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To address the problem of how to guide and promote health knowledge adoption, based on online diabetes communities, this study explores the impact mechanism of social support on users' individual health knowledge adoption to provide insights for online diabetes community management and personal health management.

Integrating the theories of cognitive-affective personality system (CAPS) and social support, this study constructs a theoretical model, collects data through a questionnaire and uses a structural equation model to analyse 356 data.

The results show that: (1) Considering the online diabetes communities, it is reasonable to divide social support into emotional, information, network and respect support. (2) Social support affects individual health knowledge adoption through the intermediaries of knowledge argument quality, knowledge source credibility and positive emotions. (3) The order of the mediating effect of cognitive and emotional factors between social support and health knowledge adoption is knowledge argument quality > knowledge source credibility > positive emotions and rationality > sensibility. (4) Users pay more attention to the source credibility of professional health knowledge than that of experiential health knowledge.

This research expands the application scope of CAPS and opens the “black box” of the impact of social support on individual health knowledge adoption behaviour. Simultaneously, the dimensions of social support and the mediating effect between social support and the two types of health knowledge are discussed.

The potential for the adoption of a knowledge management system (KMS) is becoming a crucial matter in small and medium enterprises (SMEs); however, there is a scarcity of studies related to KMS adoption in SMEs. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to advance further our understanding of the factors that influence the KMS adoption process among SMEs.

The collected sample size was 247 respondents. For statistical analysis, Smart partial least square (PLS) (a structural model-based tool) was used to build, run and validate the process model. PLS regression techniques were used to analyze the latent constructs. Smart PLS exhibits both the measurement model and the structural model.

The results indicate that knowledge management capabilities, knowledge sharing, organizational learning capabilities and IT capabilities are the significant factors which influence KMS adoption. This study also identifies some unexpected results.

The number of responses obtained from the survey was rather small. However, a larger number of responses would probably have resulted in a more accurate finding. Additionally, this study should be verified via a larger sample to increase its generalization.

The result of this study will provide SMEs with valuable guidelines to better understand what factors should be considered as highly important and thus providing decision makers and managers with valuable insights to increase the adoption level of KMSs.

The study addresses the research gap by developing and empirically validating a research model of KMS adoption from a different perspective that incorporates critical issues which have never been simultaneously examined.

The purpose of this paper is to fill a significant research gap in academic literature pertaining to open innovation (OI). To do so, this paper empirically tests the impact of organizational culture, employees’ knowledge, attitudes and rewards as antecedents and mediators of OI adoption in organizations, facilitating a more thorough understanding by using an empirical multi-level approach.

This paper analyzes the results of the “Identification of Industrial Needs for Open Innovation Education in Europe” survey through a quantitative analysis using logistic regression models. This survey includes 528 employees working in 28 different industrial sectors in 37 countries, most of which are in Europe.

The results suggest a positive impact of organizational characteristics on the adoption of OI (i.e. including the adoption of outside-in and inside-out OI activities in participating organizations), showing that the openness of an organization’s culture increases its likelihood of adopting an OI paradigm. More importantly, the results highlight the positive mediating effect of employees’ knowledge and rewards on this relationship.

The data set that was the basis of this paper was generated in European countries, the results of the analysis are limited and appropriate for this region and may vary when applied to other regions of the world.

The proposed multi-level approach offers new insight into organizational knowledge. It enables the improvement of OI and knowledge management practices in organizations by assisting practitioners and academics in recognizing the relationship between organizational culture; employees’ knowledge, attitudes and rewards; and the adoption of the OI paradigm.

This paper offers a possible explanation on why open-border cultures are more likely to have a successful OI adoption, by relating it to factors that advance in the presence of an open-border culture, such as active participation of OI relative departments in knowledge sourcing and knowledge exchange, and rewarding employees for OI activities.

This paper presents a new framework which links organizational culture to OI, moving on from merely examining culture in terms of its positive or negative impact on OI adoption. It contributes to research on the OI paradigm and knowledge management by highlighting the significance of antecedents and mediators from a multi-level perspective using multiple units of analysis. Most previous studies focus on a single unit of analysis.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the factors influencing people’s health knowledge adoption in social media, with an eye toward promoting health information literacy and healthy behavior.

Based on the integration of sense-making theory, social influence theory, information richness theory, fear appeal theory, and ELM (elaboration likelihood method), a health knowledge adoption model is constructed. Taking spondylopathy as an example, high health threat and low health threat experiments and questionnaires are designed to complete the empirical study. In all, 355 effective survey samples are collected and analyzed, leveraging a partial least squares method.

Research results indicate that perceived knowledge quality, perceived knowledge consensus, and perceived source credibility have positive effects on health knowledge adoption via the mediator – trust; knowledge richness contributes to the perception of knowledge quality, source credibility, and knowledge consensus, especially under high health threat; health threat has significant positive moderating effects on the relationship between trust and health knowledge adoption, and the relationship between perceived knowledge quality and trust, with negative moderating effects on the relationships between perceived knowledge consensus, perceived source credibility, and trust.

This paper examines the mediating effecting of trust in the process of health knowledge adoption. Based on the integration of fear appeal theory, social influence theory, sense-making theory, information richness theory and elaboration likelihood model, this study investigates the factors influencing health knowledge adoption in social media from the perspective of a user, and explores the moderating effect of health threat on health knowledge adoption.

The purpose of this paper is to envisage human characteristics and resources as critical factors in the adoption process. While an individual’s intention to adopt knowledge is considered as the primary motivator in the adoption process, these characteristics, in the appropriate amount, can accelerate the recipients’ knowledge adoption behavior. In this study four personal characteristics, comprising shared language between a knowledge sender and a recipient, the recipient’s prior knowledge, the recipient’s enjoyment in adopting knowledge, and the recipient’s self-confidence have been chosen.

This research uses four human characteristics, consisting of shared language between knowledge senders and recipients, recipients’ prior knowledge, recipients’ enjoyment in knowledge adoption, and recipients’ self-confidence, to identify their optimal roles in the adoption process. Along with the intention to adopt new knowledge, each of these characteristics was tested in both forms. A survey was conducted with white collar workers. Nine models were designed and regression technique was used for analyzing data and interpreting outcomes of these models.

This study reveals that shared language between a knowledge sender and a recipient as well as a recipient’s self-confidence to adopt new knowledge directly enhances the individual’s likelihood to start learning. Shared language and self-confidence perform better as mutual predictors, while prior knowledge and enjoyment are the moderators.

The research outcome is beneficial in the designing of organizational business strategies. Shared language between an instructor and a learner increases likelihood to adopt knowledge, thus it is advantageous to arrange prerequisite mandatory courses in order to enhance a learner’s language proficiencies. Organizations can leverage their employees’ prior knowledge if it is perceived to be low. To do so, supervisors should link eagerness in learning and augmenting competencies to career advancement. Advice from, and rapport with a supervisor is essential. Effective strategies can improve the knowledge sharing goals, and in turn achieve business objectives as a whole.

The purpose of this paper is to advance information technology (IT) adoption research and practice by investigating the process of knowledge transfer (KT) undertaken by suppliers of IT innovations. The authors expound the intricacies of formal and informal mechanisms of the KT initiative that aims at augmenting the absorptive capacity (ACAP) of potential IT adopters with the objective of increasing the likelihood of adoption of new IT products or services.

The authors draw on case studies of ten IT suppliers to build on the limited research on KT for customers in IT adoption. The authors focus on the for customer type of KT from the standpoint of the IT supplier firm.

The authors’ results show that complexity of the IT product or service increases the reliance on formal and systematic KT initiatives. This paper also shows that there is a required minimum threshold level of initial customers’ ACAP in order for the KT initiative to be worthwhile for the supplier, especially for those offering complex IT products and services. However, IT suppliers were found to limit their reliance on KT when they believed that customers that became too knowledgeable might threaten the innovation’s diffusion.

Since the authors’ case firms represented innovation suppliers, future studies should investigate customer-supplier dyads to explore and integrate the customer’s perspective in the analysis of the KT process. To this end, longitudinal studies would also provide immense insights into the KT process and how it evolves over time.

The main contribution of this paper consists of illuminating the workings of KT initiatives aimed at existing and potential customers from the standpoint of the IT innovation supplier. By focusing on the for customers aspect of KT, this paper advances the authors’ understanding of why and how IT suppliers should resort to formal vs informal KT mechanisms. The authors’ proposed framework also integrates and shows the roles of customers’ ACAP, complexity of the IT innovation, and tacitness of the knowledge transferred to the customers.

This article investigates the determinants of knowledge management system (KMS) adoption, specifically with reference to Malaysian organizations across various industries.

The structural equation modelling approach using PLS technique was utilized to analyze the hypotheses developed, based on the survey data from 830 respondents comprised of information technology or knowledge management managers in Malaysian organizations from various industries.

Knowledge management (KM) enabling processes, perceived usefulness of KMS, knowledge sharing culture, knowledge taxonomy, and policy and procedure for KMS work, display significant positive effects on the KMS adoption level, with KM enabling processes having the strongest significant positive influence. Meanwhile, incentive and reward, management commitment, and KMS perceived ease of use possess no significant direct effect. However, management commitment was found to have an indirect effect on the KMS adoption level, where its effect is mediated by knowledge sharing culture.

This article outlines several managerial implications for enhancing the adoption of KMS, which include establishing appropriate KM enabling processes, identifying pertinent information to be preserved, shared, and reuse, and generating initiatives to instil a culture of knowledge sharing.

The empirical findings support the relevancy of the technology acceptance model (TAM) construct of perceived usefulness in KMS adoption context and advances the understanding that knowledge sharing culture is a highly influential factor for this construct. This study enriches and extends technology acceptance theory by presenting a more holistic model for KMS adoption with the integration of influencing factors that are inherent to organization.

Knowledge management (KM) is associated with higher performance and innovative culture; KM can help the public sector to be fiscally lean and meet diverse stakeholders’ needs. However, hierarchical structures, bureaucratic culture and rigid processes inhibit KM adoption and generate inertia. This study aims to explore the nature and causes of this inertia within the context of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) public sector.

Using an in-depth case study of a UAE public sector organisation, this study explores how organisational inertia can be countered to enable KM adoption. Semi-structured interviews are conducted with 17 top- and middle-level managers from operational, management and strategic levels. Interview data is triangulated with content analysis from multiple sources, including the UAE Government and case organisation documents.

The results show transformation leadership, external factors and organisational culture mediate the negative effect of inertia on KM practices adoption. We find that information technology plays a key role in enabling knowledge creation, access, adoption and sharing. Furthermore, we uncover a virtuous cycle between organisational culture and KM practices adoption in the public sector. In addition, we develop a new model (the relationship between KM practices, organisational inertia, organisational culture, transformational leadership traits and external factors) and four propositions for empirical testing by future researchers. We also present a cross-case comparison of our results with six private/quasi-private sector cases who have implemented KM practices.

Qualitative data is collected from a single case study.

Inertia in a public section is a result of bureaucracy and authority bounded by the rules and regulations. Adopting a qualitative methodology and case study method, the research explores the phenomena of how inertia impacts KM adoption in public sector environments. Our findings reveal the underlying mechanisms of how internal and external organisational factors impact inertia. Internally, supportive organisational culture and transformational leadership traits positively effect KM adoption, which, in turn, has a positive effect on organisational culture to counter organisational inertia. Externally, a progressive national culture, strategy and policy can support a knowledge-based organisation that embraces change. This study develops a new model (interactions between internal and external factors impacting KM practices in the public sector), four propositions and a new two-stage process model for KM adoption in the public sector. We present a case-comparison of how the constructs interact in a public sector as compared to six private/quasi-private sector cases from the literature.

Based on the knowledge management (KM) perspective, innovation diffusion theory and technology-organization-environment framework, the purpose of this paper is to develop a research model to investigate the influence of technological (information technology (IT) support and IT effectiveness), organizational (top management support, sharing culture, and reward system) and environmental (competitive pressure) contexts on the two-stage KM diffusion (KM adoption and implementation) in small and medium enterprises (SMEs).

Data gathered from 119 SME senior managers (including owner, vice president, and business manager) in Taiwan were employed to test the relationships between the research model constructs using the partial least squares approach.

The results showed that technological, organizational, and environmental factors have different effects on KM adoption and implementation stages. Specially, IT support has the strongest effect on KM adoption stage, while sharing culture has the strongest effect on KM implementation stage.

IT support continues to be positively related to the level of KM implementation after adoption. KM diffusion requires managers to invest time and effort to link specific IT support and knowledge-based work activities, since effective IT deployment for KM can help SMEs move toward a knowledge society, which is vital in the contemporary knowledge economy.

Theoretically, the findings of this study contribute to empirical research on contextual factors that influence KM diffusion using a broad data set rather than a few isolated SME cases. From the managerial perspective, given the importance of KM diffusion in modern SMEs and also in the future, the findings of this study are designed to enable owner-managers and practitioners to understand how SMEs KM diffusion is influenced by contextual factors, and how the effects may vary across different stages.

Despite the introduction of structural reforms to the students' loan scheme (SLS) in Ghana's higher education sector, patronage is still low. This paper aims to examine the complexity of technological and behavioural factors underpinning the low rate of students' loan adoption in Ghana. It further contributes to the body of knowledge by exploring the moderating role of financial knowledge in the hypothesized relationships.

Using a positivistic research approach, a sample of 700 tertiary students with experience in accessing SLSs were surveyed. An 88% response rate was realized and the data analysed using descriptive statistics, exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis.

Four dimensions of technological factors (relative advantage, trialability, observability and compatibility) and two of behavioural factors (attitude and control behaviour) were positively related to adoption of the SLS. Financial knowledge only moderated the relationship between compatibility, attitude, behavioural control and students' loan adoption.

Financial knowledge plays a critical role in influencing the investment decisions of people. Management of SLSs needs to offer financial education to targeted parents/students to clear misconceptions. It is also imperative that all other technical challenges are addressed to enhance adoption rates for the SLS. Review of guarantor requirements is needed also.

This paper introduces financial knowledge as a moderating variable to investigate the hypothesized relationships. It offers a developing country insight into how technological/behavioural factors and financial knowledge might be impacting adoption of SLSs.