Simultaneous versus sequential knowledge transfer in an organization

This paper studies an organizational knowledge sharing process which requires costly “teaching” and “learning” efforts on the part of the sender and receiver, respectively. The process is a team problem in which the principal rewards successful sharing by optimally rewarding performance. In this setting we compare two modes of knowledge transfer with regard to efficiency. The first is sequential in which the sender precommits to teaching and the receiver acts as a follower. The second is simultaneous where each agent simultaneously exerts effort. A key result is that the sequential mode dominates when teaching and learning are complements, but the simultaneous mode dominates if teaching and learning are substitutes.

► Knowledge sharing is sequential (teacher precommits to effort) or simultaneous (teacher and student simultaneously exert effort) in nature. ► The sequential mode dominates if teaching and learning efforts are complements and the simultaneous mode dominates if they are substitutes. ► There are other differences between these two modes of sharing which can make one mode more efficient than the other.