Knowledge Sharing Practices, Intellectual Capital and Organizational Performance

Although knowledge sharing and intellectual capital are significant factors for long-term success of an organization, existing literature rarely examines the relationship between knowledge sharing practices intellectual capital (IC) as constitutive elements of a knowledge environment leading to enhanced operational performance. The main aim of this paper is to explore whether knowledge sharing practices (types, approaches, and process) and intellectual capital affect organizational operational performance. Findings suggest that knowledge sharing types and knowledge sharing process influence intellectual capital of an organization. Moreover, intellectual capital influences organizational operational performance. However, knowledge sharing approaches, i.e. codification and personalization strategies have no effect on intellectual capital

Exploring Mechanisms in Tacit Knowledge Externalization: Preliminary Findings from Participatory Agricultural Innovation Practices in Ethiopia

Tacit knowledge is embedded in people’s experiences, expertise, know-how, skills, techniques, insights, judgments, actions or behaviors. This knowledge is a source of innovation that can provide dynamic responses to context specific problems. Effective exploitation and management of tacit knowledge is critical, but the subject of tacit knowledge in general and the process of its externalization and sharing in particular are still relatively unexplored and not fully understood. In addition, the agricultural sector has rarely been the topic of inquiry in research related to tacit knowledge elicitation and most previous studies focus on high tech industries and business organizations. This paper explored what mechanisms are being used to externalize tacit knowledge and what factors impact this process given the context of participatory agricultural research in Ethiopia. We applied a qualitative case study method using an in-depth semi-structured interviews, focus group discussions and document analysis as data collection tool

Knowledge processes in virtual teams:consolidating the evidence

This article takes stock of the current state of research on knowledge processes in virtual teams (VTs) and consolidates the extent research findings. Virtual teams, on the one hand, constitute important organisational entities that facilitate the integration of diverse and distributed knowledge resources. On the other hand, collaborating in a virtual environment creates particular challenges for the knowledge processes. The article seeks to consolidate the diverse evidence on knowledge processes in VTs with a specific focus on identifying the factors that influence the effectiveness of these knowledge processes. The article draws on the four basic knowledge processes outlined by Alavi and Leidner (2001) (i.e. creation, transferring, storage/retrieval and application) to frame the investigation and discuss the extent research. The consolidation of the existing research findings allows us to recognise the gaps in the understanding of knowledge processes in VTs and identify the important avenues for future research

The impact of foreign influence on exporting through open innovation

Foreign direct investment brings both increased competitive pressures and opportunities for domestic Small and Medium Sized Enterprises (SMEs). Competition may force them to seek new international markets, but also provide access to international customers. However, as economies become more knowledge‐based in order to access international markets, SMEs must seek to innovate. This study examines how foreign firm presence and innovation influence the exporting activities of SMEs. It contributes to the existing literature by dividing innovation into product/process innovation and in‐house/open innovation. With open innovation, products are more likely to be novel and productivity boosted to a larger degree. We interact different types of innovation with foreign influence to examine whether there is a moderating influence on the relationship. The individual firm level data and foreign influence data are from the Longitudinal Small Business Survey and Office for National Statistics. Whether firms are active exporters is explored using multilevel logit regressions. Both innovative activities and the foreign influence increase the likelihood of exporting. In‐house product innovation boosts export propensity to a lesser degree in areas with higher levels of foreign influence. The hypothesis that open innovation has more impact on exporting activities when foreign influence is greater is not supported for either type of innovation

Knowledge Transfer Preferences of Expert Employees Nearing Retirement

Managers of organizations face increasing rates of retiring Baby Boomers as that generation begins to leave the workforce. Some managers of organizations have no formalized knowledge transfer strategies in place to reduce the lost productivity and negative financial effects of these retiring employees. The purpose of this single-site case study was to explore the knowledge transfer preferences of expert scientific support employees nearing retirement at a United States national laboratory in northern California. Understanding the preferences of employees nearing retirement may allow managers to affect the business practice of promoting organizational learning by implementing strategies that catalyze knowledge transfer from expert employees. Systems theory, expectancy theory, knowledge management theory, and organizational learning theory concepts provided the framework. Semistructured interviews with 24 expert scientific support employees provided data, which were subsequently coded and analyzed using the pawing technique. The analysis of themes revealed mentoring to be the preferred method of knowledge transfer, the barriers to knowledge transfer and multiple types of knowledge transfer, and the impact of lack of knowledge transfer on productivity. Public research organization managers implementing effective knowledge transfer programs may increase the potential for scientific discoveries affecting social change through increased prosperity of citizens who could benefit from the derivative advances in energy research

Baby Boomers Retiring: Strategies for Small Businesses Retaining Explicit and Tacit Knowledge

More than 35% of the U.S. workforce is composed of Baby Boomers who are eligible to retire within the next 5 years. Despite the potential loss of critical expertise, a gap in knowledge retention exists in small consulting businesses. The purpose of this case study was to explore effective strategies for retaining the tacit and explicit knowledge of retiring employees, to avoid operational knowledge drain. Exploration ensued through semistructured interviews at 2 small consulting businesses in the Washington, DC metropolitan area that are adept at innovatively retaining requisite knowledge. The conceptual frameworks of Bass\u27 transformational leadership and Nonaka\u27s knowledge creation led to the identification of strategies to retain tacit and explicit knowledge of retiring Baby Boomers. Seven small business leaders addressed questions on knowledge types, knowledge stimulation and sharing methods, and retention strategies to provide meaningful responses to the knowledge retention phenomenon. Data analysis included the Colaizzi and modified van Kaam methods of mining, categorizing, organizing, and describing participants\u27 statements. Subsequently, the themes that emerged during the analysis identified reward, communication, and motivation as strategies for knowledge-share and transfer. Succession planning, mentoring, documentation, training, and knowledge sharing also emerged as effective methods for knowledge retention. The findings will contribute to social change by illuminating the roles effective leaders practice to influence and foster knowledge management, offering insight to other small businesses having difficulties remaining sustainable as the operational knowledge of Baby Boomers becomes unavailable as they retire

Knowledge sharing in multinational organizations : the impact of language

Knowledge sharing is a key collaborative activity that plays a significant role in organizational learning and performance. Knowledge sharing between organizational employees is important, not only for running basic administrative tasks, but also for major and critical organizational activities such as development and execution of organizational strategies meant to develop a competitive advantage in the market. The 21st century has seen a rise in multilingual workforces. Globalization, immigration and organizational international business dealings have rendered many organizations linguistically diverse. However, we do not find much research on information and knowledge sharing in multilingual work contexts. This study tries to fill this research gap and investigates the influence of language on knowledge sharing in multilingual organizations. To understand the concept of language and its influence on knowledge sharing, this study adopts an interdisciplinary approach. Therefore, the theoretical framework is built on insights from sociolinguistics, linguistic anthropology and knowledge management. This analysis is specifically focused on determining the relationship between linguistic association and interpersonal knowledge networks, and language practices and knowledgesharing interactions. Overall, the dissertation is comprised of four articles, each pair of articles answers one sub-question. Using a multiple method approach, both, quantitative and qualitative investigations were conducted in a large Finnish multinational organization that has subsidiaries in more than 70 countries around the world. A survey containing 403 usable responses was analyzed using regression analysis and one-way ANOVA to understand the effect of linguistic association on interpersonal knowledge networks. In addition, 21 in-depth interviews were conducted with employees from different subsidiaries. These interviews were analyzed using inductive logic to understand the influence of language practices on knowledge-sharing interactions. Analysis of the data shows that language influences both the development of knowledge networks and knowledge-sharing interactions between employees. Regarding knowledge networks, it was found that multilingual organizations have a language hierarchy in terms of access to information. Employees who speak the parent-company’s language do not build knowledgesharing connections with those who belong to a different language community. As most of the important positions in the organization are held by its homecountry nationals, an employee’s capability to speak their language provides him/her the opportunity to build a relationship with them and consequently gain access to critical information, which, in turn, lower his/her motivation to connect and share knowledge with others. Moreover, it was found that language diversity in personal knowledge networks positively correlates with employee performance. In other words, employees with highly multilingual personal knowledge networks perform better than those with monolingual personal knowledge networks. In terms of knowledge-sharing interactions between linguistically diverse employees, a major finding was that knowledge sharing interactions conducted in a non-native language differ from those conducted in a native language. It was found that employees adopt three different strategies to deal with problems in the knowledge-sharing process caused using a non-native language. These strategies – namely, discourse adjustment, language adjustment and media adjustment – play an important role in the successful exchange of knowledge between linguistically diverse individuals. Due to high awareness of linguistic differences, knowledge-sharing participants put in extra effort during interactions, leading to positive knowledge-sharing outcomes, which means linguistic differences can sometimes be helpful in knowledge-sharing contexts. This study contributes to existing research by adopting a comprehensive view of the relationship between language and knowledge sharing. It focuses not only on the impact of language on the development of knowledge networks, but also on the influence of language differences on the process of knowledge sharing that is knowledge-sharing interactions.Kunskapsdelning en är en nyckelaktivitet som spelar en signifikant roll för organisationens lärande och prestation. Kunskapsdelningen mellan medarbetarna är ytterst viktigt, inte bara för att hantera administrativa uppgifter, men även som förutsättning för de mest kritiska aktiviteterna såsom utvecklingen och verkställandet av strategier för att uppnå konkurrensfördel på marknaden. Under tjugohundratalet har andelen flerspråkig arbetskraft i organisationer ökat. Globalisering, immigration och internationell affärsverksamhet har förändrat många organisationer till arbetsplatser med språkligt mångfald. Trots detta finns det få undersökningar om informationsoch kunskapsdelningen i flerspråkiga arbetssammanhang. Genom att studera språkets inflytande på kunskapsdelningen i mångspråkiga organisationer bidrar denna avhandling till att fylla denna forskningslucka. För att bättre förstå begreppet språk och dess inflytande på kunskapsdelningen införs i denna forskning ett tvärvetenskapligt angreppssätt. Den teoretiska referensramen är därför uppbyggd på forskning inom sociolingvistik, lingvistisk antropologi och kunskapsledning (knowledge management). Analysen fokuserar speciellt på att bestämma relationen mellan språkbruk och interpersonella kunskapsnätverk samt språkpraktiker och växelverkan i kunskapsdelning. Avhandlingen består av fyra artiklar som besvarar frågorna kring dessa relationer. Genom att använda en multimetodisk ansats genomfördes både kvantitativa och kvalitativa studier inom ett stort finländskt multinationellt företag med dotterbolag i över 70 olika länder. En enkätundersökning som besvarades av 403 respondenter analyserades med regressionsanalys och enkelriktad ANOVA för att förstå inverkan av språkbruk på interpersonella kunskapsnätverk. Därtill djupintervjuades 21 medarbetade vid olika dotterbolag. Dessa intervjuer analyserades genom induktiv logik för att förstå hur språkpraktiker påverkar växelverkan i kunskapsdelningen. Analyserna visar att språket påverkar både utvecklingen av kunskapsnätverk och växelverkan i kunskapsdelningen mellan de anställda. Beträffande kunskapsnätverken visar resultaten att det existerar en språkhierarki i flerspråkiga organisationer när det gäller tillgången till information. Medarbetare som talar moderbolagets språk bygger inte upp relationer som främjar kunskapsdelningen med de anställda som tillhör en annan språkgemenskap. Eftersom den största delen av organisationens viktiga befattningar handhas av finsk- eller svenskspråkiga medarbetare, ger de anställdas kunskaper i dessa språk dem möjligheten att växelverka med dessa och därför få tillgång till viktig information, vilket i sin tur kan minska deras motivation att ta kontakt och dela kunskap med andra. Därtill visar resultaten att språklig mångfald i personliga kunskapsnätverk korrelerar positivt med medarbetarnas prestation. Med andra ord, anställda med mångspråkiga personliga kunskapsnätverk presterar bättre än de med enspråkiga personliga kunskapsnätverk. När det gäller växelverkan i kunskapsfördelningen mellan medarbetare som talar olika språk visar resultaten att växelverkan på ett främmande språk avviker från växelverkan på modersmålet. Resultaten i denna avhandling visar på tre olika strategier som de anställda tillämpar när de möter problem orsakade av användningen av ett främmande språk i kunskapsdelningsprocesser. Dessa strategier, det vill säga anpassningen av diskursen, anpassningen av språket och anpassningen av mediet, spelar en viktig roll i en lyckad kunskapsdelning mellan individer som talar olika språk. Eftersom individerna i kunskapsdelningsprocesserna var ytterst medvetna om språkskillnaderna ansträngde de sig att lyckas i dessa processer, vilket ledde till positiva resultat. Detta innebär att språkliga skillnader ibland kan främja kunskapsdelningen. Denna avhandling bidrar till den existerande forskningen genom att mångsidigt granska relationen mellan språk och kunskapsdelning. Den fokuserar inte enbart på språkets inverkan på utvecklingen av kunskapsnätverk, men även på hur språkskillnaderna påverkar samspelet i kunskapsdelningen

Challenges of information systems innovation in developing country contexts: an inquiry into the adoption of institutional repositories in Nigerian universities

Empirical observation persistently shows that information systems (IS) innovation is always hampered by different challenges. The number of failures and incomplete IS innovation reported across the globe, particularly in developing countries justifies this. Using the example of institutional repository (IR), an IS used to promote open access to scientific knowledge produced by universities, this study proposes actionable remedies to challenges of IS innovation in universities in developing countries. This study focuses on IR because little of it exists in universities in developing countries despite the fact that it is a cost effective way for universities to distribute scientific knowledge. IR has also not been a major focus of IS researchers despite its importance in the contemporary global academic landscape. The study therefore aims to develop explanation and solutions to barriers to IR innovation in universities in developing countries. The qualitative interpretive research philosophy was adopted together with the case study research method to conduct three empirical studies. Inductive research approach and unstructured qualitative data collection techniques were also adopted. Study 1 was carried out to assess IR innovation barrier factors at the institutional level. It reveals how globalization trends, transformation of universities and conditions of university libraries constitute IR innovation factors at institutional level. Study 2 was carried out to assess IR innovation barrier factors at the organizational level. It shows how institutional logics, adherence by universities to traditional university management orientations and paradox barrier factors constitute IR innovation factors at the organizational level. Study 3 identifies factors that influence effective tacit knowledge management at the individual level. The factors are namely, privileged information and experiences, mental reflection, planned interactions and dialogues and sustained real-time enactment of IR innovation. The three studies provide a set of theoretical and practical insights that contribute to the IS discipline, IS in developing countries and IR innovation. The contributions show how institutional, organizational and individual level factors influence IR innovation. The study reaches its goal of providing understanding and resolution to IS innovation barriers in universities in developing countries and in contexts that have similar socio-technical characteristics

Understanding the role of information and communication technology (ICT) in the shaping of inter-organisational knowledge exchange (IOKE) practice: The context of European living labs

Inter-organizational knowledge exchange is an important process for stimulating innovation and improving collaboration among multiple organizations. With the use of information and communication technologies (ICT), this process could be greatly affected for effectiveness and efficiency. However, existing studies provide an insufficient understanding of how knowledge exchange processes are shaped by the nature of ICT in the context of inter-organisational settings. Therefore, this research attempts to address this research gap through conceptualising the role of ICT in the shaping of inter-organisational knowledge exchange (IOKE) practice by investigating the context of European Living Labs, as an exemplary inter-organisational collaboration setting. In methodological terms, this study adopts an inductive, qualitative research approach, and follows a combination of Grounded Theory, Multiple Case Study and Documentary Research, making use of in-depth semi-structured interviews with European Living Labs stakeholders and analysing Living Labs project documents. The data has informed the use of Practice Theory, Sociomateriality Theory, and Technology Affordance Theory at different levels of analysis to understand the research phenomena. This research has found that 1) ICT-based IOKE practice can be characterised by ICT affordances and constraints, human knowledgeabilities, and triple-layer contexts (inter-organisational context, intra-organisational context, and wider environmental context). 2) ICT mediates such enactment of knowledgeability by affording or constraining distinct human abilities that allow actors to accomplish their knowledge work or hold them back as they engage in knowledge exchange practice. Diverse ICT affordances (e.g., cross-distance networking, instant workaround) and constraints (e.g., accessing, communication continuity) can mediate the enactment of four different types of knowledgeabilities: inter-connecting, interactive learning, co-creating, and co-ordinating. 3) Different knowledgeabilities, their associated ICT affordances/constraints, and their embedded contexts are inter-related, and they co-evolve over time across the project lifecycle. This has been conceptualised into an ICT-based IOKE practice framework (integrated) and its three variations (three variated frameworks for different project lifecycle stages). The findings have strong theoretical and practical implications that signal the salient areas for future research to study, particularly for ICT affordance studies