Antecedents of a Translation Theory of Knowledge Transfer

Abstract

AbstractThis chapter presents the antecedents of the translation theory of knowledge transfer, which is ideas, perspectives, and metaphors imported from disciplines other than knowledge transfer studies. The first section of the chapter is devoted to questions about the development of new theories of organization and management. What are the challenges, the pros, and the cons of attempts to make theories based on borrowings from other disciplines? This discussion and its insights are related to the challenges of outlining a translation theory of knowledge transfer. The second (and main) part of the chapter addresses the two antecedents of the theory: insights from translation studies, a school of thought that originated from linguistics in the early 1970s; and the French/Scandinavian translation school in organization studies. Concepts, arguments, images, and models are borrowed from these disciplines, thus providing essential elements to the theory-building process.