Knowledge Transfer With Partial Template Twenty-second Americas Conference on Information Systems, San Diego, 2016 1 Videos in the Choupal: Knowledge Transfer with Partial Template (Full Paper) Israr Qureshi IE Business School israr.qureshi@ie.edu Christopher Sutter Miami University sutterc@miamioh.edu Babita Bhatt IE University babita.bhatt@ie.edu Abstract Extant research suggests that the use of templates may facilitate the transfer of sticky knowledge. However, the use of templates is prohibitively costly. We examine the use of ‘partial templates,’ which we define as incomplete representations of the knowledge intended for transfer, and ask: “What determines the degree of success of knowledge transfer when a partial template is used?” We explore a theoretically extreme case of knowledge-transfer using partial templates among rural Indian farmers. We find that the success of transfer through a partial template depends to a large extent on the re-creation of knowledge through high- quality dialogue, which depends on the extent to which the social context of knowledge reception facilitates inclusion, participation, and trust. We seek to contribute to theory by developing the concept of partial templates, highlighting the role of knowledge re-creation, and better understanding how the social context of reception influences the success of knowledge transfer. Keywords Knowledge transfer, partial templates, social exclusion, knowledge recreation, agricultural practices Introduction Knowledge is a central construct in understanding organizations and organizing (Szulanski, 2003). Knowledge provides one basis for individual firms’ competitive advantage (Argote & Ingram, 2000; Szulanski, 2003) and can also be the basis for improvements in the productivity and efficiency of entire industries and markets. Given the importance of knowledge within and across organizations, knowledge transfer has received a great deal of attention within the literature (e.g. Argote & Ingram, 2000; Gupta & Govindarajan, 2000; Jensen & Szulanski, 2007). Knowledge transfer is particularly valuable because knowledge is non-rivalrous in use – it can be leveraged in new places without depleting the original stock. However, the transfer of knowledge is often difficult and costly (Teece, 1976) and for this reason knowledge has been described as ‘sticky’ (Szulanski, 2003). Extant research highlights how templates – working instances of knowledge – offer a valuable mechanism for transferring knowledge (Jensen & Szulanski, 2007). The use of templates allows recipients to observe the knowledge in situ and therefore capture nearly every detail as the knowledge is precisely replicated (Jensen & Szulanski, 2007). While templates offer a relatively robust mechanism for knowledge transfer, research also suggests that the use of templates may at times be prohibitively costly (Sutter et al., 2014). In such cases, organizations may use partial templates, which we define as incomplete representations of the knowledge to be transferred. Such partial templates communicate general guidance for knowledge recipients, but lack the same richness of detail present in a working template. For example, many organizations rely on technology-based platforms to replicate knowledge rather than having knowledge recipients interact directly with a working template. While such approaches reduce costs, they may also lead to gaps in the transferred knowledge given the inherent limitations of partial templates in transmitting the tacit aspects of knowledge (c.f. Roberts, 2000). While such partial templates are widespread in practice, we know little about what determines the success of knowledge transfer using partial templates. Such an understanding may have important theoretical and practical implications. For example, while knowledge