Diaspora and knowledge transfer: The case of the balik scientist program awardees

• Main Author: Nidera, Kimberleen Marie B.
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Animo Repository 2023
• Subjects: Knowledge management; Balik Scientist Program; Japanese Studies; Migration Studies
• Online Access: https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/etdm_intlstud/37
• Institution: De La Salle University

Knowledge is not all lost during migration. Though there are negative effects of brain drain, migration can also lead to the exchange or circulation of knowledge from the receiving country to the country of origin (Meyer, 2001). The transfer of knowledge learned from one source to another is called “knowledge transfer.” This paper looks into one of the Philippine government’s programs for knowledge transfer: the Balik Scientist Program (BSP). Through qualitative interviews with BSP awardees, the study shows that BSP awardees, through return or diaspora model, become successful conduits of knowledge transfer from their host countries to the Philippines. The awardees transferred new knowledge through both tacit and explicit knowledge transfer mechanisms. Factors that contribute to successful knowledge transfer include: the awardees’ motivation to be future knowledge channels, the host countries being proper venues for the diffusion of knowledge, the Philippines and its recipients having the absorptive capacity, the recipients’ openness, establishing rapport, and good government intervention. These factors solved potential problems with the difficulty of recognizing opportunities to transfer knowledge, language, abandonment of knowledge after learning, and reverting to status quo, among others. However, the research also found that there are still limitations that are yet to be overcome by the BSP.