Knowledge
is a vital source of competitive advantage and renewal for contemporary
organizations. However, to date, few studies have scrutinized how mergers and
acquisitions (M&As)—processes dependent on knowledge sharing—offer a
valuable inter-organizational context through which to understand the attainment
of customer knowledge sharing following M&As. Applying an integrated
theoretical perspective from customer relationship management and M&A
performance research, we study a Chinese–Finnish acquisition and customer firms
of the acquired party across four advanced Western countries. We find that
customer knowledge sharing is an active relationship management process that relies
on the factors of customer dedication-based motivation vs. customer concerns
about M&As to maintain relationships after acquisitions. In addition, and
more importantly, we find that the promise management mechanisms—making
promises, enabling promises, and keeping promises—of the M&A parties reinforce
the motivational factors to maintain customer knowledge sharing in cross-border
M&As. We propose a conceptual framework of customer knowledge sharing in cross-border
M&As.