Knowledge Transfer Between Senior and Novice Software Testers: A Qualitative Analysis in Sri Lankan Software Companies

Introduction

Knowledge is a critical organizational resource and the primary source of the sustainable competitive advantage in a competitive economy. Management of this knowledge is the key to long-term sustainability and success of the organization. Effective and efficient management of knowledge is not possible without a proper process of knowledge transfer, where knowledge transfer is a cornerstone for managing knowledge. Knowledge creation and transfer in an organization are inseparable from learning; all knowledge processes are in fact the consequence of learning (Mehra & Dhawan, 2003). Knowledge Transfer in organizations can be defined as “the process through which one unit (e.g., group, department, or division) is affected by the experience of another”. Knowledge Transfer, in essence, is the sharing of one’s ideas, insights, solutions, experiences with another individual (Nidhra, Yanamadala, Afzal, & Torkar, 2013).

The software development process is a team effort that requires a combination of knowledge and skills of team members who involve in the software development activities (Ranasinghe & Jayawardana, 2011; Vasanthapriyan, Xiang, Tian, & Xiong, 2017a; Wickramasinghe & Widyaratne, 2012). The collaborative and knowledge-intensive characteristic of software development activities signifies the importance of effective knowledge transfer in order to disseminate required software knowledge across development teams (Kukko & Helander, 2012). Knowledge transfer is the fundamental mean in which employees can contribute their knowledge towards the competitive advantage of the organization through innovations. Knowledge transfer between employees within and across development teams allows organizations to exploit and capitalize on knowledge-based resources.

Transfer of information may take place through social systems, like organizations, groups, and individuals. Transfer of information among entities is a dyadic mechanism through which seekers/recipients learn and appreciate senders' knowledge and adapt it to a different situation. Four consecutive phases of the knowledge transfer cycle are quest, reading, training, and understand. Transfer of expertise increases team performance through cooperative training, such as software project progress and judgment reliability. Knowledge transfer varies markedly from knowledge sharing, which is often calculated by the communication of individuals' purpose and actions, as the latter stresses on the use of data and the development of knowledge values. Stresses on the use of data and the development of knowledge values relate to the “provision of job information and know-how to support others”. Sharing knowledge is unable to close the “knowledge gap”, which has an inconsistent effect on team performance in existing studies. They see the transfer of knowledge as a tool for advancing current understanding (Wang, Huang, Davison, & Yang, 2018).

Another distinction in knowledge transfer and knowledge sharing is that sender and recipient are similarly important in the transmission of social knowledge while exchanging knowledge focuses solely on the purpose and actions of senders to add knowledge. Several literature reviews show that in data-intensive contexts analysis of knowledge transfer enablers, obstacles, and mitigation strategies cannot neglect considerations regarding participants ' resources, their interactions, and their contexts. Work on knowledge sharing has unraveled that sharing purpose and behavior can be fostered by sharers ' personality of enjoying support, understanding of rewards, recipient confidence, and social norms such as reciprocity and participation (Wang et al., 2018).