AbstractsBusiness Management & Administration

Knowledge is a critical resource that provides organisations with a competitive advantage. It is widely recognised that knowledge sharing between marketing and other organisational functions can produce various benefits. Studies conducted in developed countries have suggested that coordination and competition are among the important factors affecting knowledge sharing. However, little research has been done to systematically examine the effect of these constructs on cross-functional knowledge sharing in the context of developing countries. The specific objectives of the study are: (1) to investigate whether a coopetition framework could be built and applied to explain the level of knowledge sharing between marketing and other functional departments within an organisation; (2) to test the effect of different coordination mechanisms on cross-functional knowledge sharing in the presence of interdepartmental competition; and (3) to determine if knowledge shared between departments would lead to superior performance. Based on the extant literature on organisational knowledge sharing, social capital and the social embeddedness framework, a theoretical model was developed. In this study, both qualitative and quantitative approaches were employed. In the qualitative phase, the initial theoretical model was refined using data from depth interviews with managers. Then, in the quantitative phase, the refined model was empirically tested using structural equation modelling of data obtained from 224 large business organisations in Vietnam. The results indicate that three coordination mechanisms (lateral relations, informal networking and shared vision) have a positive effect on cross-functional knowledge sharing while competition acts as a negative moderator between informal networking and cross-functional knowledge sharing. Finally, the results also show that cross-functional knowledge sharing helps improve organisational performance by facilitating organisational innovativeness and enhancing market orientation. This study contributes to the coopetition and the crossfunctional knowledge sharing literature. It provides empirical evidence to help explain and predict cross-functional knowledge sharing, in the presence of both coordination and competition.