Team Performance in Flood Emergency Response: A Conceptual Model and Scale Development

Based on the literature on knowledge integration, social media, and emergency management, the purpose of this paper to present our conceptual model of EM team performance and propose a rigorous approach in scale development and validation it, scale which can be used to assess organizations volunteer and staff work on flood field used social media. This study conceptualizes the construct of EM team performance and generates an initial 39 item EM task scale. Based on the sample data, this study provides an empirical validation of the EMTP constructs and its underlying dimensionality, and develops a generic EMT scale with desirable psychometric properties, including face validity, content validity and pilot testing.This study develops and validates a 30-item EM task scale with 6 constructs (task characteristic, task technology, task technology fit, social media usage, knowledge integration and EM team performance). This study is a pioneering effort to develop and validate EMTP scale and will contribute to the development of knowledge integration literature and add to the repository of rigorous research instruments for researcher’s utilization

Social Knowledge Environments

Knowledge management represents a key issue for both information systems’ academics and practitioners, including those who have become disillusioned by actual results that fail to deliver on exaggerated promises and idealistic visions. Social software, a tremendous global success story, has prompted similarly high expectations regarding the ways in which organizations can improve their knowledge handling. But can these expectations be met, whether in academic research or the real world? This article seeks to identify current research trends and gaps, with a focus on social knowledge environments. The proposed research agenda features four focal challenges: semi-permeable organizations, social software in professional work settings, crowd knowledge, and crossborder knowledge management. Three solutions emerge as likely methods to address these challenges: designoriented solutions, analytical solutions, and interdisciplinary dialogue

Social media and knowledge integration based emergency response performance model

Emergency Response (ER) during the flood is increasingly being characterized as a complex phase in disaster management as it involves multi-organizational settings. This scenario causes miscommunication, lack of coordination and difficulty in making life-saving decisions, which decreases organisational performance. Accordingly, Knowledge Integration (KI) can reduce and resolve problems of coordination and communications which lead to decisions being made at a proper time, thereby increasing the task of Non- Government Organisations (NGOs)’ capabilities to achieve better performance. Moreover, use of Social Media (SM) provides many advantages that may assist in eliminating KI’s challenges and enhancing its dissemination at low cost, particularly for NGOs that work in disparate places. Despite this, current research into the improvement of task performance using KI through SM in the emergency response context is, unfortunately, limited. Most of the studies are not empirical and there is a lack of theoretical foundation for improving task performance using KI, in addition to using SM to facilitate KI in the flood disaster ER. Hence, it is important to address these issues. The main objective of this study is to identify the factors that influence the Emergency Response Task Performance (ERTP). In this research, the factors which affect the performance of ER tasks were elicited through a review of the literature to identify the essential factors influential NGOs’ emergency response. Then, this study developed an ERTP model by combining Knowledge-Based Theory (KBT) of the firm and the Task-Technology Fit (TTF) theory, used to utilise technology. This study applied a quantitative approach to examine these factors. Based on purposive sampling, questionnaires were distributed to over 700 staff and volunteers working for 12 NGOs in Sudan. Smart PLS 2.0 M3 and IBM SPSS Statistics version 24 were used to analyse the data. The results revealed that KI is a significant factor related to ERTP. In addition, it was found that the SM usage factor was significantly related to KI. Furthermore, this study discovered significant differences among the various experiences of volunteers and staff when it comes to utilising SM for knowledge integration in the context of ER response. The results of the study contribute to the body of knowledge by providing a model for ER managers, team members in NGOs and decision-makers to use it as a guideline for successfully assessing and validating ERTP. Additionally, it sets guidelines that may be useful for NGOs in the effective use of social media as a platform for integrating knowledge. Finally, this study provides recommendations to flood decision-makers who are considering enhancing the performance of the tasks within their organisations

Organization-Stakeholder Interaction Through Social Media: A Tri-level Investigation, Categorization, and Research Agenda

The increasing proliferation of social media use by organizations has amplified the need to address the means by which organizations can utilize this new form of communication most effectively. Social media offer organizations enhanced abilities to communicate with outside stakeholders, made possible through unique communication characteristics and an increased level of communicative connectivity. This dissertation advances our understanding of organization-stakeholder communication by investigating the phenomenon across three levels. At the global level, we present a categorization of interaction behaviors, with prescriptions for researching each category across three research perspectives. At the organizational level, we utilize three case studies to describe how different organizations can implement social media uniquely, differentiated by the degree of emphasis on regulated or empowered communications. At the individual level, we examine the motivating factors which influence an individual\u27s desire to use a personal technology (such as social media) for a work-related purpose. Our findings contribute to the growing literature on organizational social media use in two forms. For practice, we explicate numerous mechanisms which both enable and advance the use of social media for stakeholder interaction. The three essays uniquely describe how organizations can increase the effectiveness of social media interaction strategies. For research, we extend the current understanding of the phenomenon through a detailed, tri-level investigation. Our findings break some new ground into the utilization of social media and motivate future research on this new form of communication

Examining differences among member satisfaction within a self-organized virtual community of professionals: A model of satisfaction based on the self-selection process participants engage in and their ability to fulfill their basic psychological needs

The research related to what motivates member participation within peer production enterprises as a whole has not produced a reliable list of motivations present among peer production participants. Instead, motivations are often defined idiosyncratically (e.g., Butler et al., 2007; Oreg & Nov, 2009) and participation is simplified to a dichotomous variable or crudely measured by frequency (e.g., Chen & Hung, 2010). This makes it difficult to compare and contrast peer production efforts or understand the larger theoretical contribution of these studies of motivation. In an effort to rethink how member motivation is understood within peer production enterprises, this research develops and tests a model of member satisfaction within a self-organized virtual community (SVC) of professionals that conceptualizes member satisfaction as being (1) directly connected to person-community and demands-abilities fit and (2) indirectly connected to fit through the fulfillment of members’ basic psychological needs for competence, relatedness, and autonomy (Deci & Ryan, 2000). Additionally, individual filtering, a cognitive heuristic members of SVCs may utilize to personalize the information environment within an SVC, is introduced as a moderator in order to understand how these direct and indirect effects are conditioned on this participation management strategy. One of the main advantages of this theoretical model is that it does not require quantifying the amount or categorizing the type of member participation in order to understand member motivations and satisfaction, making it suitable for use in most peer production contexts (Benkler, 2006), even those scattered across multiple online platforms. In order to test this model, members of the SVC KM4Dev were solicited to take part in an online survey (N = 212) from July – October 2016. KM4Dev (Knowledge Management for Development) is a SVC of international development practitioners and other professionals interested in knowledge management and knowledge sharing issues and approaches, with a membership of over 4000 people from around the world. Path analysis was employed to analyze the model.Analyses revealed the model explained approximately two-thirds of the variance in satisfaction (R2=.65) and a similarity of importance (i.e., similar sized total effect) placed on PC fit and DA fit by members, in relation to satisfaction. The strongest path to satisfaction within this community is the indirect path from person-community fit through competence fulfillment to satisfaction, even when it is conditioned upon the moderator individual filtering. The need for autonomy had the lowest amount of variance explained in the model (R2=.24). Overall, the statistical support found for this model corroborates the use of a model of satisfaction premised on the assumptions of peer production (i.e., participant self-selection, Benkler, 2006). Furthermore, it simplifies the study of motivation by conceptualizing motivation as members’ ability to fulfill their basic psychological needs for autonomy, relatedness, and competence, instead of any want or desire a person may identify. Finally, through the introduction of moderating variables, such as individual filtering, this model is a tool to more precisely explain differences among members’ ability to fulfill their basic psychological needs and be satisfied with their overall community experience within a peer production enterprise

Information Communication Technology Management as a GDP Growth Contributor Within Arab League Nations

The general problem addressed in this study was Arab League nations\u27 over-reliance on fossil fuels as a gross domestic product (GDP) growth driver. Arab League nations that depend primarily on fossil fuel production lack alternative resources for growth in times of fossil fuel usage or price decline. Overdependence on fossil fuels has led to minimal development in other economic sectors, primarily in skilled domestic labor, and to a high dependency on foreign skilled labor for skilled domestic jobs. The purpose of this study was to examine to what extent information communication technology (ICT) management can be a viable GDP growth contributor in Arab League nations. The main theoretical foundations consisted of diffusion of innovation theory, rate of adoption theory, and the innovation-decision process. The focus of research questions was on how ICT management and fossil fuel production affect the GDP growth rate of Arab League nations. A cross-sectional design was used. Archival secondary data from unesco.org and data.worldbank.org for the 22 countries that comprise the Arab League nations were analyzed. Results of a Pearson\u27s product-moment correlation analysis indicated that there is a significant relationship between real GDP and ICT management growth rates in Arab League nations. Based on study findings, it was recommended that both oil- and non-oil-producing governments within the Arab League give more attention to the implementation of ICT management policies. The study contributes to positive social change by providing Arab League governments and stakeholders with a comparative assessment of alternative GDP revenue drivers and potential areas to invest capital to increase skilled domestic labor and maximize human resource capital

Real-time foresight : preparedness for dynamic innovation networks

Collaborative innovation processes in unpredictable environments are a challenge for traditional management. But new demands in a global digital society push public and corporate leadership to collaborate ad hoc, without predictable goals and planned working rules. In this study, an actor-network approach (ANT) is combined with critical incident technique (CIT) to elaborate dynamic network principles for a new real-time foresight (RTF). Real-time foresight replaces traditional planning and strategic management in ad hoc multi-sector collaborations. Although ANT originates from science and technologies studies, it is here applied to a management problem due to ist ability to merge voluntaristic and evolutionary managerial components and micro- and macro perspectives. The investigation is placed in an exemplary management field of high dynamics: global disaster management. From process analysis and from comparison of three dynamic innovation networks that emerged around Indian coastal villages after Tsunami 2004, five dynamic network patterns are obtained which underly successful collaborative innovation processes. These dynamic structures build the agenda for a new real-time foresight, and for an instrument to evaluate in real-time the emergence of dynamic innovation networks (DINs).  Hella Langer StiftungAlgorithms and the Foundations of Software technolog