Research On The Influencing Factors Of Knowledge Transfer Between Projects In Engineering Consulting Enterprises Based On FsQCA

In the era of the knowledge economy,knowledge has become the core resource for constructing enterprise capability,and the ability to efficiently utilize knowledge has become an important basis for enterprises to gain a competitive advantage.Engineering consulting enterprises are both knowledge-intensive enterprises and project-based organizations,and the efficient utilization of knowledge is of great significance to the quality improvement of engineering consulting projects and the transformation and upgrading of engineering consulting enterprises.However,in practice,the internal knowledge of engineering consulting enterprises is often lost due to the dissolution of the project team after the end of the project or the neglect of project knowledge accumulation by the enterprises themselves,and the knowledge resources do not reach their maximum utility.Therefore,how engineering consulting enterprises acquire,absorb,and apply knowledge across projects to empower their engineering consulting projects,i.e.,whether engineering consulting enterprises can effectively accumulate and reuse the knowledge of each project for other projects,is the focus of this study.Based on the configuration perspective and fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis(fsQCA)method,this study explores the modes of inter-project knowledge transfer in engineering consulting enterprises and then analyzes the mechanisms of various modes in depth by combining actual enterprise project cases.Firstly,by sorting out a large amount of literature in the field of knowledge transfer research,we summarize the process of inter-project knowledge transfer in engineering consulting enterprises and extract six important factors that affect knowledge transfer between projects,namely "knowledge learning willingness,knowledge transfer willingness,tacit knowledge,project urgency,incentive factors,and knowledge transfer platform",as well as the outcome variable "knowledge transfer effect".Secondly,based on the literature research,a research model was proposed,and a questionnaire was formed by drawing on the mature scale of existing research.182 valid questionnaires were collected,and four inter-project knowledge transfer models were obtained by using fsQCA3.0 software for configuration analysis after conducting reliability analysis on the questionnaire data.Finally,after pre-interviewing 13 projects of engineering consulting enterprises,four of them were selected as case study objects,and the linkage mechanisms among the influencing factors in the above four knowledge transfer modes were identified based on case analysis.The study shows that:(1)there are five different configurations to achieve good knowledge transfer between projects,which can be summarized into four transfer modes,namely M1 mode: willingness to learn*～tacit knowledge*～project urgency*knowledge transfer platform;M2a and M2 b modes: willingness to learn*tacit knowledge*project urgency*motivating factors;M3 mode: willingness to transfer*～tacit knowledge*knowledge transfer platform;M4 mode : willingness to transfer*motivating factors*knowledge transfer platform.(2)Single factor does not constitute a necessary condition for achieving a good knowledge transfer effect between projects,but the interaction between factors can generate equivalent paths leading to good knowledge transfer between projects.(3)The knowledge transfer platform appears as a core condition in all three models,indicating that the knowledge transfer platform is crucial in the inter-project knowledge transfer process.(4)Whether project urgency or non-project urgency conditions exist,enterprises can choose appropriate knowledge transfer modes and formulate relevant countermeasures according to their own conditions to realize the benign coupling of other factors with project urgency or non-project urgency,thus triggering good inter-project knowledge transfer effects.This study introduces configuration theory into the study of inter project knowledge transfer,which helps to further enrich the existing knowledge transfer theory and expand the application field of configuration theory.Practical management suggestions are proposed on the basis of empirical research and case studies,which provide the value of theory guiding practice for inter-project knowledge transfer in engineering consulting enterprises.