is a crucial organizational tool for driving performance, innovation and competitive advantage, understanding the risks associated with intrafirm arbitrated knowledge flows can help firms anticipate and mitigate the associated adverse consequences. The findings make a novel contribution by offering (a) a comprehensive categorization of the risks associated with knowledge arbitrage rooted in processes, people and structures and (b) a macro overview of knowledge arbitrage risks associated with the processes of knowledge diffusion, knowledge brokering and knowledge absorption.

中文翻译：

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知识套利：有哪些风险，它们重要吗？

 目的

人们普遍认为，仲裁知识流动可以帮助企业战略性地利用隐性和显性的内部知识。然而，尽管学术界和管理界显然承认不同利益相关者之间知识流动的重要性，但学术界对知识套利的理解仍然很粗粒度。实际上没有任何实证见解可以揭示企业关于回报和风险的知识套利选择的后果。本研究旨在确定企业在组织边界内将知识从盈余区域引导到赤字区域时出现的风险。为此，作者研究了知识套利中的几个包含的子流程，以绘制相关风险图。

设计/方法论/途径

本研究采用探索性定性方法来检验企业试图支持其组织边界内的知识流动时出现的风险。这些数据是通过在线研究平台从不同行业公司的 45 名全职员工通过开放式论文收集的。通过开放式、轴向式和选择性编码对收集的数据进行归纳分析。

 发现

研究结果确定了知识套利的三个关键子过程：知识扩散、知识经纪和知识吸收。这些子流程容易受到知识流渠道、支持者、共享者和接收者形式产生的各种风险的影响。总的来说，研究表明，公司关于知识流的决策，例如结构化或随机流，或者是否有指定协调员来协调知识流，会给共享者和接收者带来特定的风险。特别是，虽然知识隐藏、错误信息和虚假信息的风险在所有三个子流程中都存在，但员工敬业度低、知识丢失和信息过载也成为这三个子流程中任何两个子流程中的主要风险。

 原创性/价值

这项研究通过揭示公司内部知识套利中迄今为止尚未探索的风险，提供了有价值的见解。鉴于知识是推动绩效、创新和竞争优势的重要组织工具，了解与公司内部仲裁知识流相关的风险可以帮助公司预测和减轻相关的不利后果。研究结果做出了新颖的贡献，提供了（a）对植根于流程、人员和结构的知识套利相关风险的全面分类，以及（b）对与知识传播、知识经纪和知识传播过程相关的知识套利风险的宏观概述。知识吸收。