TRUST, THE LUBRICANT FOR INTERCULTURAL KNOWLEDGE TRANSFER AND KNOWLEDGE SHARING

The incalculable value of knowledge is identified by many companies and, therefore, treasured and protected by them to a great extent. This knowledge protection attitude often represents a considerable obstacle for international business co-operations. For knowledge to be smoothly transferred across cultures, an open and trustful knowledge sharing attitude is required. It is becoming very prominent in the social capital theory (SCT) the importance of relationship and trust as facilitators for knowledge sharing. Trust, is regarded as the cornerstone when developing a learning culture, a key element in an individual’s decision to share, disseminate and enlarged upon knowledge, a guarantor for achieving successful knowledge transfer objectives and for influencing relationships’ commitment, Morgan and Hunt (1994) Dirk and Ferrin (2001); Gardener (2003); Fiol (2003); Sharkie (2005); Leyland (2005) Dignum and Eijk (2007), Michailova and Sidorova (2010). On the other hand, they perceived that in low trust environments, cooperation partners are gripped by worries and uncertainties, conversation and knowledge sharing suffers, levels of competitive individual behaviour increases and personal energies are used for protectionism limiting the personal and the co-operation growth. Additionally, the increase on misunderstandings, disagreement and suspicious behaviour might be triggered, an additional proof of lack trustworthiness (Schneider and Barsoux 2003).