Market Knowledge Tacitness Scale

What it measures

Measures the extent to which a firm's market knowledge is tacit — not explicit but difficult to codify, document, and communicate without personal experience. Based on Szulanski's (1996) operationalization. Higher scores indicate more tacit (harder to articulate) market knowledge.

Response format

Likert

Scale items

• Market knowledge competencies are difficult to comprehensively document in manuals or reports.
• Market knowledge competencies are difficult to comprehensively understand from written documents.
• Market knowledge competencies are difficult to identify without personal experience in using them.
• Market knowledge competencies are difficult to precisely communicate through written documents.

Full scale items shown. Always cite the original source when using this scale in research.

Usage notes & scoring

CR = .86, AVE = .61. Adapted from Szulanski (1996). 5-point scale (1='strongly disagree', 5='strongly agree'). Stem: 'Market knowledge competencies are difficult to…'. One item dropped: 'There is no precise list of market knowledge skills necessary to successfully perform our activities'. Market knowledge tacitness had no significant effect on KIMs or product innovation performance in this study — a surprising null finding discussed at length.

Recommended companion scales

Citation

De Luca, L.M. & Atuahene-Gima, K. (2007). Market knowledge dimensions and cross-functional collaboration: Examining the different routes to product innovation performance. Journal of Marketing, 71(1), 95–112.

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