Knowledge Integration and Free Riding in Large Organisations: Exploring Governance Mechanisms, Behvaiour and Performances

A prevalent claim is that we are in a knowledge economy. An increasingly influential argument is that the division of labour is becoming complex and firms can be viewed as networks of knowledge nodes, that is, sets of interacting individuals with key skills and competencies. Firms competitive advantage relies in their ability to enact intellectual production processes that require bridging talents within an organisation. Building intra-organisational networks of skills, however, may request the enactment of social processes of leading to the sharing of competencies and the exchange of information. The issue, then, becomes one of understanding the circumstances under which firms provide an appropriate context to promote cooperation among individuals bearing specific skills and to mould social networking within organisations. By the means of simulation experiments, we investigate how cooperation may emerge in organisational contexts. In particular, we focus on the role of imitation of pro-social policies and explore role played by scope of interaction dynamics in fostering cooperation.