Antecedents and Consequences of Effective Knowledge Integration: An Empirical Study in the Manufacturing Context

Several operations management researchers have considered the role of knowledge integration (KI) activities in coping with uncertain environments and improving organizational performance. The previous research focused on investigating and defining KI conceptually and ignored the need to investigate and define KI operationally. Therefore, there are doubts about how to develop effective KI capability and implement it at the organizational level. This study provides detailed explanations and guidelines for researchers and practitioners about KI, its antecedents and consequences. This research meets the needs of manufacturing management practitioners and researchers by providing an operational definition of how to integrate internal and external knowledge to manage environmental uncertainty and enhance a firm's overall performance. This research is built on an integrated perspective of operations management and knowledge management using a number of theories that include Knowledge Based View (KBV), Dynamic Capability (DC), and Contingency Theory (CT). This integrated perspective helps clarify how the implementation of internal integration and external integration practices can lead to effective development of knowledge integration capability.;This study offers an in-depth understanding of knowledge integration (KI) capability and its related activities. Hypotheses of this research are developed on the relationships among the antecedents of KI (internal integration and external integration), knowledge integration capability, and the consequences of KI capability (mass customization, operational performance and the firm's performance). The study provides five significant contributions to manufacturing management research. First, it explores the antecedents (or the facilitators) that an organization should implement before developing a successful KI capability. Second, it provides an operational definition of KI that was not available in the manufacturing literature. Third, it explains the importance of building effective KI by showing the positive relationship between KI and mass customization, operational performance, and the firm's performance. Fourth, it developed valid and reliable measures for constructs such as KI and Internal Integration. Fifth, it helps an organization's management to plan for successful development of KI capability and its related activities.