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Exploring the Role of National Culture on Knowledge Practices: A Comparison between Spain and the UK

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 January 2013

Juan Gabriel Cegarra-Navarro ,
Mª Eugenia Sánchez Vidal  and
David Cegarra-Leiva
Juan Gabriel Cegarra-Navarro*
Affiliation:
Universidad Politécnica de Cartagena (Spain)
Mª Eugenia Sánchez Vidal
Affiliation:
Universidad Politécnica de Cartagena (Spain)
David Cegarra-Leiva
Affiliation:
Universidad de Murcia (Spain)
*
Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Juan Gabriel Cegarra-Navarro. Universidad Politécnica de Cartagena. Facultad de Ciencias de la Empresa, C/ Real, n°3, 30201 Cartagena, Murcia (Spain). Phone: +34-968325788. E-mail: juan.cegarra@upct.es
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Abstract

In the context of a competitive knowledge-based economy, the knowledge provided by a firm's founders is one of the most important measures of success. This paper aims to identify the role of national culture on a founder's knowledge practices in a modern organisation. Using data collected from 258 Small to Medium sized Enterprises (SMES) in the Spanish and UK telecommunication industries (130 from Spain and 128 from the UK), we propose three knowledge management practices to be analysed; namely transfer, transformation and open-mindedness. This paper provides evidence that while Spanish SMES are more positively associated with higher levels of transfer and transformation of knowledge, UK SMES are more positively associated with higher levels of open-mindedness. Hence, this study serves as an important contribution to the small amount of literature currently available in this field by examining different practices that can be explained by the cultural characteristics of both countries.

En el contexto actual de la economía del conocimiento, el conocimiento que proporciona el fundador de la empresa es uno de los factores más importantes de éxito para las organizaciones. Este trabajo pretende identificar el papel que juega la cultura nacional en las prácticas de conocimiento de los fundadores en las pequeñas y medianas empresas (PYMES). Para cumplir con este objetivo se han empleado los datos pertenecientes a 258 PYMES de España y del Reino Unido del sector de las telecomunicaciones (130 empresas españolas y 128 empresas británicas) y se han seleccionado tres prácticas de gestión de conocimiento denominadas transferencia, transformación y mentalidad abierta. Este artículo sugiere que mientras las PYMES españolas están más positivamente asociadas con transferencia y transformación de conocimiento, las PYMES británicas presentan valores más altos de mentalidad abierta. Por tanto, este trabajo contribuye a la literatura examinando estas diferencias en materia de gestión de conocimiento que pueden ser explicadas bajo la perspectiva de las diferencias culturales que existen entre ambos países.

Keywords

national cultureknowledge managementfoundersopen-mindednessSpainUKcultura nacionalgestión del conocimientofundadoresmentalidad abiertaEspañaGran Bretaña
Type
Research Article
Information
The Spanish Journal of Psychology , Volume 14 , Issue 2 , November 2011 , pp. 808 - 819
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2011

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