Examining social capital, organizational learning and knowledge transfer in cultural and creative industries of practice

With the increasing growth of the tourism market, cultural and creative industries are being flooded with new attractions and cultural routes and are providing significant benefits for social and economic development. This study used a multiple mediation examination process to investigate the relationships between social capital, organizational learning and knowledge transfer. Findings from the archival data of 432 Taiwanese cultural and creative firms indicate that organizational learning (e.g., exploitative learning and explorative learning) is the critical mechanism linking the relationship between social capital and knowledge transfer. More importantly, this study also presents a view of absorptive capability as a moderator and offers evidence that qualities such as capabilities can lead to effective knowledge transfer when cultural and creative firms have a higher level of organizational learning intention. Using single and multiple perspectives of constructs and conduct, our version of the mediation-moderation model is more complex than prior tourism or management studies have shown.