Knowledge Transfer in German Hospitals

Abstract

Purpose – This article deals with the question: How can individual knowledge transfer of physicians be supported in hospitals? We concentrate at the individual level of knowledge transfer and distinguish between knowledge providing and knowledge obtaining as two different actions of knowledge transfer. We also empirically test influencing factors like organizational opportunities, organizational culture, and intrinsic motivation on the two knowledge transfer actions. Design/methodology/approach – We follow a sequential mixed method research approach and use qualitative and quantitative methods. In 2006, we distributed 667 questionnaires to physicians for our quantitative study and 192 usable questionnaires were returned. The distribution of age, gender, and the size of the hospitals reflects the situation in hospitals in North Rhine-Westphalia (Germany) and is representative in this respect. Findings – The results show that some organizational opportunities, organizational culture, and intrinsic motivation support physicians in providing and obtaining knowledge. Interestingly, these factors support providing and obtaining knowledge in different ways. Therefore, providing and obtaining knowledge have to be managed in different ways. Research limitations/implications – The survey only sheds light on the situation in German hospitals. To prove if our findings can be generalized, it is necessary to conduct additional research. Originality/value – The originality of this paper is that it investigates knowledge transfer at the individual level and empirically shows that physicians are motivated by different factors when they obtain and provide knowledge. Although our study is about physicians working in hospitals we think this idea is relevant also beyond this setting.