Complementarities and Substitutabilities Among Knowledge Sourcing Strategies and Their Impact on Firm Performance

Knowledge sourcing strategy (KSS) is regarded as a key determinant of successful Knowledge Management (KM). However, prior research on how KSSs can improve firm performance has produced inconsistent results. This may be due to inadequate consideration of complementary and substitutable relationships in KSSs. Whereas previous studies have assessed the impact of individual KSS on firm performance, in practice firms adopt several different KSSs simultaneously. Drawing on the Knowledge-based View (KBV) and the complementarity theory, this study investigates the impact of multiple KSSs, in terms of sourcing type and origin, to develop three sets of hypotheses on complementarity and substitutability. Survey data collected from 372 firms in Korea are analyzed to test the hypotheses using the supermodularity and submodularity functions. The results confirm complementary relationships between system- and external-oriented, between person- and internal-oriented, and among system-, person-, and internal-oriented strategies, as well as substitutable relationships between person- and external-oriented strategies. Interestingly, different knowledge sourcing patterns between knowledge intensive and non-knowledge intensive environments are revealed. This study expands KM research by developing a new conceptual framework of KSSs and employing advanced analytical approaches to explore the relationships between KSSs and firm performance. It also offers valuable practical suggestions for managers in selecting successful combinations of KSSs using a judicious combination of system- and external-oriented, of person- and internal-oriented, or of system-, person-, and internal-oriented strategies

The Effect of Relative Power on Interorganizational Knowledge Transfer and Relationship Quality in the Buyer-Supplier Relationship: A Bilateral Perspective

Considerable attention has been paid to relative power that decides the type of buyer-supplier relationship. However, most prior studies have limitations as they have focused only on one focal firm’s (buyer’s or supplier’s) perspective, failing to achieve a more balanced view from both sides of a buyer-supplier relationship. This study proposes a research framework by integrating both the buyer’s and the supplier’s perspectives and develops three hypotheses on the effects of relative power on interorganizational knowledge transfer and relationship quality in the buyer-supplier relationship. The proposed framework and its hypotheses were tested using cluster analysis and ANOVA with data from the survey of 89 dyadic pairs of participants of the buyer-supplier relationship. The results showed four distinguished types of buyer-supplier relationship: (1) confident buyer and supplier, (2) diffident buyer and supplier, (3) arrogant buyer but diffident supplier, and (4) confident buyer but cowed supplier. In addition, we also found that buyers and suppliers have their own different perceptions on relative power, degrees of knowledge flow, and relationship quality. Interestingly, when a buyer and a supplier believe that the power is balanced between them, inter-organizational knowledge transfer activities and quality of relationship were improved. The results help sharpen our understanding of how relative power affects knowledge transfer and relationship quality in the buyer-supplier relationship, and enable us to explore the different standpoints between the buyer and the supplier. Such findings based on a bilateral view of relative power in the buyer-supplier relationship may be used as a stepping stone for further empirical research. It also offers valuable practical suggestions for managers who want to facilitate knowledge flow with their partners

Measuring Coordination through Social Networks

In this study, we explore the correlation between actor centrality and project based coordination. By drawing from established coordination and organisational process theory, a text-mining tool is designed and implemented to measure coordination from a large dataset of emails. Here, we provide effective mechanisms for: (i) cataloguing coordination key phrases from an email corpus; (ii) the calculation of coordination score based on project scope; (iii) the construction of social network matrices using centrality measures, and (iv) approaches for exploring the association between network centrality and coordination score. We argue that actor centrality affects the ability of an individual to coordinate the actions of others. The following questions guide this study--What is the effect of network centrality on organisational coordination? How is the actor’s ability to coordinate projects related to their structural position in the communications network? We developed multi-layered test designs to explore this relationship in a project-based (macro) and cross-project (micro) level. We suggest four major findings from the analysis of communication data from Enron email corpus. Firstly, it is concluded that centrally positioned actors show more coordinative activity. Secondly, it is found that betweenness index of centrality is the most potent predicate for coordination. Thirdly, the influence of an actor is associated with coordination more so than the actor’s prominence. Lastly, results suggest that coordination ability is more closely correlated to actor centrality than the organisational position. It is therefore concluded that centrally ‘well-connected’ people are able to exercise greater coordination within the network structure

Assessing the Impact of Open and Closed Knowledge Sourcing Approach on Innovation in Small and Medium Enterprises

AbstractThere is very limited research on open innovation in small and medium enterprises (SMEs). By drawing on complementarity theory and knowledge based theory, this study develops three hypotheses in order to identify the impact of knowledge sourcing approaches for innovation on SMEs’ innovation performance. Surveys collected from 196 SMEs in Korea were analyzed to test the hypotheses by using supermodularity function. The results indicate no significant impact of external knowledge-oriented approach while positive impact of internal knowledge-oriented (i.e., closed approach) on innovation performance. Interestingly, this study finds that open innovation has significant negative impact on SMEs’ innovation performance (i.e., both internal knowledge- and external knowledge-oriented approaches have a substitutive relationship). This study sheds new light on open innovation and knowledge management research by identifying the relationships between knowledge sourcing approaches for innovation and innovation performance in SMEs

Analyzing and Testing Knowledge Management Complementarity Structures

Recent research on firm level productivity and organizational performance has highlighted the importance of complementarity among organizational practices. A number of studies have developed methods to test the existence of complementarity among such organizational variables. However, despite these advances in the study of industrial organization and management, our understanding of the complementarity structures remains sketchy. In this paper, we seek to advance research on this topic by identifying different classes of complementarity structures and developing a testing procedure for each class. A three-level testing procedure is developed to find complementarity structures which can be categorized into four different classes: non-complementarity, critical complementarity, non-critical asymmetric complementarity, and non-critical symmetrical complementarity. The testing method is illustrated by using an empirical illustration of a range of knowledge management (KM) strategies as they impact on knowledge creation processes in organizations

Open Innovation Maturity Model for the Government: An Open System Perspective

To meet the increasing expectations of citizens, governments have become increasingly open, transparent, accessible and consultative to deliver efficient public services. These trends can be fulfilled through open government data provision and usage. Governments can generate social and economic values by using data-driven open innovation processes, such as by adopting citizens’ ideas or knowledge related to open data and by providing government data to the public. Despite the trends of open innovation in the context of government, research on open innovation is lacking. Furthermore, most studies disregard the differences of countries in the level of open innovation maturity of open data provision and usage. Therefore, this study aims to understand data-driven open innovation practices in government by developing a government-level open innovation maturity model, evaluating the current status of open innovation of the government, and suggesting appropriate future directions and guidelines for the government

Different Perspectives on IT Business Value: An Integrative Approach

Despite growing evidence of a positive impact of Information Technology (IT) investments on firm performance, the variations in the results across organisations are still significant. This research takes a fresh approach by addressing complementarity impacts of organisational practices on three different dimensions of IT business value (ITBV). The goal is to identify important organisational practices and empirically test the synergistic relationships among them and their impacts on different dimensions of IT business value. We implemented an integrative approach to analyse the complex interactions among multiple organisational practices. First, we categorised ITBV into four dimensions based on different management objectives: strategic, informational, transactional and organisational transformation. Second, organisational configuration for each ITBV dimension is identified using regression trees. Third, a formal complementarity test was performed on each configuration pattern. Our findings indicate that the set of organisational practices affecting each dimension of ITBV is different. Hence, IT complementary factors that affect particular dimensions of ITBV do not necessarily have the same effect on other dimensions

Knowledge management strategy and its link to knowledge creation process. Expert Systems with Applications

creation proces

Understanding Information Technology Complementarities Using an Augmented Endogenous Growth Framework

The complex relationships between information technology investments and organizational practices have been the focus of intensive research in recent years. The research focus appears to have shifted to investigating the effects of various organizational practices and their interactions with information technology capital. There also is emerging evidence of recent emphasis on organizational factors and a greater shift toward IT complementarities in which value addition is linked to combining complementary organizational practices with IT investments. In this paper we focus on the contributions of IT use and organizational practices and their interactions. We use firm-level data to extend previous studies in three ways: (1) by using a large sample covering 3,299 firms spanning 11 industries, (2) by focusing on a large number of organizational practices, and (3) by augmenting the endogenous growth accounting framework with a data mining technique. Our findings indicate that the set of interrelated organizational practices that complement positively to IT use is different from the set of practices hindering IT use. We conclude that IT complementary factors that positively affect productivity growth do not necessarily have a reverse effect when they are reduced or removed. It appears that some organizational factors have asymmetrical effects on growth