{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,2,12]],"date-time":"2026-02-12T10:27:12Z","timestamp":1770892032898,"version":"3.50.1"},"reference-count":38,"publisher":"Emerald","issue":"5","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2015,9,14]],"date-time":"2015-09-14T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1442188800000},"content-version":"tdm","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/www.emerald.com\/insight\/site-policies"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":[],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2015,9,14]]},"abstract":"<jats:sec><jats:title content-type=\"abstract-heading\">Purpose<\/jats:title><jats:p>\u2013 The purpose of this paper is to study the obstacles to knowledge transfer between organizations belonging to different cultures by making use of the socialization\u2013externalization \u2013 combination \u2013 internalization (SECI) model. The contribution made by this paper is in the use of the SECI model for studying this type of issue. Although it recognizes the epistemological duality between tacit and explicit knowledge, the traditional literature had not adopted this theoretical structure. The explanation for this is an excessively simplistic interpretation of the SECI model in its 1995 version together with a lack of knowledge about Nonaka\u2019s more recent works \u2013 Nonaka<jats:italic>et al.<\/jats:italic>(2008).<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title content-type=\"abstract-heading\">Design\/methodology\/approach<\/jats:title><jats:p>\u2013 The authors use a comparative case study opposing a failure and a success, and rely on Latour controversies to account for the context and contradictions. One of the authors worked for five years as a mediator in these projects and adopted the reflective practitioner posture of Sch\u00f6n.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title content-type=\"abstract-heading\">Findings<\/jats:title><jats:p>\u2013 Using the SECI model is relevant for studying this question. The results obtained converge with the literature and mark the SECI\u2019s first stage \u2013 socialization \u2013 as an operation of major importance. The authors show that the failure in knowledge transfer is due to a deficit of socialization, as the lack of prolonged situations of co-presence of the actors, i.e. the lack of shared context, impedes knowledge conversion.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title content-type=\"abstract-heading\">Research limitations\/implications<\/jats:title><jats:p>\u2013 To go further, conditions of the socialization context must be better specified and developed. Second, cases in other areas than the health sector to observe the circulation of knowledge could be developed.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title content-type=\"abstract-heading\">Practical implications<\/jats:title><jats:p>\u2013 The findings suggest ways for managers to fight against knowledge transfer barriers in multicultural contexts, relying on the socialization process.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title content-type=\"abstract-heading\">Social implications<\/jats:title><jats:p>\u2013 Accounting for the problem of knowledge transfer in a multicultural context through the SECI model, which focusses on the interaction between tacit and explicit knowledge, opens a fruitful line of reflexion. It would organize trips for French managers in China with a strong intercultural dimension.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title content-type=\"abstract-heading\">Originality\/value<\/jats:title><jats:p>\u2013 Accounting for the problem of knowledge transfer in a multi culural context through the SECI model, which focusses on the interaction between tacit and explicit knowledge, opens a fruitful line of reflexion.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.1108\/jkm-02-2015-0054","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2015,9,15]],"date-time":"2015-09-15T06:45:46Z","timestamp":1442299546000},"page":"1069-1086","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":27,"title":["SECI and inter-organizational and intercultural knowledge transfer: a case-study of controversies around a project of co-operation between France and China in the health sector"],"prefix":"10.1108","volume":"19","author":[{"given":"Pascal","family":"Lievre","sequence":"first","affiliation":[]},{"given":"Jing","family":"Tang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[]}],"member":"140","reference":[{"key":"key2020122121115319400_b1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Argote, L. , McEvily, B. and Reagans, R. 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