ORIGINAL RESEARCH
published: 02 May 2022
doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.886724
Multinational Enterprises’
Knowledge Transfer Received
Dimensions and Subsidiary
Innovation Performance: The Impact
of Human Resource Management
Practices and Training and
Development Types
Yu Xie 1,2 , Francis Boadu 3 , Zhen Chen 4* and Adwoa Serwaa Ofori 5
1
Research Center for Enterprise Management, Chongqing Technology and Business University, Chongqing, China, 2 School
of Management, Chongqing Technology and Business University, Chongqing, China, 3 Faculty of Entrepreneurship
and Enterprise Development, Kumasi Technical University, Kumasi, Ghana, 4 Dazhou Central Hospital, Dazhou, China,
5
Registry, Kumasi Technical University, Kumasi, Ghana
Edited by:
Benito Yáñez-Araque,
University of Castilla-La Mancha,
Spain
Reviewed by:
Alfredo Jimenez,
Kedge Business School, France
Catia Fernandes Crespo,
Polytechnic Institute of Leiria, Portugal
*Correspondence:
Zhen Chen
imcaspar@gmail.com
Specialty section:
This article was submitted to
Organizational Psychology,
a section of the journal
Frontiers in Psychology
Received: 28 February 2022
Accepted: 11 April 2022
Published: 02 May 2022
Citation:
Xie Y, Boadu F, Chen Z and
Ofori AS (2022) Multinational
Enterprises’ Knowledge Transfer
Received Dimensions and Subsidiary
Innovation Performance: The Impact
of Human Resource Management
Practices and Training and
Development Types.
Front. Psychol. 13:886724.
doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.886724
In this paper, we adopt the resource-based view theory as the theoretical framework to
empirically investigate the relationship among knowledge transfer received dimensions
(i.e., tacit and explicit), human resource management practices, training and
development types (i.e., on-the-job training and development, and off-the-job training
and development) and subsidiary innovation performance. Using a survey dataset
from 314 subsidiaries of foreign multinational enterprises located in China, we find
that: (1) knowledge transfer received dimensions contribute to subsidiary innovation
performance; (2) human resource management practices can positively moderate
knowledge transfer received dimensions and subsidiary innovation performance; (3) the
positive effect of human resource management practices on the knowledge transfer
received dimensions- subsidiary innovation performance link increases when on-the-job
training and development and off-the-job training and development is high. The study
also provides insight into how knowledge transfer received dimensions, human resource
management practices, and training and development types matter importantly to the
subsidiary’s innovation performance.
Keywords: knowledge transfer received dimensions, HRM practices, training and development, subsidiary
innovation performance, emerging economies
INTRODUCTION
In the knowledge-based economy, innovation has been recognized as a fundamental route for
socio-economic growth (Poblete, 2022). Innovation plays a momentous function in competition
at both the state and enterprise levels as it is a central driving force to economic growth (Boadu
et al., 2021a). Academics’ accentuated the concept as a dynamic capability that surges potentials
for enterprises in addressing customer desires, outweighing rivalry, and aligning their strengths
with and exploiting marketplace opportunities (Boadu et al., 2021a). Thus, enterprises’ success
predominantly hinges on the innovation competency that enables them to be malleable and
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Relationship Between KTR-HRM-T&D-SIP
a mesmeric and apposite context to scrutinize the association
between tacit and explicit KTR, HRM practices, and training and
development dimensions. The research issue is novel, intriguing,
and exigent that will significantly contribute to innovation
ingenuities in the extant work.
First, existing scholarships demonstrate that the strength
of knowledge transfer hinges on numerous contingencies
comprising inner and outer strategic assets and competencies
(Papa et al., 2020; Boadu et al., 2021a). Though, the former and
the latter comprise entrepreneurial opportunities, environment
dynamism, and HRM practice influence knowledge transfer
acquired. As a result, the current study proposes to extend
scholarships on how KTR work together with organizationallevel contextual variable to surge the innovation performance
of subsidiaries by contending that HRM practices play a
significant role in deciphering KTR into grander SIP. Hence, we
contend that HRM practices can support KTR to accomplish
its full potential. HRM practices refer to a package of
activities that mutually complement the skills, abilities, and
motivations of the workforce (Guest, 2017; Li et al., 2019).
More importantly, workforces within the organization hunt for
external knowledge and incorporate it with internal knowledge
to boost organizational operational activities and innovation
outcomes (Papa et al., 2020). In addition, the innovation culture
is spread among workforces as a strategic intangible asset that
moves action en route for ingenuity and shared beliefs (Li
et al., 2019). Thus, the concept is a potent avenue to achieve
desired results of an organization (Papa et al., 2020; Zhou et al.,
2021). Previous scholarships have established that HRM systems
constitute the driving factors behind innovation performance and
enterprises’ competitive advantage (Kaabi et al., 2018; Lee et al.,
2019). However, the combined effect of HRM practices and tacit
and explicit KTR dimensions on innovation performance is scant
(Sánchez et al., 2015; Sarala et al., 2016). Thus, additional concrete
substantiation is vital to discover and explicate the probable
facilitating impact of HRM practices on the correlation between
tacit and explicit KTR and SIP.
Secondly, the study also explores how training and
development dimensions affect the interaction of HRM practices
and KTR dimensions on SIP. Training and development reflect
a complex system that consists of changing the boundary of
organizational effectiveness and the workforce through programs
to influence the competitive advantage toward success and
survival (Zhu et al., 2018). In today’s knowledge-intensive
era, major international business actors design comprehensive
training and development programs for their workforce
to develop new skills and creative ideas and discover new
opportunities (Boadu et al., 2018) for innovation consequence
and competitive advantage of an organization. Previous
scholarships have established a more significant association
between on-the-job and off-the-job training and development
and innovation outcomes (González et al., 2016; Boadu et al.,
2018; Dostie, 2018). The combined effect of training and
development types, HRM practices, and tacit and explicit KTR
on innovation performance is scant in extant works. As a
result, investigating the joint effect of training and development
behaviors, HRM practices and tacit and explicit KTR on SIP
adapt to the speedy variation of the market arena (Li et al.,
2019; Boadu et al., 2021a). Today’s volatile, uncertain, complex,
and ambiguous (VUCA) transnational market environment
has thrust multinational enterprises and their affiliates to seek
survival antidotes to boost their innovation capabilities for the
fiercely competitive battle among the major players.
Among different antecedents affecting innovation, knowledge
management processes (such as acquisition, storage, and
transfer) are considered as an important weapon for enterprises’
innovation performance, leading to growth, competitiveness, and
survival in the international marketplace. Particularly, effective
knowledge transfer processes allow enterprises to inflate internal
knowledge resources with external knowledge resources and
transform them into dynamic capabilities such as innovation
(Boadu et al., 2018, Boadu et al., 2021a). Indeed, knowledge
transfer is often considered a fundamental survival approach in
the era of the knowledge economy, and the vital foundation
of innovation to build blocks for organizational achievement
(Roy and Sarkar, 2016). Academics assert that enterprises
with excellent knowledge transfer can sustain their innovation
performance in the market arena (Roy and Sarkar, 2016;
Boadu et al., 2018; Zia, 2020). Thus, the concept improves
a variety of business and marketing performance (Ganguly
et al., 2019; López-Cabarcos et al., 2019; Arnett et al., 2021).
Admittedly, it is an indispensable contributing factor to corporate
innovation performance.
Although, knowledge transfer and firm innovation
performances have received the attention of researchers in
many disciplines in the extant literature. The current study
contends that there is a shred of paucity evidence in the extant
literature on how firms adopt knowledge transfer received
(KTR) mechanisms to innovate, as researchers have accentuated
the impact of knowledge transfer [i.e., from the multinational
enterprises’ headquarters (HQs) to the subsidiary] and reverse
knowledge transfer (i.e., from the subsidiary to the multinational
enterprises HQs) (Gaur et al., 2019) on firm innovation
performance to the detriment of KTR (Boadu et al., 2018). Boadu
et al. (2018) defined KTR as a process by which a subsidiary
puts in a request and acquires knowledge (i.e., tacit and explicit)
based on strategic information of the cross-border operations
and focal business environment from multinational enterprises’
headquarters.
Thus, the study intends to scrutinize the opportunities that
KTR dimensions (i.e., tacit and explicit) bids to emerging
market subsidiaries vis-à-vis innovation performance. Expressly,
the relationship mechanisms of human resource management
(HRM) practices and training and development types on the
linkage amongst KTR dimensions and subsidiary’ innovation
performance (SIP) have been rare. We contend that the effects
of these contextual mechanisms should not be secluded from
a theoretical model in which a capability and SIP rapport
are present (Schilke, 2014; Boadu et al., 2021a), in emerging
economies, specifically the Chinese economy. The country
supports enterprises to use their unique resources to innovate
as innovation has shifted from a “nice” to have to a “musthave” phenomenon for enterprises to pursue competitiveness and
sustainability. Indeed, the Chinese market environment offers
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to copy by the competitors in the business environment to
obtain a competitive edge and superior performance (Barney,
1991; Li et al., 2019). Exponents of the RBV accentuate that
the deployment of tangible and intangible resources supports
enterprises in sustaining a long-term innovation performance
and continuous competitive advantage as they apply an
organizational response (i.e., strategic assets and capabilities) to
become more sensitive to variations in the market environment
(Boadu et al., 2018; Eapen and Krishnan, 2019). Thus, the theory
is deemed to be appropriate for this study due to its critical
value for the development of resources and capabilities. More
interestingly, if the critical resources are rare and pricy for rivals
to replicate or to substitute them with alternative resources that
can accomplish similar tasks, the organization achieves lasting
superior performance and continues competitive advantage from
those strategic resources. The study contends that resources and
capabilities such as knowledge, HRM practices, and training and
development satisfy the above criteria of the RBV for generating
and supporting higher innovation performance and competitive
advantage. Boadu et al. (2018) stated that RBV helps a firm in
sensing its unique resources for enhancing performance and a
competitive advantage for an organization. We contend that
RBV can help firms leverage the effect of existing resources on
firm performance via resources configuration and integration.
Firms that learn to use knowledge resources will synthesize novel
organizational processes and product development, which are
essential for the competitive edge. The RBV offers that while the
positive innovation consequence of knowledge is not guaranteed,
KTR dimensions are vital to organizational effectiveness,
competitiveness, and sustainability (Boadu et al., 2018). As a
result, independent of expected or unexpected and preferred
or adverse innovation outcomes in the short or long term, the
impetus for the introduction of KTR dimensions is to permit
subsidiaries to attain their strategic aims. Thus, we contend that
KTR dimensions (Boadu et al., 2018) are a vast resource that can
support organizations in explicating innovation outcomes. As
scholars (e.g., Papa et al., 2020; Boadu et al., 2021a) have noticed
that the strength of knowledge transfer hinges on numerous
contingencies comprising inner and outer strategic assets
and competencies (e.g., HRM practices) to foster innovation
performance. HRM practices stimulate the workforce’s capability
(e.g., recruitment), motivation (e.g., compensation), and
opportunity (e.g., participation) to contribute to innovation
outcomes (Appelbaum et al., 2000). The primary aim of the
HRM practices is to nurture, inspire, and offer opportunities to
display splendid job comportments for an enterprise’s continued
competitive edge and grander innovation performance (Ostroff
and Bowen, 2016; Li et al., 2019). While applying RBV to the
HRM practices, tacit and explicit KTR, and SIP relationship, we
ponder on the importance of knowledge and human resource
(i.e., workforce) as critical resources and consistent with the
view of RBV. For instance, knowledge and human resource that
share the characteristics of rarity, unpredictability, and rigidity
for actors to copy or reproduce can play a significant role in
firms’ superior innovation performance (Guan and Frenkel,
2018; Li et al., 2019). We, therefore, contend that HRM practices
in an organization aiming at enticing, inspiring, gratifying, and
is inescapable to have an impeccable comprehension of the
antecedent conditions of innovation.
In addressing these gaps, this study draws on the resourcebased view (RBV) theory to develop a conceptual framework to
scrutinize the variables’ probable associations, which is rare in the
extant works? Hence, the current study intends to analyze 314
datasets from multinational enterprises subsidiaries operating in
China via hierarchical linear modeling (HLM) to address the
following questions:
• RQ1: Does tacit and explicit KTR affect SIP directly?
• RQ2: Does the association between tacit and explicit KTR
and SIP be more pronounced when the firm has a high
degree of HRM practices?
• RQ3: Does training and development types further
strengthen the moderating effect of HRM practices on the
linkage amongst tacit and explicit KTR and SIP?
Our study contributes to the current body of literature. First,
our study extends the RBV by stressing the derelict interactions
between resource received from multinational enterprises HQs
and resource application: how the KTR as a resource received
from multinational enterprises HQs institute the application
of innovation performance - which represents a valuable
contribution of this study. Second, from the RBV perspective,
knowledge workforces are intangible assets that are indispensable
to attaining a competitive edge; these workforces are driven
by commitment (Li et al., 2019), which is a precondition for
innovation culture. Our conclusion extends the RBV by shedding
light on HRM practices in emerging markets: how subsidiaries
can improve their KTR dimensions through HRM practices
to make full use of KTR dimensions to innovate and achieve
sustainable development. Third, by identifying training and
development types and HRM practices’ effects on the KTR
dimensions on the application of innovation performance, we
reveal an important interactive effect among the variables – an
under-explored area in the knowledge and HRM literature.
The rest of the study is organized into four parts. Part 2
deals with the theory and hypotheses development. Extant works
are reviewed to elucidate the association among the variables.
The next part (3) describes the method applied to assess the
proposed logical framework of the study. Part 4 reports the results
of the research. It deals with the assessment of descriptive and
correlation as well as hypotheses tests. Finally, part 5 presents the
discussions and conclusions of the study, with a concentration
on the theoretical and practical contributions, limitations, and
future trajectory.
THEORY AND HYPOTHESES
Resource Based-View
We adopt RBV as the theoretical context. First, the term RBV
originated from research on firm-specific abilities (Lippman
and Rumelt, 1982). It has been applied in different contexts to
explain how firms can obtain a competitive edge and greater
performance. Thus, it focuses on how enterprises leverage
their strategic resources that are valuable, sporadic, and rigid
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FIGURE 1 | Logical framework.
and patent application) cannot be accomplished without the
contingent nature of knowledge generation.
As a result, knowledge transfer is essential in utilizing
knowledge to advance innovation activities in a business
organization. The concept involves the transmission of
knowledge from one organization (e.g., multinational
enterprises) to another (e.g., subsidiary). It is a vital aspect
of the leveraging, diffusion, and formation of knowledge and
a central procedure for multinational enterprises’ knowledge
management (Wang et al., 2014). Also, it plays a significant
function in the long-term existence of multinational enterprises.
In addition, knowledge transfer aids multinational enterprises to
exchange valuable legacy, novel problem-solving strategies, and
techniques for the improvement of organizational innovation
performance and efficiency (Foss and Pedersen, 2019).
Practitioners and researchers consider the transfer of
knowledge embodied in organizations and people as an
important antecedent to innovation outcome (Van Wijk et al.,
2008; Manfredi Latilla et al., 2018). They believe that if business
organizations can transmit the critical capabilities (knowledge)
embedded within the organization, it will offer a foundation for
a different type of innovation, which can lead to a competitive
edge over other competitors. In other words, innovation success
involves the process which hinges on knowledge interface,
conversion, and exploitation. For example, previous studies have
made advances in terms of relating knowledge transfer to a firm’s
innovative performance (Buckley et al., 2004). Chirico et al.
(2011) assert that knowledge transfer impacts significantly on
firm performance and sustainable growth.
Palacios-Marqués et al. (2013) studied the Spanish
biotechnology and telecommunications industries, concluding
that firms that associate themselves with knowledge transfer
enhance their performance. However, researchers notably
Nonaka (1994) distinguish knowledge transfer into two continua,
tacit and explicit, respectively, and examine their influence on
sustaining employee job behaviors can support KTR dimensions
for process and product innovation to achieve superior SIP.
To advance our understanding of how HRM practices facilitate
the effect of KTR dimensions on SIP, the study considers the
extent to which the facilitation depends on the training and
development types. While applying RBV to the training and
development types, HRM practice, tacit and explicit KTR,
and SIP, we argue that employees develop high morale when
managers or policymakers of an establishment provide higherlevel competency training and development programs to upgrade
their inspiration, level of self-awareness, skills, and abilities to
enhance HRM activities and tacit and explicit KTR activities for
greater innovation performance which invariably is capable of
influencing organizational success. Figure 1 underneath displays
the logical framework and the subsequent section considers the
hypotheses development.
Hypotheses Development
Knowledge Transfer Received and Innovative
Performance
Drawing on the RBV, an enterprise’s knowledge resources are
critical for sustaining a competitive advantage in a turbulent
market environment (Xue et al., 2019). Advocates of RBV
contend that for enterprises to maintain their posture and
superior competitive advantage in today’s market, which is full
of complexity, uncertainty, and volatility, espousing knowledge
is considered the most crucial factor that can offer valuable,
unrivaled sporadic, and exclusive resources to outweigh the
competition (Boadu et al., 2018; Li et al., 2019). Thus, the
changing market setting has made organizational knowledge a
vital element than capital, labor, or land in most organizations
worldwide in sustaining enterprises’ innovation outcomes. For
example, in the international market arena, the process of
creating an innovative performance (e.g., new product, service,
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and Bratianu, 2018). It is one of the essential knowledge
dimensions (Polanyi, 1966) that firms depend on to create a
competitive advantage. Such knowledge type can be in the form
of words and information written in manuals and specifications.
Admittedly, it is relatively easy to recognize, accumulate,
hoard, and re-claim (Bolisani and Bratianu, 2018) to trigger
innovation processes. Explicit knowledge transfer can improve
employees’ capabilities to propose new ideas, which, in turn,
enhance innovative performance. The RBV theory suggests that
enterprises with intangible resources such as explicit knowledge
can create innovative goods and services to address customers’
needs and capture substantial international market shares to
usurp a competitive edge. Thus, explicit knowledge transfer is
a critical resource that supports contemporary IB enterprises
operating across the globe to drive innovation and performance
(Wang and Li, 2016).
We, therefore, argue that knowledge transfer dimensions are
an indispensable conduit for enterprises to enhance innovation
and performance. The RBV posits that knowledge is a strategic
organizational attribute (Boadu et al., 2018) for enterprise value
creation and sustainable competitive edge (Grant, 1996). Extant
studies have proved a robust rapport among knowledge transfer
dimensions and performance output (Ahammad et al., 2016;
Magnier-Watanabe and Benton, 2017). For instance, Ahammad
et al. (2016) conclude that knowledge transfer dimensions
profoundly affect enterprises’ performance. Similarly, MagnierWatanabe and Benton (2017) discover a positive association
amongst tacit and explicit knowledge transfer and performance.
However, other authors, like Dhanaraj et al. (2004) discover
the opposite result among the variables (-tacit impact and
+explicit impact) in their studies on Hungarian transnational
enterprises. While, Anh et al. (2006) studies on the effect of
tacit and explicit knowledge transfer on performance revealed
that tacit and explicit knowledge transfer has a significant
and an insignificant effect on firm output, respectively. On
the innovation front, studies have proved a strong rapport
among tacit and explicit knowledge transfer and innovation
output (Cavusgil et al., 2003; Harlow, 2008; Wang and Li,
2016; Terhorst et al., 2018; Asbari et al., 2019; Pérez-Luño
et al., 2019; Berraies et al., 2021). Liu et al.’s (2019) studies
on the impact of knowledge transfer dimensions on emerging
market multinational enterprises’ innovation performance reveal
a positive result.
In the context of subsidiaries, the current research contends
that tacit and explicit KTR from HQs can affect SIP, which, in
turn, enhances competitive advantage. Thus, drawing upon the
RBV, we predict that subsidiaries can leverage tacit and explicit
KTR for innovation performance. Accordingly, we state that:
firm performance. These streams of studies have considerably
enhanced the understanding of a firm’s uses of tacit versus
explicit knowledge in different performance contexts. Even
though from the extant literature, few existing empirical analyses
produce contradictory results on the impacts of explicit and tacit
knowledge transfer on firm performance (Dhanaraj et al., 2004;
Anh et al., 2006; Becerra et al., 2008). Dhanaraj et al.’s (2004) work
on Hungarian international ventures reveals a positive coefficient
for the linkage amongst explicit knowledge and performance, and
a negative coefficient for tacit knowledge. In contrast, scholarship
steered by Anh et al. (2006) in Vietnamese international joint
ventures reveals a positive coefficient for the linkage amongst
tacit knowledge and performance and insignificant relation
for explicit knowledge. These inconsistencies in the literature
may cause by the following: (i) An absence of homogenous
measurement as several researchers have developed several
instruments to measure tacit and explicit knowledge; (ii) Use of
different methodology by researchers; (iii) Difficulty in accessing
data; (iv) Causal procedures or contingency conditions; and (v)
A lack of consensus on the content domains.
Besides, previous studies have also overlooked KTR, defined as
a process by which an enterprise request and acquires knowledge
(i.e., tacit and explicit) based on strategic information of the
cross-border operations and focal business environment from
HQs (Boadu et al., 2018). In this study, we followed Nonaka’s
(1994) distinction of knowledge transfer (i.e., tacit and explicit)
and used it to examine KTR effects on innovation performance.
Tacit and Explicit Knowledge Transfer Received and
Subsidiary’ Innovation Performance
Numerous academics have divergent definitions for the
construct “performance” in the extant literature (Chen
et al., 2011). However, the import of most of the definitions
largely accentuated technical effectiveness (Chen et al.,
2011). Innovation performance is the benefit of an
enterprise’s technological innovation activities, underlining the
incorporation of all groundbreaking, radical, and cutting-edge
elements (Boadu et al., 2021a). Knowledge transfer stimulates
the enhancement of organizational innovation performance. It
is a key to promoting the innovation capability of enterprises
(Boadu et al., 2021a). From the knowledge transfer perspective,
(Nonaka, 1994) divides knowledge transfer into two ways: tacit
and explicit, respectively. First, Bolisani and Bratianu (2018)
describe tacit knowledge as know-how built on individual
experiences, insight, and opinions. Such individualistic and
contextual-specific knowledge is concealed and deep-rooted
within the individual’s action and experience (Gaur et al., 2019).
Thus, the salient features of tacit knowledge are that knowledge is
fundamentally personal in nature. Scholars have recognized the
concept as a critical asset and contribute to developing positive
dispositions toward growth and change as enacted by individuals
in an organization (Sprinkle and Urick, 2018). Admittedly, tacit
knowledge transfer has a pivotal impact on firms’ performance,
innovation performance, and sustainable competitive edge
(Farooq, 2018; Quartey, 2019).
Secondly, explicit knowledge is a know-what type of
knowledge that can easily be codified and formalized (Bolisani
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Hypothesis1a : There is a positive relationship between
tacit KTR and SIP.
Hypothesis1b : There is a positive relationship between
explicit KTR and SIP.
Effect of Human Resource Management Practices
From the perspective of the RBV, certain scholars have recognized
that not only should an enterprise’s resources be valuable
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enterprises should prudently manage bundle HRM practices to
promote knowledge transfer and innovativeness.
When a firm has a high level of HRM practices, it can
speedily reflect and address human capital matters. From this
perspective, KTR can stimulate organizational processes and
operational activities, thus crumpling the firm’s HRM practices
for shaping human capital issues (Besson and Rowe, 2012).
Drawing upon the RBV, HRM practices may nurture social
relations among workforces by enhancing their capabilities,
commitment, and motivation to access, mobilize, and grasp vital
KTR information (Caligiuri, 2014), which, in turn, may enhance
the innovation, leading to successful SIP. Therefore, we suggest
that the combined effects of HRM practices and tacit and explicit
KTR can surge the SIP. The study proposes a two-way interaction
into a SIP. Thus, we hypothesize that:
and inimitable to expedite superior lasting performance but
also the enterprise must have an apt structure or system in
place to take advantage of these resources (Barney, 1991; Li
et al., 2019). Extant works have predominantly accentuated
the direct association between individual strands or bundles of
resources and performance, while less consideration has been
dedicated to how management can apply their resources more
efficiently (Wiklund and Shepherd, 2003). Therefore, the current
study contends that HRM practices defined as a package of
activities that mutually complement the skills, abilities, and
motivations of the workforce (Guest, 2017; Li et al., 2019)
can explicate the managerial routes that enable enterprises to
acquire valuable and inimitable workforce. These valuable and
inimitable workforce characteristics create a “human capital
value” (Boxall and Purcell, 2016). Though, any human capital
value may condense in the long run. Therefore, enterprises’
HRM practices or strategies should be well-defined and aligned
to the empowerment of the enterprise’s workforce, which,
in turn, fosters the enterprise’s evolution and upsurge the
enterprise’s culture (McGregor, 1960). HRM practices can (a)
Surge the worth and rareness of the knowledge via internal
development and (b) Spur workforce comportment in the
desired route. Li et al. (2019) assert that HRM practices can
affect the workforce’s capability (e.g., knowledge and skills)
to execute tasks. Indeed, from an organizational perspective,
strategic scholars have regarded the management of workforces
within an organization as one of the central engines supporting
firms to reach and realize their goals (Ostroff and Bowen,
2016; Li et al., 2019). From the extant scholarships, authors
have established evidence of positive effects of bundle HRM
practices on knowledge (Jimenez-Jimenez and Sanz-Valle, 2012),
knowledge transfer or sharing (Chuang et al., 2016; Li et al.,
2019), and innovation performance (Jackson et al., 2014; Kaabi
et al., 2018; Lee et al., 2019). Other scholars have established
a positive correlation between individual HRM practices (e.g.,
compensation, participation, recruitment, and appraisal) and
knowledge creation and innovation (Andries and Czarnitzki,
2014). For instance, with compensation schemes, workforces’
sense incentivized to perform well as these advantages are even
resilient (Andries and Czarnitzki, 2014). Besides, job satisfaction
and commitment inspire workforces to be ingenious, intricate
in the enterprises’ ethics and assist in establishing an innovation
philosophy (Li et al., 2019).
Given the significance of HRM practices in enterprise resource
development; the current scholarship intends to scrutinize
whether the effect of HRM practices on a tacit and explicit
KTR can explain the SIP. According to the RBV, firms can
incorporate well-structured HRM practices in their corporate
maneuvers (Díaz-Chao et al., 2015) to convey intense variation to
corporate strategies and resources in an aggressive environment,
which, in turn, improve their innovation output and competitive
advantage. We contend that HRM practices are crucial and can
work in tandem with tacit and explicit KTR in an organization.
Thus, the interaction of HRM practices and tacit and explicit
KTR can play a decisive function in promoting organizational
procedures and operational activities, which, in turn, enhances
SIP in an organization. Lazzarotti et al. (2015) postulate that
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Hypothesis 2a : The association between tacit KTR and SIP
is more pronounced when the firm has a high degree
of HRM practices.
Hypothesis 2b : The association between explicit KTR and
SIP is more pronounced when the firm has a high degree
of HRM practices.
Training and Development Types, Human Resource
Management Practices, Tacit and Explicit Knowledge
Transfer Received, and Subsidiary’ Innovation
Performance
Training and development can be defined as a process apply
to transfer to the workforces’ pertinent skills, knowledge,
and capability to enhance their performance on current and
future assignments (Esteban-Lloret et al., 2018). Training and
development are also a process of improving organizational
efficiency, workforces’ skills or capabilities, and productivity
(Boadu et al., 2018). The training and development process helps
maximize an enterprise’s ability to create an environment for
perpetual learning that facilitates the exchange of knowledge
and ideas among workforces, which permits them to work and
accomplish aims more professionally (Li et al., 2019). The present
study accentuates the types of training and development, namely,
on-the-job training and development and off-the-job training
and development, respectively (Boadu et al., 2018) due to its
critical effects on prime organizational results such as enterprise
innovation and performance (González et al., 2016; Boadu et al.,
2018; Dostie, 2018). On-the-job training and development refer
to a process whereby an organization equips and motivates
workforces daily with practical training and other developmental
skills in the workplace (Boadu et al., 2018), while off-thejob training and development refer to a process whereby an
organization equips and motivates employees occasionally in
a classroom, workshop, simulation exercise with theory and
practical’s in a place away from the workplace (Boadu et al., 2018).
The former approaches training and development activities by
engaging knowledgeable professionals with more experienced
to teach or give practical instructions to the workforce at the
desk or the bench. In the same vein, team leaders, executives,
superintendents, mentors can be contacted to teach workforces
on matters concerning individual or group assignments and
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Relationship Between KTR-HRM-T&D-SIP
the RBV, we contend that during training and development
programs, workforces pay attention to acquiring new skills,
knowledge, and experience within and outside precincts of the
workplace by observing, imitating, and modeling others who are
credible and more knowledgeable in a social context, memorize
and reproduce to enhance the combined effects of HRM practices
and tacit and explicit KTR on SIP. We, therefore, posit that
the combined effects of training and development types, HRM
practices, and tacit and explicit KTR can lead to SIP. The study
proposes a three-way interaction (i.e., between training and
development types, HRM practices, and tacit and explicit KTR)
into a SIP. Thus, we hypothesize that:
projects (Armstrong and Lorentzen, 1996; Boadu et al., 2018).
More importantly, such activities enhance workforce efficiencies,
competence, creativity, innovation, capability, and commitment
to accept new technologies and techniques, memorize and
reproduce for optimal innovation outcome (González et al.,
2016; Boadu et al., 2018; Dostie, 2018). While, the latter
approaches training and development activities by engaging
consultants or staff members in the training department of the
organization to give prescribed training programs taken in a
form of dialogues, colloquium, and case studies in a place away
from the workplace (Armstrong and Lorentzen, 1996; Boadu
et al., 2018). Such programs offer workforces full attention to
concentrate on the learning activities, experiment with new ideas,
and generally undertake self-analysis, which is necessary for
permanent behavior change. Admittedly, the concept offers an
opportunity to introduce workforces to new information, ideas,
and experience outside what prevails in the job environment.
Pertinently, it addresses employees’ deficiencies in the working
environment; and prepares them to grasp and absorb the latest
information and strategies in the market environment, which can
impact positively on new product and service development to
enhance innovation capability.
Extant scholarships have identified training and development
as key contributing factors behind innovation output (González
et al., 2016; Boadu et al., 2018; Dostie, 2018). Dostie’s
(2018) studies on Canadian firms revealed that training and
development types are crucial ways of increasing innovation.
Boadu et al. (2018) asserted that training and development
types are indispensable foundations and criteria for surging
firms’ innovation performance in multinational enterprises’
subsidiaries operating in emerging economies. Bauernschuster
et al. (2009) studies on German firms spanning from the 1997–
2001 period established a robust and statistically significant
effect of on-the-job and off-the-job training and development
on innovation. Other scholars have established a positive
linkage amongst training and development and staff productivity
(Feltrinelli et al., 2017; Khan et al., 2017) and performance
(Deming, 1982).
Drawing on RBV, enterprises that succeed in training and
developing workforces to offer knowledge in assemblages and the
entire workplace are probable to synthesize novel concepts and
prospects and expedite innovation capability (Boadu et al., 2018).
However, the concept of training and development types affects
dissimilarity in the organization; it can be high or low on-thejob and off-the- job training and development. At the highest
level, enterprises become proactive in accessing diversified ideas
and concepts to enhance training and development programs.
At the lowest level, enterprises become deskbound to search for
diversified ideas and concepts crucial in developing training and
development programs. Considering the significant nature of
training and development in organizational growth; we intend to
investigate whether a higher degree of training and development
types strengthens the interactive effects between HRM practices
and tacit and explicit KTR on SIP. Although, extant works
demonstrate the individual effects of training and development
types, HRM practices, and tacit and explicit KTR on innovation
performance (Boadu et al., 2018; Li et al., 2019). Drawing upon
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Hypothesis 3a : The facilitating influence of HRM practices on
the linkage amongst tacit KTR and SIP surges when on-the-job
training and development are high than low.
Hypothesis 3b : The facilitating influence of HRM practices on
the linkage amongst explicit KTR and SIP surges when on-thejob training and development are high than low.
Hypothesis 3c : The facilitating influence of HRM practices on
the linkage amongst tacit KTR and SIP surges when off-thejob training and development are high than low.
Hypothesis 3d : The facilitating influence of HRM practices on
the linkage amongst explicit KTR and SIP surges when off-thejob training and development are high than low.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
Participant and Data Collection
Before the survey questionnaire’s final design, we pretested the
draft questionnaire to assess its clarity and appropriateness for the
study. First, we engage five scholars from the area of knowledge,
innovation, and HRM to moderate the questionnaire and provide
feedback. This encounter provided a platform to assess and refine
each question for precision, comprehensibility, and consistency.
Second, we further survey the revised questionnaire on thirtythree MBA students from universities in China who are experts
in international business. Our preliminary investigation reveals
that the constructs’ internal consistency is not a problem.
To gather subsidiary-level response data in the Chinese
context to test the hypotheses, we adopted a survey approach
to precisely measure the study’s theoretical constructs as the
knowledge transfer phenomenon is quite definite, and the
associations among constructs are statistically testable. We
draw our sample from subsidiaries of foreign multinational
enterprises focusing on manufacturing and service industries.
This area belongs to knowledge-intensive and high-technology
environments related to high research and development outflow
and short product cycles. Through, a random sampling approach,
we launched the survey to 465 senior executives in the MBA and
EMBA programs of the authors’ university, spanning from July
to October 2018, to address the research hypotheses. Explicitly,
we set the following conditions for the potential executives to
satisfy: (1) the executives’ firm must be in existence for not
less than 3 years; (2) the executives must have three or more
years of international business experience; (3) the executives
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Relationship Between KTR-HRM-T&D-SIP
must have 6 or more years of work experience; and (4) the
executives must have a first degree or above. After that, we sent
an email message to executives of subsidiaries to explain the
study’s purpose, the result’s application, the relevance of the result
to subsidiary practitioners and policymakers, and asked if they
would join in the survey. A sizeable number of top executives
responded positively to partake in the survey. Then, we applied
the following process for the data collection: First, we forwarded
our questionnaire via email to executives for possible responses.
Second, we sent another email to the executives in 3 weeks time to
draw their attention to the task ahead. In all, 399 top executives
returned their questionnaires for the survey, and 314 responses
remained usable. These procedures yielded a response rate of
67.52%, which is appropriate.
Control Variables
We include various control variables (i.e., subsidiary size,
subsidiary age, industry type, and R&D intensity) that could
impact the SIP (Boadu et al., 2018). First, we control subsidiary
size and age as the logarithm of the date of inception of operation
and the number of workforces, respectively (Boadu et al., 2018).
Second, we control for industry types (service and non-service),
which service is code as (1), and non-service is code as (0) to
establish the industry effects. Third, we control for R&D intensity
by using the level of R&D outlay (low, medium, and high) relative
to key competitors in the industry.
Test of the Measurement Model
The current paper engaged SPSS 25.0 to test and calculate all
the relevant measurements to evaluate the measurement model.
Thus, the paper performed a sequence of assessments and
calculations in the areas of reliability, validity, average variance
extracted (AVE), and composite reliability (CR) to measure the
construct uniqueness of the six target variables (see Table 1).
First, we tested the reliability of the survey scales using Cronbach’s
alpha coefficient; and our conclusions demonstrate that all factors
are larger than 0.60 (i.e., exceeding the recommended threshold
of 0.60), indicating a high level of credibility for all variables
(Fornell and Larcker, 1981). Second, we applied exploratory
factor analysis to test the validity of the model; and our results
reveal a good validity. Third, we calculated the AVE and CR of
all items; and our investigation reveals that the scores surpassed
the suggested threshold of 0.50 and 0.60, respectively, indicating
a high level of convergent validity. Lastly, we followed the
Fornell-Larcker criterion (Hair et al., 2017) to gauge the study’s
discriminant validity (DV). From Table 2, the results reveal
that the correlations between each factor and other factors were
lesser than the AVE (see diagonal values in bold), confirming a
satisfactory DV of the constructs (Hair et al., 2017). Further, we
use the Psycho_v1.0 plugin to calculate the heterotrait-monotrait
(HTMT) matrix. The results show that the HTMT coefficients
between variables are all less than the suggested value of 0.85 by
Henseler et al. (2015), and the Bootstrap confidence interval does
not contain 1. Therefore, the HTMT test results further indicate
that the variables in this paper have good discriminant validity.
Measures
We used a 7-point Likert scale (1 = strongly disagree to
7 = strongly agree) to rate all the survey items. These items were
translated from English to Chinese and back to English.
Independent Variable
We used two independent variables to measure SIP. These
variables are tacit and explicit KT, respectively. Each dimension
was measured with a four-item scale adapted from Dhanaraj
et al. (2004) and Boadu et al. (2018). Sample items include
“Relationships related know-how and skills from headquarters
are shared with us.” and “Our subsidiary receives know-how
related to the market (e.g., customers, suppliers, competitors,
regulators) from headquarters.”
Dependent Variable
We used subsidiary innovation performance as our dependent
variable. It was measured with a five-item scale adapted from
Chen et al. (2011). We asked the executives to compare their
innovation performance with the foremost contestants in the
recent 3 years. Sample items include “our subsidiary’s number of
novel products or services have increased.” and “Our enterprise
speed of new product/service development is better.”
Moderators
We selected HRM practices and training and development types
as moderators for the study. First, authors (Huselid, 1995;
Delery and Doty, 1996; Li et al., 2019) have underlined how
certain HRM practices elements are significant to innovative
performance. We adopted four items concerning the key
constructs (i.e., compensation, participation, recruitment, and
appraisal) associated with innovation from the existing scales
developed by the above authors. Sample items include “Our
subsidiary permits workforces to propose improvements in the
way things are done.” and “Our subsidiary pay reflects differences
in employee contributions.” Second, on-the-job and off-the-job
training and development were measured using a four-item scale,
each adapted from Delery and Doty (1996) and Rowden (2002).
Sample items include “Our subsidiary offers workforces gradual
training to learn from their trial and error.” and “Our subsidiary
organizes mockup exercises for workforces to upgrade their
abilities and know-how.”
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Non-response Bias and Common
Method Bias
The study conducted two biases tests: Non-response Bias (NRB)
and Common Method Bias (CMB), respectively. First, we
followed Lambert and Harrington (1990) to examine the NRB
of the study. NRB occurs when there is a possible bias between
the valid survey and the invalid survey in a study (Lambert and
Harrington, 1990). The study compared the mean differences
between the 339 valid surveys and the 25 invalid surveys on
four key study variables and demographic characteristics (i.e.,
subsidiary age, size, R&D intensity, and industry type) using
t-tests. Besides, we used independent samples t-test (at a 5%
significant level) to compare the mean differences between early
respondents and late respondents on demographic variables
(Armstrong and Overton, 1977; Shi et al., 2021); none of the
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TABLE 1 | Measurement test.
Constructs
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
No. of items
KMO
AVE
CR
Cronbach’s α
4
4
4
4
4
5
0.726
0.743
0.741
0.784
0.773
0.853
0.506
0.540
0.550
0.609
0.603
0.620
0.804
0.824
0.829
0.862
0.858
0.891
0.674
0.711
0.724
0.786
0.779
0.846
Explicit KTR
Tacit KTR
HRMP
On-the-Job T&D
Off-the-Job T&D
SIP
HRMP, human resource management practices.
TABLE 2 | Descriptive statistics, Pearson intercorrelations, and discriminant validity.
Variables
(1) Sage
(2) Ssize
(3) Services
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
1
0.199**
–0.125*
1
–0.203**
1
(4) R&D Intensity
0.017
–0.038
0.081
(5) On-the-Job T&D
0.089
–0.060
–0.069
0.163**
1
(0.780)
(6) Off-the-Job T&D
0.070
–0.067
–0.066
0.104
0.540**
(0.777)
7. Explicit KTR
0.030
0.073
–0.083
0.011
0.151**
0.210**
(0.711)
(8) Tacit KTR
0.064
0.097
–0.039
0.016
0.199**
0.230**
0.222**
(0.735)
(9) HRMP
0.068
0.058
–0.096
0.052
0.368**
0.327**
0.177**
0.096
(0.742)
(10) SIP
0.022
0.202**
–0.062
0.310**
0.234**
0.217**
0.153**
0.181**
0.245**
(0.787)
Mean
2.7038
2.9936
0.5159
2.0478
4.8169
4.8455
4.8479
4.7317
4.8336
4.6975
SD
1.02283
1.41646
0.50054
0.65010
1.05420
1.06892
0.89447
0.90209
0.99619
1.04887
Sage, subsidiary age; Ssize, subsidiary size. N = 314; two-tailed tests.
*p < 0.05, **p < 0.01.
can influence SIP. We adopted this approach due to the multilevel
and nested nature of our data for the study. The approach
details that foreign subsidiaries in a province and across the
provinces are most likely to be similar (Gooderham et al., 2015).
A significant merit of the HLM is its ability to tolerate misplaced
data at all echelons, apart from the uppermost phase. It also
accounts for the unequal dimension of time intermissions.
statistics reveals a significant difference for the study. Hence,
our results suggest that the data is free from NRB. Secondly,
researchers’ major concern about marker variable (MV) effects
has been to eliminate them in all variables because this will yield
more accurate estimates of zero-order correlation coefficients
(Lindell and Whitney, 2001). We examined CMB by following
Podsakoff et al. (2003, 2012) and Hair et al. (2017), guidelines.
CMB occurs when a study counts on a single participant or
the same source to collect data to assess both independent and
dependent variables. The study adopted several procedural and
statistical approaches to lessen the potential perils of CMB.
First, we spend quality time explaining the study’s purpose to
the participants. Moreover, we assure the participants that their
opinions and perceptions are paramount, and for that matter,
there is no “right” or “wrong” answer. Second, we followed
Harman’s single-factor test method to perform an unrotated
factor analysis to avoid CMB (Podsakoff et al., 2003). The
variance explained rate of the first factor was 18.63%, the variance
explained rate of the second factor was 13.27%, and the variance
explained rates of the other factors were all less than 10%. It can
be seen that there is no obvious CMB challenge in the dataset in
this paper, as none of the factors contribute more than 50.0% of
the total variance (Podsakoff et al., 2012).
EMPIRICAL RESULTS
Descriptive Statistics, Pearson
Intercorrelations, and Discriminant
Validity
Table 2 provides descriptive statistics, Pearson intercorrelations,
and DV of all exogenous variables. The correlation amongst
the various variables: on-the-job training and development (β =
0.234∗∗ , ρ = 0.01), off-the-job training and development (β =
0.217∗∗ , ρ = 0.01), explicit KTR (β = 0.153 =∗∗ =, ρ = 0.01),
tacit KTR (β = 0.181∗∗ , ρ = 0.01), and HRM practices (β =
0.245 =∗∗ =, ρ = 0.01), is significant, as indicated in Table 2.
Besides, except for subsidiary age and industry type, all the
control variables are significantly correlated with SIP. The
correlation results provide an excellent base for regression
analysis. The study also carried out a test to check the collinearity
of the constructs. We check the value of VIF for all predictive
variables and interaction terms. We record the highest VIF value
Statistical Approach
We used SPSS 25.0 program to run all the measurement tests.
Besides, we estimated HLM to consider how knowledge transfer
dimensions, HRM practices, and training and development types
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TABLE 3 | Results of the hierarchical linear regression of hypotheses.
Variables
Dependent Variable: SIP
M1
M2
M3
M4
M5
M6
M7
M8
M9
Sage
–0.031(0.053)
–0.039(0.052)
–0.033(0.052)
–0.065(0.05)
–0.029(0.051)
–0.056(0.05)
–0.052(0.05)
–0.065(0.05)
–0.048(0.051)
Ssize
0.211(0.039) ***
0.198(0.038) ***
0.203(0.038) ***
0.176(0.037) **
0.184(0.037) **
0.179(0.037) **
0.183(0.037) **
0.166(0.037) **
0.183(0.037) **
Services
R&D Intensity
–0.049(0.108)
–0.046(0.107)
–0.040(0.107)
–0.029(0.103)
–0.024(0.104)
–0.026(0.103)
–0.014(0.102)
–0.023(0.101)
–0.013(0.103)
0.323(0.081) ***
0.320(0.080) ***
0.320(0.081) ***
0.282(0.078) ***
0.300(0.078) ***
0.275(0.078) ***
0.284(0.078) ***
0.263(0.077) ***
0.286(0.078) ***
Tacit KTR
0.152(0.052) **
Explicit KTR
0.129(0.051) *
0.133(0.052) *
HRMP
0.087(0.053)
0.110(0.052) *
0.207(0.051) ***
0.192(0.052) ***
On-the-Job T&D
0.061(0.052)
0.054(0.053)
0.167(0.054) **
0.138(0.054) *
0.103(0.058)
0.123(0.056) *
Off-the-Job T&D
Tacit KTR × HRMP
0.174(0.045) **
Explicit
KTE × HRMP
0.138(0.046) **
0.145(0.046) **
10
HRMP × On-JobtheT&D
0.054(0.054)
0.13(0.054) *
0.124(0.054) *
0.114(0.055) *
0.133(0.055) *
0.126(0.046) *
0.122(0.045) *
0.008(0.044)
0.17(0.049) **
0.007(0.044)
HRMP × Off-the-Job
T&D
0.150(0.057) *
Tacit KT
R × HRMP × Onjob-the
T&D
0.063(0.052)
0.120(0.039) *
Explicit
KTR × HRMP × OnJob-the
T&D
0.168(0.052) **
0.196(0.049) **
Explicit
KTR × HRMP × Offthe-Job
T&D
0.133(0.04) *
R2
0.134
0.154
0.149
0.219
0.202
0.231
0.235
0.252
0.227
F
13.095 ***
12.405 ***
11.954
13.511 ***
12.349 ***
10.411 ***
10.612 ***
11.562 ***
10.193 ***
***p < 0.001, **p < 0.01, *p < 0.05, (Standard error), N = 314.
Relationship Between KTR-HRM-T&D-SIP
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Tacit
KTR × HRMP × OffJob
T&D
Xie et al.
Relationship Between KTR-HRM-T&D-SIP
of 1.9, which is < the accepted starting point of 5 (Hair et al.,
2017). This result clears us away from multicollinearity.
(i.e., tacit KTR × HRM practices × on-the-job training and
development) (β = 0.120∗ , ρ = 0.05, R2 = 0.231), which attests
to the relationship between the variables. Thus, the study affirms
that the influence of HRM practices on the tacit KTR-SIP link is
generally pretentious by in-house training and development. The
study used process software to map the corresponding effects to
illustrate further the moderate mechanism of HRM practices and
on-the-job training and development. To more intuitively show
the relationship between variables, we further use the process
plugin to draw a moderation effect graph, as Figure 4 shown.
Figure 4 shows that when on-the-job training and development
become a higher “+1 SD” group (bottom of Figure 4), the positive
influence of HRM practices on the tacit KTR-SIP link will become
higher. Thus, on-the-job training and development positively
moderated the moderating effect of HRM on tacit KTR and SIP,
the study finds support for hypothesis 3a .
Hypothesis 3b projects that HRM practices’ positive effects
on the explicit KTR-SIP link will be strengthened by on-thejob training and development. Table 3, Model 7 demonstrates a
robust positive three-way interaction, which indicates that onthe-job training and development moderates the influence of
HRM practices on the correlation among explicit KTR and SIP
(β = 0.168∗∗ , ρ = 0.01, R2 = 0.235). To more intuitively show
the relationship between variables, we further use the process
plugin to draw a moderation effect graph, as Figure 5 shown.
Figure 5 shows that when on-the-job training and development
become a higher “+1 SD” group (bottom of Figure 5), the
positive influence of HRM practices on the explicit KTR-SIP link
will become higher. Thus, on-the-job training and development
positively moderated the moderating effect of HRM on explicit
KTR and SIP, the study finds support for hypothesis 3b.
Hypothesis 3c proposes that the positive effects of HRM
practices on the tacit KTR-SIP link will be strengthened
by off-the-job training and development. The coefficient
estimates for the three-way interaction effects is robust
and statistically significant (β = 0.196∗∗ , ρ = 0.01, R2 =
0.252, Model 8, Table 3), signifying that off-the-job training and
development influence HRM practices on the tacit KTR-SIP
link. Building on this analysis and to more intuitively show the
relationship between variables, we further use the process plugin
to draw a moderation effect graph, as Figure 6 shown. Figure 6
shows that when off-the-job training and development become a
higher “+1 SD” group (bottom of Figure 6), the positive influence
of HRM practices on the tacit KTR-SIP link will become higher.
Thus, off-the-job training and development positively moderated
the moderating effect of HRM on tacit KTR and SIP, the study
finds support for hypothesis 3c.
Hypothesis 3d proposes that the positive effects of HRM
practices on the explicit KTR-SIP link will be strengthened by
off-the-job training and development. The three-way interaction
among the variables provides a significant level (β = 0.133∗ , ρ =
0.05, R2 = 0.227); see Model 9 in Table 3. In addition, the
study used process software to map the corresponding effects to
illustrate further the moderate mechanism of HRM practices and
off-the-job training and development. To more intuitively show
the relationship between variables, we further use the process
plugin to draw a moderation effect graph, as Figure 7 shown.
Test of Hypotheses
Direct Effect
Hypothesis 1a suggests that there is a positive relationship
between tacit KTR and SIP. From Table 3 (Model 2), our
investigations indicate that tacit KTR is a critical factor that
influences SIP (β = 0.152∗∗ , ρ = 0.01). Besides, the entrance of
tacit KTR provides further significant clarification power 15.4 %
(R2 = 0.154, F = 12.405 =∗∗∗ , p = 0.001) in the variation of
SIP. Thus, hypothesis 1b is confirmed.
Hypothesis 1b states that there is a positive relationship
between explicit KTR and SIP. From Table 3, Model 3, the
results show the coefficient of explicit KTR as positive (β =
0.133∗ , ρ = 0.05) and significant, indicating a strong impact
of explicit KTR on SIP. Besides, the entrance of explicit KTR
provides further significant clarification power 14.9 % (R2 =
0.149, F = 11.954∗∗∗ , p = 0.001) in the variation of subsidiary
innovation activities, therefore supporting hypothesis 1b.
Moderation Effect
Hypothesis 2a predicts that HRM practices positively moderate
the relationship between tacit KTR and SIP. From Table 3, Model
4, the beta for the interaction effect between tacit KTR and
HRM practices are significant and positive (β = 0.174 =∗∗ , ρ =
0.01, R2 = 0.219). As can be seen from Model 4, HRM practices
moderate the association among tacit KTR and SIP. To more
intuitively show the relationship between variables, we further
use the process plugin to draw a moderation effect graph, as
Figure 2 shown. Figure 2 illustrates that the effect of tacit KTR on
SIP is stronger when HRM practices are high (+1 SD). In other
words, when HRM practices become higher, the SIP generated
by the same tacit KTR becomes higher. Thus, HRM practices
positively moderate the relationship between tacit KTR and SIP,
the study finds support for hypothesis 2a .
Hypothesis 2b states that HRM practices positively moderate
the linkage amongst explicit KTR and SIP. The results in Table 3,
Model 5 confirm the facilitating role of HRM practices on
the association among explicit KTR and SIP are statistically
significant (β = 0.145∗∗ , ρ = 0.01, R2 = 0.202). Indeed, the
beta coefficient indicates that HRM practices have influencing
tendencies on the correlation between explicit KTR and SIP as
positive. In addition, to more intuitively show the relationship
between variables, we further use the process plugin to draw a
moderation effect graph, as Figure 3 shown. Figure 3 illustrates
that the effect of explicit KTR on SIP is stronger when HRM
practices are high (+1 SD). In other words, when HRM practices
become higher, the SIP generated by the same explicit KTR
becomes higher. Thus, HRM practices positively moderate the
relationship between explicit KTR and SIP, the study finds
support for hypothesis 2b.
Moderated Moderation Effect
Hypothesis 3a states that on-the-job training and development
moderates the moderation of HRM practices on the tacit KTRSIP link. Table 3, Model 6 illustrates the three-way interaction
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FIGURE 2 | The moderating effects of HRM Practices on the impact of tacit KTR and SIP.
hierarchical regression results. The bootstrap results in Table 4
are basically consistent with the hierarchical regression results in
Table 3, which indicates that the conclusions of this paper are
robust to a certain extent.
Figure 7 shows that when off-the-job training and development
become a higher “+1 SD” group (bottom of Figure 7), the
positive influence of HRM practices on the explicit KTR-SIP link
will become higher. Thus, off-the-job training and development
positively moderated the moderating effect of HRM on explicit
KTR and SIP, the study finds support for hypothesis 3d.
Robustness Test
DISCUSSION, IMPLICATIONS, AND
CONCLUSION
In order to test whether the sample size has sufficient power,
we performed power analysis using the pwr function in the R
language package. In the tacit KTR-HRM practices × off-thejob T&D model with K = 3 (SD/+1SD/–1SD), Cohen’s f value
was 0.309. If the power value reaches 0.8 and is significant (sig.
level = 0.05), the minimum sample size should be 35; similarly,
the minimum sample size required to meet the conditions
calculated in other models in this paper is also less than 40. The
total sample size of this paper reaches 314, so the number is
enough to avoid over-fitting or parameter overestimation.
In addition, to test the robustness of the models, we further
performed a bootstrap test on all moderating effects (bootstrap
5000 samples, Confidence level for confidence intervals 95%). If
the interval does not contain 0, it means that the moderating
effect is robust. The M4–M9 bootstrap results are shown in
Table 4. Bootstrap does not take into account the common factor
extraction of the variables, so there is a slight difference from the
Today’s volatile global market environment has thrust
multinational enterprises and their affiliates to seek survival
antidotes for their operational activities. Academicians have
recognized knowledge transfer as an important weapon for
enterprises’ competitive edge, growth, and survival in the
international marketplace (Foss and Pedersen, 2019). Although
scholarship has shown that knowledge management offers
important signals to firm innovation, few studies have considered
how knowledge transfer dimensions from headquarters make
sense and influence innovation performance. Using the
multinational foreign subsidiaries operating in the Chinese
market as a context, we constructed a moderated moderation
model to scrutinize the linkage amongst KTR dimensions and SIP
as well as the effect mechanisms of HRM practices and training
and development types on such relationships. Using a survey
dataset from 314 subsidiaries of foreign multinational enterprises
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Relationship Between KTR-HRM-T&D-SIP
FIGURE 3 | The moderating effects of HRM Practices on the impact of explicit KTR and SIP.
FIGURE 4 | The moderated moderation effects of on-the-job T&D on HRM practices, tacit KTR and SIP.
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Relationship Between KTR-HRM-T&D-SIP
FIGURE 5 | The moderated moderation effects of on-the-job T&D on HRM practices, explicit KTR and SIP.
FIGURE 6 | The moderated moderation effects of off-the-job T&D on HRM practices, tacit KTR and SIP.
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FIGURE 7 | The moderated moderation effects of off-the-job T&D on HRM practices, explicit KTR and SIP.
Anh et al., 2006; Ahammad et al., 2016; Magnier-Watanabe and
Benton, 2017) and innovation performance (Cavusgil et al.,
2003; Harlow, 2008; Wang and Li, 2016; Terhorst et al., 2018;
Asbari et al., 2019; Pérez-Luño et al., 2019; Berraies et al., 2021).
Liu et al.’s (2019) studies on the impact of knowledge transfer
dimensions on emerging market multinational enterprises’
innovation performance reveal a positive result. In contrast,
tacit and explicit KTR and SIP have rarely been probed. From
the statistical discoveries of this research, we suggest that tacit
and explicit KTR are strategic resources that subsidiaries should
leverage to shape and implement innovation performance, which,
in turn, create a competitive advantage. Thus, the results
indicate that KTR dimensions are a critical determinant of the
subsidiaries’ innovation performance and highlight that the tacit
KTR effect on SIP (β = 0.152∗∗ , ρ < 0.01) is greater than
the explicit KTR effect on SIP (β = 0.133∗ , ρ < 0.05). The
conclusions reveal that tacit KTR plays a significant role in
subsidiaries’ superior innovation performance. The discoveries
are somewhat in line with the theoretical research conducted by
scholars like Arnett et al. (2021) and Crespo et al. (2022) which
reveal a significant role of tacit knowledge in creating competitive
differentiation. Interestingly, Crespo et al. (2022) assert that
tacit knowledge exerts conflicting facilitating influences on
the transfers of marketing knowledge, carrying dissimilar
insinuations for a subsidiary’s knowledge management. In all,
our empirical results are somewhat in line with scholarships that
TABLE 4 | Robustness test by bootstrap.
Model
Coeff
Se
p
LLCI
ULCI
M4
0.1749
0.0525
0.0010
0.0717
0.2781
M5
0.1519
0.0537
0.0050
0.0461
0.2576
M6
0.0956
0.0442
0.0314
0.0086
0.1826
M7
0.1718
0.0590
0.0039
0.0556
0.2879
M8
0.1598
0.0537
0.0031
0.0542
0.2654
M9
0.1241
0.0456
0.0068
0.0345
0.2138
located in China, our HLM analysis yielded six overarching
results for all the proposed associations while controlling for
subsidiary age, size, R&D intensity, and industry type. First,
KTR dimensions contribute to SIP. Secondly, HRM practices
can positively moderate KTR dimensions and SIP. Thirdly, the
positive effect of HRM practices on the KTR dimensions-SIP
link increases when on-the-job and off-the-job training and
development is high.
Theoretical Contributions
The study advances theory in several ways. First, the current
paper contributes to advancing the RBV to comprehend
what causes subsidiaries’ innovation performance. Previous
studies have dissected the association between knowledge
transfer dimensions and performance (Dhanaraj et al., 2004;
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Relationship Between KTR-HRM-T&D-SIP
Third, we provide fresh insight into the influencing
mechanism of on-the-job and off-the-job training and
development on the HRM practices effect on the KTR
dimensions-SIP link. Although aspects of training and
development types (Boadu et al., 2018; Dostie, 2018) and
HRM practices (Kaabi et al., 2018; Lee et al., 2019; Li
et al., 2019) have received attention separately in different
models, but the variables’ combined effect is rare in the
extant work. Our conclusions from the HLM suggest that
workforces develop high morale and pay attention when
managers or policymakers of an establishment provide higherlevel competency on-the-job and off-the-job training and
development programs to acquire new skills and knowledge
by observing, imitating, and modeling others who are credible
and more knowledgeable in a social context, memorize and
reproduce to enhance HRM activities and KTR dimensions
activities for greater innovation performance which invariably
is capable of influencing organizational success. In general,
the results reveal that training and development types, HRM
activities, and knowledge assets are the foremost driving
forces of essential vicissitudes in the technological path,
which is very vital for enterprises to adjust and infiltrate
prevailing market configurations and obtain a competitive
edge in emergent client markets. We have made significant
progress in developing an unfathomable comprehending of the
dynamic of firm resources and their counterbalancing effects
within the knowledge and innovation literature. Besides, our
conclusions complement the legitimacy of RBV at a knowledge
and innovation level of analysis.
have proved a significant linkage amongst knowledge transfer
dimensions and innovation outcome (Cavusgil et al., 2003;
Harlow, 2008; Wang and Li, 2016; Terhorst et al., 2018; Asbari
et al., 2019; Liu et al., 2019; Pérez-Luño et al., 2019; Berraies
et al., 2021). While applying RBV to the knowledge-innovation
outcome relationship, we postulate that knowledge is a critical
resource and shares the characteristics of rarity, unpredictability,
and rigidity for actors to copy or reproduce (Guan and Frenkel,
2018; Li et al., 2019). Thus, we provide novel insights into a
critical antecedent in cultivating the innovation capability of
subsidiaries in emerging economies.
Second, scholars like Sánchez et al. (2015) and Sarala et al.
(2016) accentuated the significant role of HRM practices in
organizations and pointed out that notable issues related to
HRM practices’ facilitating effect on the knowledge transferenterprise performance link remain underexplored. Previous
research explains how HRM practices work in tandem with
knowledge transfer to enhance innovation outcomes (Chuang
et al., 2016; Li et al., 2019). These studies generally emphasize
the mediation consequence of knowledge transfer in the linkage
amongst HRM and enterprise innovation outcomes (Jackson
et al., 2014). With a few scholarships accentuating the HRM
practices’ facilitating effect on the knowledge acquisitioninnovation performance relationship (Papa et al., 2020). In
response to calls by these authors (Sánchez et al., 2015;
Sarala et al., 2016) for inspections of the HRM practices’
facilitating effect on the knowledge-enterprise performance link,
we proposed a two-way interaction model (i.e., HRM practices
and tacit and explicit KTR) into innovation performance which
has rarely been investigated. Our findings demonstrate that
HRM practices and KTR dimensions are critical resources
that subsidiaries should hinge on to implement innovation
performance. The study discoveries are somewhat in line
with the theoretical research conducted on the facilitating
role of HRM practices on the correlation between knowledge
acquisition and innovation outcome by Papa et al. (2020).
While applying RBV to the above relationship, we postulate
that human resources (i.e., workforce) are vital and strategic
among the organization’s resources (Barney, 1991; Li et al.,
2019) and should be valued, rigid, and unpredictable in
a way that it becomes problematic for actors to copy or
reproduce (Guan and Frenkel, 2018; Li et al., 2019). Thus,
well-developed HRM practices can enhance the workforces’
capabilities, commitment, and motivation, to grasp vital
knowledge transfer information (Caligiuri, 2014), and contribute
effectively to innovation performance (Papa et al., 2020).
Equally, the study compliments RBV theory and postulates
that firms should project and implement HRM practices that
aim at enticing, inspiring, gratifying, and sustaining employee
job behaviors to support KTR dimensions for process and
product innovation to achieve superior SIP. In other words,
with well-developed HRM practices, subsidiaries are more able
to cultivate groundbreaking products and services to achieve
superior innovation performance (Andries and Czarnitzki, 2014;
Papa et al., 2020). Hence, the present scholarship incorporates the
RBV theory and demonstrates why and how HRM practices and
KTR dimensions stimulate SIP.
Frontiers in Psychology | www.frontiersin.org
Practical Contribution
The findings emanating from the study suggest the following
important practical implications for IB practitioners and
policymakers. First, the role and significance of knowledge in
innovation performance cannot be overemphasized in emerging
economies (Boadu et al., 2018). Our findings suggest that
emerging market subsidiaries, tacit and explicit KTR could
be an effective way to promote innovation performance.
These dimensions are integral elements of the RBV (Boadu
et al., 2018) and can be considered as an essential asset for
organizational success and sustainable competitive advantage
(Quartey, 2019). We suggest that executives should pay attention
and offer the necessary protection for firms’ knowledge resources,
especially tacit knowledge which is an unobservable resource
to enhance innovation strategies (Sprinkle and Urick, 2018)
toward sustainable competitive advantage (Quartey, 2019).
Besides, we suggest that top management should strengthen their
collaboration and cooperation with both internal and external
partners for knowledge exchange. Certainly, the linkage can
offer firms access to a direct or indirect resource (including
a wide range of technology and specific talent) which can
broaden their internal competence to speedily address customers
and environmental needs, thereby improving innovation output.
Secondly, the findings of the study direct to the significance
of scrutinizing the influence of HRM practices, which can
provide a dynamic role in the triumph of emerging market
subsidiaries. We suggest that executives must comprehend HR
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Relationship Between KTR-HRM-T&D-SIP
ownership type of subsidiaries, collaborative know-how, prior
experience, learning capacity, and organizational supports
(Boadu et al., 2021b; Shi et al., 2021). In future studies,
we believe that researchers can scrutinize the correlation
between the constructs under the moderating mechanisms of
these factors to offer an unfathomable comprehension of the
association among them. Besides, future researchers should
consider other mediating variables (e.g., organizational agility
and cross-border search capability) to expand the model.
Third, hierarchical culture is assessed as contributing factor
to innovation (Boadu et al., 2022), future inquiry needs to
capitalize on the prospects of hierarchical culture by incessantly
examining its association with knowledge management process
to create superior innovation for subsidiaries. Fourth, the
study focused on only foreign subsidiaries in China and
did not consider other hosts and domestic peers. In future
inquiries, researchers should include other host countries in
their investigations. Especially, future studies could use multicountry data to examine the contingent effects of institutional
environments on the relationships we explored in this paper.
Finally, future researchers could engage contextual countrylevel factors such as government grants, and environmental
dynamism among others to set the difference regarding the
subsidiary’s sensibility to knowledge transfer drives toward
innovation capabilities.
policies and promote initiatives to spark HRM practices to
innovation, along with specific KTR activities that can be valuable
to enhance innovation (Papa et al., 2020). In the same vein,
executives must also invest in HRM practices and consider it
as a critical asset to steer human resources (Guest, 2017; Li
et al., 2019) to complement KTR dimensions toward achieving
better innovation performance. Thus, effective and efficient HRM
practices or designs may stimulate the workforce behavior in
grasping KTR dimensions more effectively to create new ideas,
products, and services to improve innovation output. Thirdly,
the finding of a positive effect of on-the-job and off-the-job
training and development on the impact of HRM practices on
the KTR dimensions-SIP linkages, suggests that the training and
development programs are critical motivational and learning
resources for organizations. High-level on-the-job and off-thejob training and development encourage HRM practices, which
can be valuable to SIP. We suggest that the executive must invest
in training and development activities to boost workforce morale
and creative thinking toward organizational activities. Regular
seminars and training sessions can change workforce attitude
and perception of crucial organizational issues and emphasize
corporate novelty strategies, which can enhance grander
innovation activities. Besides, we suggest that executives should
focus on the universal application of on-the-job and off-the-job
training and development, HRM practices, and KTR dimensions
to enhance SIP. The amalgamation of these variables can
create a variance in the industry. Fourth, pertinent government
agencies should vigorously guide and inspire multinational
enterprises’ subsidiaries to “create capacity-building activities.”
For instance, government agencies can energetically guide
enterprises to “create capacity-building activities” by enhancing
related laws and protocols, granting preferential interest rates,
and granting tax rebates and affordable loans, specifically in
the pharmaceutical and electronics industries as they hinge
on knowhow. An increase in enterprises’ HRM activities can
bring social cohesion among workforces and foster knowledge
transmission, which, in turn, enhance their technological
innovation capabilities. Also, an increased innovation capacity
building can bring divergent innovative ideas from workforces to
lift the country’s innovation index. In addition, emerging market
authorities should create an enabling environment that will shield
the intellectual properties and transparency of multinational
enterprises’ subsidiaries toward the creation of a sustainable
knowledge economy.
DATA AVAILABILITY STATEMENT
The raw data supporting the conclusions of this article will be
made available by the authors, without undue reservation.
AUTHOR CONTRIBUTIONS
YX, FB, ZC, and AO contributed to conception and design of
the study. YX and FB collected the data. YX, FB, ZC, and AO
analyzed the data and wrote the initial draft of the manuscript
and putting forward the main propositions. FB and AO were
responsible for reviewing and editing the manuscript. All authors
contributed to manuscript revision, and read and approved the
submitted version.
FUNDING
Limitations and Future Direction
This study was supported by the City-School Cooperation Project
of Dazhou Science and Technology Bureau (Project number
DZKJJ2020S05) and Chongqing Social Science Planning Project
(Project number 2022WT03).
The paper possesses some shortcomings. First, all the empirical
findings exhibited by this research stem from quantitative data,
which was employed to examine the research phenomenon;
it could be necessary for future researchers to engage the
qualitative method to shed more light on the association
among the variables. Second, the current research only
considers the association among the constructs under the
control roles of subsidiary age, size, R&D intensity, and
industry type to account for dissimilarities in innovation
outcome without considering their moderating influences or
the other moderating roles of strategic variables such as
Frontiers in Psychology | www.frontiersin.org
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
We acknowledge the detailed guidance and comments offered
to us by the Frontiers in Psychology editor and reviewers to
improve the manuscript.
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