An Evaluation of Core Competence on Knowledge Management for Elementary Schools’ Teachers: A Case Study of Remote Rural Area in Taiwan

In the knowledge economy era, teachers’ core competencies for knowledge management have an important impact on the development of school education. It is an important issue to explore how to evaluate core competencies of knowledge management for elementary schools’ teachers. This requires a thorough investigation to gain core competencies. Hence, the main purpose of this paper is to present a Matrix Analysis (MA) approach for evaluating core competencies of knowledge management and to describe the applications of the MA approach for elementary schools’ teachers. An empirical analysis is performed to demonstrate the computational process of the MA approach adopted by this paper. Study results show that eleven core competencies are identified. They are ‘finding problems,’ ‘flexibility,’ ‘interpersonal communication,’ ‘oral communication skills,’ ‘knowledge selection,’ ‘activities recording,’ ‘knowledge application on work planning,’ ‘research data application,’ ‘transforming knowledge into concrete actions,’ ‘interpreting results,’ and ‘judging knowledge value,’ respectively. It is suggested that more attentions should be paid to exploit these core competencies effectively and then develop the solutions, which should continuously strengthen the perspective of teachers in order to obtain the competitive advantages in the future

Human resource management with Islamic management principles:a dialectic for a reverse diffusion in management

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore the nature and contents of Islamic management practices and their consequent implications for human resource management (HRM) in Arab countries. In addition, it aims to examine the implications for multinational companies (MNCs) operating in Islamic countries and the impact of globalisation before proceeding to an analysis of managerial problems in Arab countries and the need for understanding Islamic management principles by Arab (national) and international managers. Design/methodology/approach – The paper takes the form of a qualitative approach based on an extensive review of relevant literature and the employment of examples from selected Arab countries. Findings – The study reveals that a gap exists between the theory of Islamic management and the practice of management in Arab countries. Management in Arab countries is informed and heavily influenced by non-Islamic traditional and national cultural values and norms of different countries and by Western management thinking rather than Islamic principles derived from the Holy Quran (words of God) and the Hadith (words of the Prophet Mohamed). Research limitations/implications – The paper argues that one of the main reasons for the lack of progress in most Arab and Islamic countries is the mismatch between global integration and local responsiveness because of an excess forward diffusion of Western management and business practices with little understanding and, hence, the implementation of Islamic management principles by both local and international managers in Arab countries. It adopts the view that there is a gap between the knowledge possessed by national and international managers in order to manage locally and what is required from the local workforce to be managed effectively. The main limitation of this study is the lack of empirical research evidence to support the points deducted from this review of literature. Practical implications – Understanding Islamic management principles could help to develop a more appropriate type of management best practice in Arab and Islamic countries while still benefiting from the transfer of relevant Western management techniques and Western technology. The paper also argues that a reverse diffusion of management knowledge and skills by managers of MNCs is very important for the effective management of human resources in host countries. National cultural contexts and different views of work values have made a major impact on the ability of firms to address HRM issues in different cultural settings. Originality/value – The paper contributes to the comparatively sparse literature on Islamic management and its applications by identifying key issues for HRM implementation and in developing Western understanding of Islamic management systems

Mobile application intervention to promote self-management in insulin-requiring type 1 and type 2 diabetes individuals: protocol for a mixed methods study and non-blinded randomized controlled trial

Background: Mobile applications (apps) have proven to be useful in supporting diabetes self-care, but non-consideration of users’ needs and non-inclusion of educational features are reasons for low continual use. Well-designed mobile apps that meet the needs of diabetes patients and provide ongoing self-management education and support are required. It was hypothesized that apps designed with such features can improve a range of measures including clinical outcomes, knowledge of diabetes, medication adherence, perceived ability for self-management, and quality-of-life. This may eventually facilitate a more robust and cost-effective approach for improving skills and motivation for the management of diabetes. Methods: This project will be conducted in two phases. It will initially employ a mixed methods study design to investigate the self-management needs and perceptions of diabetes patients on the use of mobile apps to support diabetes self-management. Results of the mixed methods study will inform the content and design of an app which will be employed as an intervention tool in a 12-month parallel randomized controlled trial (RCT). The RCT will compare outcomes in relation to standard-of-care alone with standard-of-care plus a mobile phone diabetes app among 150 insulin-requiring types 1 and 2 diabetes patients. The primary outcome measures are clinical parameters such as hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c), lipids, urine albumin-to-creatinine ratio, blood pressure, frequency in events of emergency hyperglycemia and hypoglycemia. Secondary outcomes include knowledge of diabetes, medication intake and adherence, perception of self-care, and quality-of-life. Discussion: Results from this study will provide empirical evidence on the usefulness of a mobile app developed based on self-management needs analysis of diabetic patients. The long-term goal is to harness knowledge gained from this study to provide evidenced-based data, which promote the scale-up or adoption of mobile applications that provide regular, ongoing education and self-management support to people living with diabetes

Factors affecting the adoption and practice of knowledge management in the life insurance industry in Taiwan

In the trend of globalization and coordination of banks, insurance and security companies, Taiwan life insurance industry has been facing tremendous competitive pressure. As a result of the shift from focusing on tangible resources to intangible resources, enterprises are seeking for gaining more and more competitive advantages through managing and maximizing their most valuable asset, i.e., knowledge. While knowledge management (KM) has been used and operated in the business world for decades, its applications, which involve recognition of knowledge, development of information system and support of organization, have just been initiated in Taiwan life insurance industry recently. The issues of knowledge management have been discussed widely by a number of researchers. However, there is a genuine lack of knowledge management adoption and practice model for the life insurance industry. This study addresses this research gap via conducting empirical surveys with an embedded qualitative field study among the life insurance enterprises in Taiwan. The research aims to examine the value of knowledge, perception of knowledge management and the factors of knowledge management adoption and practice in the context of Taiwan life insurance industry.The research was carried out in three main phases. In the first phase, a tentative research model was developed through a comprehensive literature review. A qualitative field study was then undertaken to fine-tune the research model. Six life insurance companies participated in the field study, resulting in ten interviews with key persons in the companies. A semi-structured interview protocol was used to collect the data. Via the procedures of content analysis, twelve factors and ninety-three variables were identified from the field study. The combined research model was thus developed by incorporating the results from the field study and the tentative research model which was proposed based on the extensive literature review.In the second phase, a questionnaire was developed, according to the combined research model. The research instrument was pilot tested by surveying several managers and staff in a life insurance company in Taiwan. The findings from the empirical pilot survey indicated that the research instrument was relatively reliable. However, some minor amendments were made based on the feedback from pilot test.In the third phase, a nation-wide main survey was administered among 605 managers and staff within different departments and sections in the life insurance companies in Taiwan. 362 valid responses were collected in this phase which yielded a 59.8% effective response rate. The national survey data were analyzed using Partial Least Squares (PLS) based Structural Equation Modeling technique.The findings revealed that “environments and industrial factors”, “knowledge management promotion” as well as “cultural factors” significantly influenced the “perceived usefulness” of knowledge management. However, the effect of the “complexity” concerning knowledge management on employees’ attitudes toward its adoption was found to be insignificant in this study. It was “individual characteristics”, “perceived usefulness” and “subjective norm” that significantly influenced the employees’ attitudes toward knowledge management adoption. It thus implied that the employees would attempt to overcome the difficulties involved in knowledge management as it was perceived useful for them and there was an environment in which knowledge management activities were valued and encouraged. Moreover, the results indicated that “attitude toward KM adoption” significantly influenced knowledge management practice, which in turn affected the perceived performance of the organization.The research model well explained how knowledge management was adopted and applied in Taiwan life insurance enterprises. This study thus contributes significantly to the existing literature since there was little research available in investigating life insurance enterprises’ adopting and applying knowledge management. In the meantime, the findings of this study also provide managerial implications to the life insurance business, particularly that embarking on knowledge management in Taiwan. Finally, the applications of this study can be extended through further adaptation in other financial industries and various geographic contexts

Meta-Analysis in Finance: Applications and Advances

The volume of empirical research in finance exhibits a strong upward trajectory. On the one hand, the large number of research publications often produces contradictory results for the same phenomenon under examination. On the other hand, a credibility crisis calls into question the reliability of empirical research findings and the transparency of the academic research process that produces the results. Consequently, there is a need to objectively reflect and consolidate previous empirical research results and to correct biases that affect the validity of scientific evidence. Meta-analysis is a research approach that comes with this capability. Meta-analysis is a secondary research method used to synthesize existing empirical results, to detect and explain consistencies and inconsistencies among research findings, and to identify and filter out distorting effects related to publication selection and model misspecification. Although meta-analysis is a standard tool for research synthesis and evidence-based decision-making in many related research disciplines such as economics and management science, it has rarely been applied in finance. The aim of this thesis is to structurally introduce meta-analysis in finance as a complement to primary research and traditional narrative reviews by providing an objective and statistical approach to the accumulation of scientific knowledge. Chapter 2 provides a comprehensive overview of the opportunities that meta-analysis offers for finance research, recent applications of meta-analysis in finance, and the challenges and limitations associated with it. Chapter 3 presents an applied meta-analysis of 1,016 empirical effects obtained from 71 previous studies that estimate the impact of corporate financial hedging on firm value. In Chapter 4, a Monte Carlo simulation is conducted to compare the statistical properties of common weighting schemes in meta-regression analysis under the practical condition that multiple and dependent estimates are reported in the same study, which is the norm in finance. By introducing, applying, and further advancing meta-analysis in the context of finance research, this thesis aims to increase the awareness and acceptance of meta-analysis as well as to promote its future application in the field

Learning systemic management practice

Systems thinking has been proposed as an answer to the question of how management practitioners can best equip themselves to tackle the complexity of management practice. As a body of work intended to transcend disciplinary silos, systems thinking pursues the ideal of generating comprehensive descriptions of real situations. It seeks to do this by embracing a variety of systems approaches and ideas to explain patterns and hypothesise causes of observable empirical events. As systems thinking is a diverse field, there are many knowledge areas and perspectives available to programme designers to facilitate teaching and the learning of systems thinking for management practice. The purpose of this study is to examine students' experience of learning events in the context of an interdisciplinary course designed for the development of management practice through systems thinking. Data was collected from three cohorts of students by observing lectures and class-based group work; and conducting interviews using conversational repertory grid techniques. The interview responses were analysed using grounded theory principles. Based on the findings derived from this qualitative analysis, the process of learning of systems thinking is outlined as a practice involving the selection and interpretation of events which evolve from the starting out phase, where students become interested in learning, and then outlines progress through the phases of assimilation and, changes in knowledge, culminating in more complex learning phases described as integration and adaptation. The synthesis of these phenomena as a theory provided an answer to the primary research objective of investigating how students experience learning events designed to develop systemic management practice. Critical realism, following Bhaskar's philosophy, is used to frame explanations to extend the grounded theory analysis, seeking to account for generative mechanisms that enable and constrain student experience with respect to systems thinking development. As a secondary contribution, this informed the identification of possible mechanisms and emergent properties at the level of the course through an analytical separation of the academic and work environments. These included the discourse of the context of application, academic discourse and professional identity. In combination, these findings make a contribution to understanding the learning of systemic management practice. In addition, applications for this research are suggested for educators, managers and organisations. These applications include: 1) a framework to help educators design meaningful experiences for learners; 2) a basis for understanding what constitutes systemic management practice and explaining differential development; 3) establishment of a basis for understanding what is needed for organisations to support the development of systemic management practice

The Use of Trademarks in Empirical Research: Towards an Integrated Framework

This paper represents an early attempt to develop an integrated framework linking empirical studies that make use of trademark statistics. Despite its youth, this field of scholarly activity has already accumulated a critical mass of papers that allow us to draw first general conclusions about the trademark lifecycle and its impact on organisational functioning. Based on a systematic review of 64 articles with some elements of empirical trademark analysis, five broad research areas have been identified, namely: the determinants of trademark deposits; the relationship between trademarks and innovation processes; the role of trademarks in differentiating product offerings; the strategic use of trademarks; and the impact of trademarks on firm performance. Within each category, a more detailed aggregation of articles has also been proposed. Overall, the analysis has shown that the performance-based perspective currently dominates the research landscape, with studies on trademark deposits and the trademark-innovation link to follow. At the same time, there is still little known about micro-foundations of a company's trademarking behaviour; the use of trademarks and other intellectual property rights in a complementary way and its effect on value transference; as well as the performance implications of differentiation strategy. This paper considers these and other findings to outline directions for future research