A multi-perspective and multi-theoretical approach on the role of Knowledge Process Capabilities in enhancing patient safety: the case of Chiapas

Knowledge in medical practice is indispensable in accomplishing the objective of healing, conserving and protecting human health. Health institutions are organisations of knowledge; through their human resources, processes, methods, practices and instruments, they constantly promote the generation, access, transference and application of knowledge. Therefore, governments in developing countries such as Mexico can integrate knowledge management strategies, considering as a reference the best practices of developed countries and adapting them to the context of public policies and institutions. However, in the adoption and adaptation process, the local context conditions influencing any knowledge-based initiative's success or failure must be carefully analysed and evaluated. Therefore, an exploratory study will provide insight into the contribution of different critical factors to the development of knowledge capabilities of healthcare professionals and their impact on the improvement of patient safety from the view of a public Mexican health institution.This research proposed a methodology composed of three phases. First, The knowledge generation to understand the foundations of Knowledge Management through a literature review of the theories, perspectives, disciplines, critical factors, and evidence from past studies that support this field of study. Second, the knowledge and evidence generated through rigorous statistical analyses to evaluate three structural models whose relationships were established based on previously identified theoretical foundations. The critical factors considered in this study are the Organisational Enablers of Knowledge Management, Culture of Collaboration, Technology Acceptance, Knowledge-Sharing Behaviour, Knowledge Process Capabilities developed by healthcare professionals, and Organisational Performance in terms of Patient Safety. Third, the knowledge generated through a dialogue between the evidence generated by statistical analyses and the conditions of the local context that affect the behaviours proposed by the theories.Identifying the context effects of a developing country such as Mexico will let to identify and analyse the conditions of the social, cultural, and economic dimensions and governmental practices that can obstruct the development of knowledge capabilities in healthcare professionals, as well as the formal establishment of knowledge practices. The importance of this contribution relies on the fact that health institutions are pillars for the development of society, so strengthening their different capabilities and knowledge strategies is more than ever essential for the well-being and development of countries

Critical knowledge management factors and organizational performance: An investigation of Chinese hi-tech enterprises

This thesis was submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy and awarded by Brunel University, 28/05/2008.This study sets out to explore the critical factors of knowledge management (KM) that impact on the organizational performance of Chinese enterprises. It attempts to investigate the relationships among KM factors including KM strategy, KM enablers (Organizational culture, Organization structure, People, and Technology), KM processes, and organizational performance. The conceptual framework of knowledge management guiding this research is developed from prior research (Alavi, 1997; Davenport, 1999; Lam, 2000; Leonard-Barton, 1995; Nonaka and Takeuchi, 1995; Ramireza nd Dickenson, 2006; Zack, 1999). Previous KM research in the Chinese context has focused on the use of object-perspective measures such as number of created ideas or patents. There appears to be a relative neglect of the relationships between those KM factors. This research focused on exploring the relationships between those KM factors and investigating how they impact on organizational performance in the context of an emerging economy - China. This research adopted the mixed-methods (Creswell, 2003) methodological approach, which involved the use of qualitative and quantitative methods in addressing the research questions raised in this study. The results of this research suggest that organizational culture variables are found to be essential for knowledge creation. In particular, trust is a significant predictor of all knowledge creation processes. The findings of this study confirm that enterprises will be able to obtain strategic benefits of KM through effective knowledge creation processes. The research findings also imply that companies should align their knowledge strategies along with knowledge creation processes. The key to understanding KM in the Chinese context is recognizing the networking nature of the Chinese society which operates on the basis of "Guanxi". In Chinese enterprises, the socialization and externalization elements are remarkably similar to the Japanese situation that Nonaka and Takeuchi (1995) described, as the Chinese are highly networked, hold tacit knowledge within these networks and are prepared to make this knowledge explicit only within the context of these pre-existing relationships. The departmental focus of Chinese enterprises mean that the combination of tacit knowledge is not straightforward, while learning-by-doing is important to sustain their development. The research also indicates that internalization is also problematic in Chinese enterprises because of individuals' fear of admitting mistakes. The implication of the findings for knowledge management and research is discussed

The Relationship of Knowledge Management and Organizational Performance in Science and Technology Parks of Iran

Any effective and sustainable changes in an organization refers to three areas related with each other and play the best way in the humans, structure and technology fields. The Knowledge management by emphasizing the three areas with the axis of man and preparing him as a knowledge worker tries to achieve organizational goals.Purpose: The current study aims to investigate the existing relationship between knowledge management infrastructures, knowledge management process capabilities, creative organizational learning, and organizational performance.Originality/value: Previous researches did not appraise the effect of knowledge management and its capabilities on organizational performance, and the specific influence of creative organizational learning was disregarded. The present study demonstrates the mechanism of knowledge management effect on organizational performance and describes the comprehensive dimensions of knowledge management performance.Methodology: Statistical population includes executives of Knowledge based companies in Science and Technology Parks of Iran. The 336 questionnaire was distributed to the census, 248questionnaireswerecompletedcorrectly. The research data were analyzed by PLS software. The unit of analysis is a company that has adopted a KMS. Target population of the research consisted of 700 Top Managers of Knowledge based companies in Science and Technology Parks of Iran (N=700). Random sampling method applied in this study and 248Top Managers were considered as the statistical sample based on "Morgan Table". One standard 5-point Likert questionnaire adopted and distributed between Top managers in the park. 252 questionnaires were returned among which 248 ones were statistically investigated. The structural relations among variables were tested using the partial least squares (PLS) method.Findings: This study shows that the KM processes can mediate between creative organizational learning and factors in the KM infrastructure. The results of the study demonstrate that knowledge management process capabilities has the most crucial role in creative organizational learning. The results indicate that there is a significant influence of the infrastructure capabilities (Collaboration, Trust, Learning Culture, Decentralization, Top Management, Promotion, IT support) on the process capabilities, also the impacts of knowledge management process capabilities on creative organizational learning and the impacts of creative organizational learning on organizational performance was confirmed

Antecedents and consequences of knowledge management perfomance. the role of IT infrastructure.

Purpose: In this paper, we assess the role of knowledge management (KM) practices as a key antecedent of KM performance. Also, we examine how information technology (IT) infrastructure is used as a driver of KM performance, organizational performance and innovation. In addition, the effects of IT infrastructure can be indirect. Specifically, we show that KM performance is a mediator between, on the one hand, IT infrastructure and, on the other hand, organizational performance and innovation. Design/methodology: Applying Partial Least Squares (PLS), a composite-based structural equation modeling, we have carried out a study among a sample of 82 Andalusian technology-intensive innovative companies adopting both a confirmatory and predictive purposes. Findings: First, both IT infrastructure and KM practices are key drivers of KM performance. Second, KM performance shows a significant direct impact on business performance and innovation outcomes. Third, the influence of IT infrastructure on business performance and innovation outcomes is not direct but indirect through KM performance. Finally, the model shows good fit values and appropriate predictive power to predict new observations of KM performance and organizational performance. Practical implications: This research provides insights for why some firms may not be realizing benefits from investing in IT infrastructure. KM performance is strongly needed for the successful implementation of IT infrastructure in the organizations. Originality/value: This study has a double research purpose, confirmatory and predictive. In this vein, it applies new PLS developments focused on the goodness of fit as well as on the predictive performance of the model. The findings are important for practitioners and researchers because this study makes a contribution to the literature on KM by supporting the perspective that the business and organizational performance are functions of the KM performance, a complementary resource through which the value of IT infrastructure is enhanced

Antecedents and consequences of knowledge management performance: the role of IT infrastructure

Purpose: In this paper, we assess the role of knowledge management (KM) practices as a key antecedent of KM performance. Also, we examine how Information technology (IT) infrastructure is used as a driver of KM performance, organizational performance and innovation. In addition, the effects of IT infrastructure can be indirect. Specifically, we show that KM performance is a mediator between organizational performance and innovation. Design/methodology/approach: Applying a variance-based structural equation modelling (PLS), we have carried out a study among a sample of 82 Andalusian technology-intensive innovative companies. Findings: First, KM practices and IT infrastructure are significant antecedents of KM performance. Second, KM performance has a direct influence on business performance and innovation outcomes. Third, IT infrastructure does not have a direct influence on business performance and innovation outcomes, but does have a significant indirect effect on them via KM performance. Practical implications: This research provides insights for why some firms may not be realizing benefits from investing in IT infrastructure. KM performance is strongly needed for the successful implementation of IT infrastructure in the organizations. Originality/value: The findings are important for practitioners and researchers because this study makes a contribution to the literature in KM by supporting the perspective that the business and organizational performance are function of the KM performance, a complementary resource through the value of IT infrastructure is enhanced.Peer Reviewe

The EFQM excellence model, the knowledge management process and the corresponding results: an explanatory and predictive study

This study aims to analyse the relationships among the EFQM model, the knowledge management (KM) process and the corresponding results. It also seeks to analyse the predictive power of the phases of the KM process with regard to organisational results. The sample under study is composed of 113 Spanish organisations that feature some kind of Excellence Recognition System granted by the European Foundation for Quality Management (EFQM). This paper uses partial least squares (PLS) path modelling to test and validate the research model and the proposed hypotheses. In addition, thorough analyses are conducted to assess the model’s predictive performance. The results show that organisations that use the management framework proposed by the EFQM model implement the phases of the KM process efficiently. Moreover, the synergies resulting from the simultaneous implementation of the EFQM model and the KM process contribute to improving the corresponding results. Also, the predictive power of the phases of the KM process is confirmed in terms of their ability to anticipate the results that the organisation will be able to achieve with respect to customers, people, society and key business factors. Finally, this study provides empirical evidence of the direct and indirect relationships among the EFQM model, the KM process and the corresponding results. In addition, the paper identifies out-of-sample prediction as an integral element of the evaluation of the model using PLS-SEM and as a way to evaluate its practical relevance, since it allows us to predict results35 página

What role does corporate governance play in the intention to use cloud computing technology?

This paper aims to investigate the factors which promote the adoption of cloud-based technology. It strives for a better understanding of the impact of corporate governance on the adoption of this technology. This study concentrated on executives in companies where the use of cloud computing may give a competitive advantage. The main contribution of this work is to propose a model for the influence of corporate governance and other factors that determine the adoption of this technology. A questionnaire was prepared after taking into consideration the reviewed literature. The sample consisted of 164 technology companies from Southern Spain that already use the new economic models for digital solutions. The methodology used to analyze the structural model was the Structural Equation Model (SEM). The results of the survey showed the influence of Corporate Governance and the procedures and practices of the organization on the adoption of cloud computing and the associated business model. This study aims to point out the importance of corporate support and Knowledge Management for the correct and successful adoption of this technology and to show the effects on the new business model of billing for the use of available resources. View Full-Tex

The influence of the knowledge-sharing process on technology business incubator performance in Saudi Arabia

In the competitive global market, technology business incubators are considered to be the backbone of the economic development of a country. Technology business incubators are involved in the creation of employment opportunities, boosting the local economy, and commercializing innovative technologies. This research-in-progress will propose a framework for technology business incubators to examine the impact of the knowledge-sharing practices of incubatees on technology business incubator performance both in general and in Saudi Arabia in particular. The key findings of this study will allow technology business incubators to better formulate the incubation process

Leveraging Open-standard Interorganizational Information Systems for Process Adaptability and Alignment: An Empirical Analysis

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to understand the value creation mechanisms of open-standard inter-organizational information system (OSIOS), which is a key technology to achieve Industry 4.0. Specifically, this study investigates how the internal assimilation and external diffusion of OSIOS help manufactures facilitate process adaptability and alignment in supply chain network.Design/methodology/approachA survey instrument was designed and administrated to collect data for this research. Using three-stage least squares estimation, the authors empirically tested a number of hypothesized relationships based on a sample of 308 manufacturing firms in China.FindingsThe results of the study show that OSIOS can perform as value creation mechanisms to enable process adaptability and alignment. In addition, the impact of OSIOS internal assimilation is inversely U-shaped where the positive effect on process adaptability will become negative after an extremum point is reached.Originality/valueThis study contributes to the existing literature by providing insights on how OSIOS can improve supply chain integration and thus promote the achievement of industry 4.0. By revealing a U-shaped relationship between OSIOS assimilation and process adaptability, this study fills previous research gap by advancing the understanding on the value creation mechanisms of information systems deployment

Business economics of knowledge and innovation: an empirical analysis of the role of firms' search diversity

Die Wissensinfrastruktur von Unternehmen spielt eine entscheidende Rolle in der Wettbewerb- Innovation-Dynamik, die interne und externe Wissensmanagementfähigkeiten verkörpert. Diese Dissertation konzentriert sich auf den Wissenserwerb, der nach Chesbroughs trendverändernder Formulierung von Open Innovation (als Suche nach und Nutzung von externem Wissen) zu einem herausragenden Element der Wissensinfrastruktur von Unternehmen wurde. Externe Wissensstrategien als Komponenten externer Wissensmanagementfähigkeiten können zwei Formen annehmen; Search Breadth (spiegelt die Anzahl der Quellen wider, die von Unternehmen erkundet werden) und Search Depth (die Bedeutung verschiedener Quellen, die erkundet werden). Bei der Analyse des Zusammenhangs zwischen Suche nach externem Wissen und Innovation, wird jedoch neben der zugrundeliegenden Allgemeingültigkeit des erworbenen Wissens vor allem die primäre Diversität der Wissenssuche als einflussreich auf die Dynamik verschiedener Arten von Innovation hervorgehoben. Diese Dissertation schlägt eine Suchstrategie vor, die die Vielfalt in der Suche dynamischer und rigoroser erfasst als andere Such Modi und analysiert die Auswirkungen der strategischen Search Diversity auf verschiedene Arten von Innovations. Es gibt drei originelle analytische Richtungen, die in dieser Arbeit untersucht werden, jede davon hat ihre eigenen neuartigen Analyseebenen: 1. Diversität der Wissenssuche und technologische Innovation verlängert auf: Einführung hybrider Suchstrategien zur Neutralisierung von Gegenwirkungen einzelner Suchstrategien, Integration von des moderierenden Mechanismus des Technologieerwerbs in die Beziehung zwischen Search Diversity und technologischer Innovation und Analyse der Rolle von Mergeranteils der Industrien in der Industrie-Search Diversity als endogenes Konstrukt 2. Diversität der Wissenssuche und organizational Innovation verlängert auf: Integration von Marktmechanismen in dieser Beziehung und Integration des exogenen Mechanismus der organisatorischen Innovationsdichte von Unternehmen in verschiedenen Industrien in diesem Rahmen 3. Diversität der Wissenssuche und Logistikinnovation verlängert auf: Integration von der moderierenden Rolle der Marktwettbewerbsintensität in dieser Beziehung und Integration des exogenen Mechanismus der Logistikinnovationsdichte der Industrien in diesem Rahmen.Competition is the driving force behind innovation and innovation is the reaction of firms to gain competitive advantage. There are different ways in which innovation and competition in the market interact based on the structural and interorganizational relations in industries. Whether firms intend to be first movers in the market or they intend to raise rivals’ costs for being innovative, it is the undeniable role of information that directs the consequences of all such scenarios. For firms to sustain and prosper while competing in their offerings it is vital to introduce processes and skills based on the knowledge they acquire -from market responses (demand and supply side) to all competing choices - to solve their future problems. Innovation as the upshot of competition is a dynamic process of knowledge analysis. How this knowledge is obtained and analyzed on its way to creativity depends on many interacting contextual, environmental and structural factors. Environmental turbulences on one hand draw firms’ attention into being innovative not to get behind in competition (Hannan & Freeman, 1977; Burgelman, 1991; Romanelli & Tushman, 1994; Child, 1997). On the other hand, how such strategies towards idea production yielding to sustainable competitive advantage is very much dependent on contextual framework of the firms (Burns & Stalker, 1961; Lawrence & Lorsch, 1967; Pugh et al., 1969; Blau, 1970; Perrow, 1970; Mintzberg, 1979; Chesbrough & Teece, 1998). Different paths directing those attributes and forces (environmental and contextual) into development of innovation are predominately determined by enterprises’ capacity in knowledge creation and knowledge aggregation (Aygris & Schoen, 1978; Nonaka & Takeuchi, 1995). In other words, it is the environmental dynamisms which provide synergies for firms to innovate (as a perspective for creating competitive advantage), there are enabling factors of innovation as a process (context) and there are functional ecosystems throughout which innovation becomes an output. As literature suggests (Cui, et al., 2005, Hock-Doepgen et al., 2021) such functional ecosystem constitutes the so-called knowledge infrastructure which embodies internal and external knowledge management capabilities. Internal capabilities constitute technology, culture and structure and external capabilities encapsulate knowledge acquisition, conversion and application. Innovative changes can take form in association with either of the elements embodied in knowledge infrastructure. Thus, innovation is not only a breakthrough product or technology being introduced into the market but it also comprises introduction or adoption of new business models or processes. Hence searching for knowledge from the outside world, assimilating it with internal stock and incorporating it into the innovation process plays substantial role in the success of firms’ innovative journeys. Although acquiring knowledge from external environment was exercised in practice (Teece, 1986; March, 1991) even before open innovation was theorized in the seminal work of Chesbrough (2003) (as searching and utilizing external knowledge), it was after his trend changing formulation that it became organized as a prominent element of firms’ knowledge infrastructure. Open innovation implies that knowledge development for successful innovation campaigns cannot be limited to firms’ internal capacities (Gassmann & Enkel, 2004; Dahlander & Gann, 2010) such as their internal R&D investments (Dominici & Levanti, 2011; Varga et al., 2014) and employees’ individual potentials (as partials of context) (Galende & De la Fuente, 2003). Rather, for firms to be able to catch up with the fast-changing market circumstances it is required to extend their search domain outside their boundaries. In fact, external sources of knowledge are the parties who shape up enterprises’ surroundings. Thus, acquiring information from those actors enriches firms’ (industries) idea cultivation to tackle environmental forces and to gain competitive advantage over their rivals. External knowledge strategies as components of external knowledge management capability can take different forms. Search breadth (reflecting number of sources being explored by firms) and search depth (referring to importance of different sources to explore) as prominent external knowledge acquisition practices have attracted much academic attention in open innovation literature (Katila & Ahuja, 2002; Laursen & Salter, 2006; Greco et al., 2015). Nevertheless, when analyzing how search for external knowledge affects technological and non-technological innovative transformations, in addition to the underlying generality of the acquired knowledge, it is the elemental diversity in knowledge search that is mostly emphasized to be influential on dynamics of different types of innovation rather than other aspects (Kaplan, 1998; Hargadon, 2002; Flor et al., 2018). This study proposes and codifies a search approach (as a component to search breadth) which captures diversity in search in a more dynamic and rigorous way than other search modes do. This novel search approach is utilized to analyze the impact of diversifying search (as a search strategy) for external knowledge on different types of innovation outcomes for enterprises. The role of knowledge (acquisition or development) as the most strategic resource of firms (Grant, 1996) on their way to innovative outcomes has been vastly highlighted. Furthermore, the effect of traditional external search strategies on some (rather than all) types of innovation has been treated but the dynamic role of competition in that type of literature has not been comprehensively taken into account. This thesis’s further novelty lies in investigation of how heterogenous knowledge if acquired from external sources is incorporated to explain desirability to initiate diversity of innovations in interaction either with firms’ internal knowledge management capabilities (such as technology) or with market dynamisms (such as competition intensity).Since uncertainties inherent in innovative attempts raises the desirability for variety in innovation (Nelson & Winter, 1977), I shed light on how such varied spectrum of innovations is explained by diversifying strategies in search for knowledge as an open innovation process. There are three main and original analytical directions investigated in this thesis each of which has their own novel layers of analysis: 1. Knowledge search diversity and technological innovation 2. Knowledge search diversity and organizational innovation 3. Knowledge search diversity and logistics innovation. The first direction extends towards: a) Introduction of hybrid search strategies for neutralizing counter-effects of individual search strategies on their way towards technological innovation. Such approach is developed based on the comparison made between the established patterns of search breadth and technological innovation and that of search diversity and technological innovation according to the outcomes of empirical analyses. b) Integration of the moderating mechanism of technology acquisition (machinery and software) into the relationship between search diversity and technological innovation. c) Integration of the industrys’ merger share into the search strategies framework and analyzing its role in industrys’ search diversity as an endogenous construct. The second direction extends towards: a) Integration of the moderating mechanisms of market competition intensity and demand uncertainty into the relationship between search diversity and different modes of organizational innovation. b) Integration of the exogenous mechanism of industrys’ organizational innovation density into the correlation of search diversity and of the moderating mechanisms with introduction of organizational innovation by firms in different industries. The third direction extends towards: a) Integration of the moderating role of market competition intensity into the relationship between search diversity and logistics innovation. b) Integration of the exogenous mechanism of industrys’ logistics innovation density into the correlation of search diversity and of the moderating mechanism with the introduction of logistics innovation by firms in different industries