An Empirical Assessment of the Performance Impacts of IS Support for Knowledge Transfer

While a great deal has been written about how information systems (IS) can be deployed to facilitate knowledge transfer (a key knowledge management process) for performance improvements, there is little empirical evidence suggesting firms can actually derive economic returns from using IS to support knowledge transfer. This study attempted to assess the impacts of IS support for knowledge transfer on labor productivity and profitability with both survey and archival data. The potential moderating effects of firm-specific, complementary organizational resources on the performance impacts of IS support for knowledge transfer was also examined and tested. The results showed that IS support for knowledge transfer had a positive direct effect on labor productivity. Coupled with certain firm-specific, complementary organizational resources, IS support for knowledge transfer exerted a positive effect on profitability