Title: The impact of internal marketing on knowledge sharing capability

Authors: Pantea Foroudi; Reza Marvi; Saheb Imani

Addresses: Brunel Business School, London, England, UK ' Aston Business School, Birmingham, UK ' Azad University, Tehran, Iran

Abstract: Despite the growing interest of policymakers and scholars to better understand the impact of internal marketing capabilities on social capital and knowledge sharing capability, little is known about how the specific antecedents of knowledge sharing capability can explain variations in performance from a migrant science, technology, engineering and mathematics professionals' (STEM) perception. What are the influences of trust and absorptive capacity in the relationships among internal marketing capabilities, social capital and entrepreneurial orientation with knowledge sharing capability in multinational corporations? The study is based on a sample of 438 migrant STEM-professionals among MNCs from multi-industries such as higher education, engineering, telecoms, technology and information systems, automotive, chemical and pharmaceutical industries, and provides evidence of a significant gap. This paper shows that growing immigrant diversity and internal marketing capabilities impact on entrepreneurial orientation and social capital. Entrepreneurial orientation and social capital influence knowledge sharing capability. Also, knowledge sharing has a direct impact on capability performance. Based upon the research findings, this paper offers policy implications which policymakers can adopt that place particular emphasis on the determinant role of absorptive capacity in improving knowledge sharing capabilities by employees and firms to improve the organisation's performance.

Keywords: internal marketing capabilities; entrepreneurial orientation; social capital; knowledge sharing capability; STEM-professionals; MNCs.

DOI: 10.1504/EJIM.2026.150365

European Journal of International Management, 2026 Vol.28 No.1, pp.124 - 165

Received: 10 Oct 2019
Accepted: 03 Oct 2020
Published online: 12 Dec 2025 *

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