Factors influencing informal cross-border knowledge sharing via enterprise social software

Knowledge sharing is an essential activity for achieving a sustainable competitive advantage in today’s multinational companies (MNCs). The difficulty for an MNC’s geographically and functionally dispersed knowledge workers to informally share their knowledge across borders gives rise to enterprise social software platforms (ESSPs) and their tools to facilitate the sharing activity. In light of knowledge worker reluctance to contribute to these tools, this research analyzes determinants of an ESSP’s tools adoption and usage behaviour. This research addresses one main research question with three sub-questions. The main question investigates the factors that influence a knowledge worker’s willingness and contributions to informal cross-border knowledge sharing via an ESSP’s tools. The sub-questions explore a knowledge worker’s attitude, behavioural intention, and behavioural usage, through identifying motivational drivers and inhibiting barriers. Exploratory qualitative research was employed within this empirical study to answer the research questions through conducting nine semi-structured interviews. All interviewees were knowledge workers within one case company which provided an ESSP with the following tools exhibiting varying usage: user profiles, a wiki, and a discussion board. Content analysis of the data was structured around the theory of planned behaviour, the unified theory of the acceptance and use of technology, and social relationship theories. This resulted in the development of an integrative framework which illuminated the interrelated influence of individual, technological, and social factors resulting in a knowledge worker’s adoption and behavioural usage of an organization’s ESSP’s tools for informally sharing their knowledge across borders. In addition to individual attitudinal determinants, behavioural intention was found to be influenced primarily by the existence of technological motivational drivers in the form of perceived valued outcomes and inhibiting barriers embodied by one’s perceived effort. These were moderated by social factors related to one’s perceived social influence for each tool and the perceived support from the contextual organizational environment.fi=Opinnäytetyö kokotekstinä PDF-muodossa.|en=Thesis fulltext in PDF format.|sv=Lärdomsprov tillgängligt som fulltext i PDF-format

An Annotated Bibliography of Recent Literature on Current Developments in Philanthropy

As philanthropic organizations play an increasingly important role in societies around the world, the research on philanthropy – from giving and volunteering practices to regulatory frameworks to digital innovations – has also evolved in recent decades. It is important to develop a thorough overview of the relevant scientific discourses and literature on current developments in philanthropy. This will allow researchers and practitioners to enhance the understanding of philanthropy and to improve its practice worldwide. This report provides new insights on current developments and important changes in the global philanthropic landscape, including trends in global philanthropy and its interaction with other sectors of society

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Expatriates managers' cultural intelligence as promoter of knowledge transfer in multinational companies

This study analyzes the role of the Cultural Intelligence (CQ) of expatriate managers in the processes of Conventional (CKT) and Reverse Knowledge Transfer (RKT) in Multinational Companies (MNCs). The Partial Least Squares-Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) technique was adopted to analyze the data from a survey of 103 senior expatriate managers working in Croatia. The study reveals how CQ, in all of its four dimensions (metacognitive, cognitive, behavioral, and motivational), acts as a knowledge de-codification and codification filter, assisting managers in the Knowledge Transfer process. The study also reveals how previous international experience does not moderate the positive effect of CQ on both CKT and RKT, offering important theoretical and practical insights to support MNCs in the KT process

Global Knowledge-Intensive Business Process: Extending the Boundaries of Business Process Management

This paper proposes to extend the existing boundaries of Business Process Management (BPM) to include an emergingcategory of processes, here termed Global Knowledge-Intensive Business Processes (GKIBP). These processes differ fromother global processes, such as supply chains and collaborative cross-organizational business processes (BPs), as their mainoutcome is a commercial knowledge artifact, co-created trough coordinated activities of knowledge agents, that may or maynot come from an organizational setting. Starting from a well-known model by Harmon (2007) used to describe the maincomponents of BPM in an organizational setting, our research proposes a new framework more suitable for the targetedcategory of GKIBPs. Design of the proposed framework is founded in a case study of a real-life example of GKIBP based oncrowdsourcing, also briefly described in this paper. The proposed framework is used for analysis of twenty-five paperspublished in the leading Information Systems journals. This resulting synthesis is then used to point to several research gapsand to propose several research opportunities

Creativity, Coordination & Knowledge co-Creation on a Global Scale- The Process Perspective

In very recent times new tools and technologies for peer-to-peer collaboration and coordination became easily and readily available taking knowledge creation processes outside of the organizational boundaries. This paper proposes to extend the existing boundaries of Business Process Management (BPM) to include an emerging category of processes; here termed Global Knowledge-Intensive Business Processes (GKIBP). These processes differ from other global processes, such as supply chains and collaborative cross-organizational business processes (BPs), as their main outcome is a commercial knowledge artifact, co-created trough coordinated activities of knowledge agents, that may or may not come from an organizational setting. Drawing from, and combining the state-of-the art research findings from three disciplines: i) BPM (ii) Global Digital Collaboration and more recently (iii) Crowdsourcing and Collective Intelligence processes, this research aims to investigate the main characteristics of these processes through an exploratory case study. Our findings are then placed in the context of the current developments in BPM field, in particular the frameworks used to inform and guide BP Management today, demonstrating a need for their extension

Promoting Cross-border Knowledge Transfer for New Product Development in MNCs: A Process View

Cross-border knowledge transfer plays an important role in the competitive advantage of multinational corporations (MNCs). However, it can be quite challenging due to cultural differences and lack of trust between organizational units located in different countries. Prior studies have not explored the knowledge transfer process (and its key nodes) in new product development in MNCs. This research aims to understand this process focusing on how knowledge transfer can be promoted through trust and understanding of cultural traits. A qualitative single-case study of an automotive MNC was conducted. I found that for the key nodes of the process, the company leveraged different mechanisms to promote knowledge transfer. These mechanisms facilitated trust and understanding of cultural traits. Headquarters provided key administrative support for these mechanisms. This study contributes to the literature through proposing a process view showing how knowledge transfer can be promoted by different mechanisms in different nodes of the process. In addition, insights were drawn on how to manage trust and the cultural difference across countries

A Process-Based Explanation of the Psychic Distance Paradox: Evidence from Global Virtual Teams

Previous research has found evidence of a counter-intuitive positive relationship between psychic distance and performance, which has been labeled the “psychic distance paradox”. However, there is a dearth of literature explaining the causal mechanisms that elucidates such a positive relationship. Studying the effect of team-level psychic distance on the performance of global virtual teams, we build on the input-process-outcome framework of team research, which allows the integration of process variables to provide new insights into the underlying coherences of the psychic distance paradox. These variables include the team members’ expectation of challenges as well as the level of team effort toward the task. The team members’ motivational cultural intelligence is introduced to the model as a moderating factor. The data support the hypothesized causal path. The findings start unveiling the psychic distance paradox through the integration of the literatures on psychic distance and global virtual teams

A Process-Based Explanation of the Psychic Distance Paradox: Evidence from Global Virtual Teams

Previous research has found evidence of a counter-intuitive positive relationship between psychic distance and performance, which has been labeled the “psychic distance paradox”. However, there is a dearth of literature explaining the causal mechanisms that elucidates such a positive relationship. Studying the effect of team-level psychic distance on the performance of global virtual teams, we build on the input-process-outcome framework of team research, which allows the integration of process variables to provide new insights into the underlying coherences of the psychic distance paradox. These variables include the team members’ expectation of challenges as well as the level of team effort toward the task. The team members’ motivational cultural intelligence is introduced to the model as a moderating factor. The data support the hypothesized causal path. The findings start unveiling the psychic distance paradox through the integration of the literatures on psychic distance and global virtual teams

Predicting leadership emergence in global virtual teams

Objective: This study examines the individual factors that predict whether individuals will emerge as leaders in global virtual teams, which often lack a more formal leadership structure. Research Design & Methods: We focus on emotional intelligence (EQ) and cultural intelligence (CQ) as two contemporary concepts that are of key relevance to leadership success. Building on socioanalytic theory, we hypothesize that individuals with higher levels of EQ and CQ have a higher probability of emerging as team leaders. We test the hypotheses on a sample of 415 teams comprised of 1 102 individuals who participated in a virtual international collaboration project. Using structural equation modeling, the results reveal that individuals with higher CQ were more likely to emerge as leaders. Findings: Our findings did not support the relevance of EQ. In addition, individual factors such as English proficiency, a higher age, and a lower power distance were also associated with leadership emergence. Implications & Recommendations: The study identified the gap in the literature regarding EQ and CQ in the context of leadership emergence. The results demonstrate that individuals with high CQ and high EQ that may have beneficial effects on the team and its outcomes do not automatically emerge as team leaders. We recommend that managers carefully consider which projects and tasks they will leave the leadership structure to emerge more informally. Contribution & Value Added: The key contribution and value added of this study is the investigation of the role of CQ and EQ with leadership emergence in global virtual teams (GVT), through the creation of a leadership emergence model building on socio-analytic theory.publishedVersio