This empirical article focuses on the phenomenon of trust and its infl uence on the trilogy of the following interrelated factors that are crucial to the success of international business cooperations and their economic results: knowledge creation, knowledge sharing, and knowledge transfer. Trust is expected and desired by many business partners, but it is also abused by others. The term trust, due to its intangible and invisible nature, is often ignored or superfi cially treated by companies. However, when trust does not exist between international cooperation partners or is not nurtured, negative relationships and fi nancial implications occur. These lacunae could be explained due to the difficulty in quantifying as a fi nancial asset. The article presents qualitative fi ndings (from two empirical research studies): (1) the implications of trust development for knowledge transfer between Russian-and German-speaking companies, and (2) the infl uence of trust on knowledge sharing in the completion of an Austrian construction project. The authors applied phenomenological interviewing and observations of critical incidents or signifi cant occurrences, combined with comparative content analysis. The positive infl uence of trust on the aforementioned trilogy results in higher levels of the involved companies' innovativeness, culminating in higher levels of competitive advantage and profi tability. The empirical fi ndings are presented to explain the infl uence of trust on knowledge creation, sharing, and transfer, which have a bearing on intercultural cooperations. One innovative fi nding relates to the differentiated perception of emotions and the implications that this entails.

The rapid development of western European knowledge‐based societies has a drastic effect on the development of eastern European societies. Special attention should be paid to the past three years of economic crisis, where a shift of existing economic paradigms has occurred. In order to navigate through these turbulent times, many companies, as an option to survive or expand, have formed cross‐border alliances and cooperations. Due to these cross‐border initiatives, the geographic movement of employees and, implicitly, the flow of intellectual capital, play an important role. Paradoxically, however, the process of knowledge transfer has been affected by several shortcomings, for example, the knowledge receiver's lack of absorptive capacity or cognitive learning, a knowledge applicability gap, or the rise of knowledge sharing barriers. The reason for this situation lies in the flawed knowledge transfer process. This approach is characterized by a unidirectional flow of knowledge from the West, reflecting an ethnocentric approach; inappropriate attitudes on behalf of the knowledge transmitter and the knowledge receiver; by knowledge not being culturally embedded, which leads to an alienation of knowledge; and, finally, to a lack of cultural awareness and preparedness on behalf of the westerners. This article applies a phenomenological approach. By using grounded theory, it contributes to a better understanding of the complexity of the problems and its implications on management from a multidisciplinary perspective. It provides solutions to improve the knowledge transfer process between eastern and western European cooperations based on an intercultural and reciprocal methodology and a new conducive learning environment. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

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Purpose -Effectively managing the cultural environment is an important stepping stone towards international business success. Cultural problems, especially between partners coming from diametrically different cultural categories represent one of the key challenges of knowledge management in international business co-operations. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the influence of controversial cultural attitudes on collaboration and the use of most diverse knowledge capital of employees being regarded as a key resource for innovation and competitive advantage. Design/methodology/approach -Based on a comprehensive literature review, the very extensive data collection phase, applying the case study method, was carried out over a 13 month period. It mainly consisted of in-depth interviews requiring 23 of them to reach theoretical saturation, non-participant and participant observation (seven), focus groups (four) and fieldtrip notes in two culturally diverse Russian and Austrian research settings. Theoretical sampling was used to select the participants. The grounded theory method of constant comparative analysis was used to analyze the gathered data. Findings -The attitude towards sharing the precious resource of diverse employees' knowledge regarded as a prerequisite to international business success is influenced by national cultures. Protective attitudes for knowledge sharing limit the growth of humans' and the company's development. This paper suggests that providing the appropriate knowledge management tools and environment, especially referring to the soft aspects of emotions, will enhance and even change former institutionalised and ingrained patterns of behaviours. Therefore, the paper sheds light on the knowledge sharing contingency depending more on a social-cognitive state rather than a static hierarchical status. Originality/value -The paper poses two innovative organizational memory conceptualizations based on respondents' needs and demands entailing a synthesis of knowledge management and interpersonal interactions to achieve the highest level of efficiency and high degrees of knowledge sharing and absorption. It bridges the gap of purely knowledge based and unemotional management tools towards a lively and engaging tool. This would appear to be the first time that an investigation of this type has been conducted explaining culturally influenced factors of knowledge management in Eastern and Western European co-operations.