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This paper aims to contribute to defining the concepts of boundary spanner, gatekeeper and knowledge broker.

A review of the literature covering more than 100 sources.

A review of past research leads to proposing a set of new definitions and also to the detection of six research avenues.

The ability of organizations to recognize, source and integrate key information or knowledge is important for their strategy, innovation and performance over time. Three types of individuals have information gathering and knowledge dissemination roles at the frontier of organizations and groups: boundary spanners, gatekeepers and knowledge brokers. Although research on these individuals is well-developed, we found that in practice, the definitions of the concepts overlap and still need a clarification. So far, no systematic comparison of these roles has been undertaken.

This paper aims to examine the interaction between gatekeeping and trust in a public sector organization, where employees at lower hierarchical levels are expected to autonomously translate and transform directives into public services. This requires them to have access to operational steering information, i.e. information about directives and how to interpret and apply them. This study focuses on how gatekeeping structures regulate flows of operational steering information and how the gatekeeping structures affect the development of trust.

The research design is qualitative. The data material consisted of semi-structured interviews with 26 employees in home care and schools and of eight complementary nonparticipant observations. Thematic analysis revealed the presence of static and dynamic gatekeeping structures, which are characterized by fixed and variable arrangements of information sources and channels, respectively.

In static gatekeeping structures, managers or domain experts typically act as gatekeepers, and employees also perform gatekeeping activities collectively. Gatekeeping structures allow employees to switch between acting as gatekeepers and being gated, depending on the situation. The results show that gatekeeping structures for intermediation of operational steering information may support or impede employees' work, thus affecting their trust in their peers and their work organization.

Although the present study included both interviews and observations, these primarily occurred within scheduled and prearranged activities rather than capturing the nuances of the typical daily work of teachers and home care employees. As a result, certain perspectives may have been unintentionally omitted.

The participants were recruited through the City of Oslo contact people, which may have impacted their status or perception in some way. Moreover, the study was conducted in the City of Oslo, a specific organization with its own unique set of values, norms and processes. The trust-based management in the City of Oslo is likely not representative of all public sector organizations.

This study contributes conceptually by introducing gatekeeping structures and operational steering information and empirically by providing evidence of their relationship to trust development in public service delivery. Thus, it contributes to the research fields of information management and public administration.

The purpose of this paper is to explore how Lean and Six Sigma’s distinctive practices relate to potential absorptive capacity (PACAP) and realized absorptive capacity (RACAP). The paper seeks to understand which of the practices in Lean Six Sigma are needed to manage absorptive capacity systematically.

Partial least square based structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) was used to test the theoretical model drawing on a sample of 125 manufacturing organizations in Malaysia. In addition to examining direct effects, the study also examines indirect effects using bootstrapping method to identify possible mediation effects proposed in the model.

The results explain that Lean’s social practices (LSP), Six Sigma’s roles structure (RS) and structured improvement procedure (SIP) positively influence potential absorptive capacity (PACAP). Meanwhile LSP, RS and focus on metrics (FOM) positively influence realized absorptive capacity (RACAP). SIP was found to influence RACAP through PACAP. The analysis reveals the combination of Lean Six Sigma practices that are required in managing PACAP and RACAP differentially.

The study is only confined to manufacturing industries in Peninsular Malaysia. Data collected were cross-sectional in nature. The application of Lean Six Sigma and how it influences absorptive capacity may get sturdier across time, and this may change the effect toward sustainability of firm’s competitive advantage. A longitudinal study may be useful in that context. The study also makes specific recommendations for future research.

The results of this study can be used by Lean Six Sigma practitioners to prioritize the implementation of Lean Six Sigma practices to develop absorptive capacity of the organization through PACAP and RACAP, which needs to be managed differentially as they exert differential outcomes. This would enable organizations to tactfully navigate and balance between PACAP and RACAP in accordance to business strategies and market conditions.

Absorptive capacity in Lean and Six Sigma context has largely been studied as a unidimensional construct or used as a grounding theoretical support. Therefore, understanding the multidimensionality through PACAP and RACAP provide insights on how to enhance and maneuver absorptive capacity through Lean Six Sigma systematically. The findings may pave the way for future research in enhancing the current knowledge threshold in Lean Six Sigma.

The paper aims to capture the nuances of two client–supplier relationships to offer new insights on the influences of transactional, knowledge and social elements in outsourcing partnerships.

The study has used descriptive case studies with narrative storylines. Interviews were conducted with three relationship managers (boundary gatekeepers) to understand preferred governance practices between clients and suppliers in diverse economic markets.

Experiences of three real-life cases engaged in offshore outsourcing have helped to identify the market, operational knowledge and social influences in a relational exchange. Findings reveal that offshore partnerships are first constituted with service-level agreements, which set control measures and layout business expectations from both partners. Boundary gatekeepers bring further accountability across firms by designing social networks for capturing and sharing of knowledge, thereby reducing each partner’s perception of risk. As firms evaluate transactional, knowledge and social elements for building a futuristic relational exchange, more disaggregated and dispersed enterprises evolve as new opportunities are explored in foreign markets.

The retrospective nature of the client–supplier partnership is a limitation in this research study. However, retrospection adds to experience, and to practice perspectives made in hindsight, and therefore has a positive influence in this study.

This paper shares real-world experiences that can be used by scholars and practitioners to better understand how relational governance practices operate in a global socio-economic setting.

The rising need to innovate and obtain knowledge from more distant knowledge sources calls for new innovation strategies and a better integration of other external actors who lie outside the traditional automotive supply chain. Such an open innovation strategy challenges organizational boundaries both on the firm and supply chain level, yet our understanding of the functioning of such boundaries and how they can be managed to allow for purposive knowledge flows is limited. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

In a longitudinal case study, the authors trace the development of the first open innovation network in the German automotive industry over a period of five years based on archival data, semi-structured interviews, and field observations.

While the automotive industry is advanced in collaborating with suppliers for innovation, routines for assessing and integrating ideas from sources outside the supply chain are still underdeveloped. The authors show which current knowledge boundaries pose obstacles for open innovation initiatives in this industry, and how they could be mediated through the involvement of gatekeepers.

The authors challenge and clarify the notion of the “permeability of organizational boundaries” in the open innovation literature and investigate the role of gatekeepers for open innovation.

This paper seeks to explore the processes and channels through which valuable knowledge from outside the firm reaches those employees who can exploit that knowledge for innovative purposes. It seeks to identify the specific talents exhibited by the key individuals involved in facilitating these important knowledge flows. It also aims to detail the interventions which management can adopt to harness knowledge flow talents.

The methodology used was a single case study of a medical devices R&D group, incorporating social network analysis and semi‐structured interviews.

It was found that it is now rare for a single individual to possess all the talents necessary to effectively acquire and disseminate external knowledge. Owing to the prevalence of information and communication technologies, a small number of uniquely skilled individuals specialize in acquiring valuable external knowledge, while an altogether different set of individuals specialize in disseminating that knowledge internally.

There is a dearth of literature in the knowledge management field directed towards understanding how the unique talents of those employees who are integral components of knowledge networks can be harnessed. Building on concepts of talent management and the technological gatekeeper, the specific talents exhibited by these individuals are explored. Then some organizational level interventions are pointed up, which can facilitate knowledge‐intensive organizations in fully exploiting their resources to maximize innovative capabilities.

Owing to the complexity of the task and the risks inherent in it, the effectiveness of any organizational buying decision largely depends on the information available for the decision‐makers’ use. Within any typical organization, flow of the information needed in the decision‐making process is influenced by the gatekeepers – the people who link the organization with the outside environment. However, despite the important role played by these people, not much is known about their behavior. This research makes an attempt to study gatekeeping behavior and examine factors which may influence this behavior.

This paper has been written following the refusal of US Big Six firms to participate in a context‐based research project on the new‐client‐acceptance decision, in spite of their claims that current audit research is too far removed from the realities of practice. The paper aims to problematise the firms’ refusal, arguing that it exemplifies efforts at policing the development of academic knowledge on the part of gatekeepers who strive to make researchers work on technicalities, thereby mitigating the risk that research may tarnish the profession’s legitimacy. Insights into the social construction of the gatekeepers’ efforts at policing knowledge are provided by the multilateral negotiations with the firms, showing initial differences in gatekeepers’ boundaries of acceptable research, and subsequent between‐firm discussions that resulted in the firms’ joint decision to refuse participation.

This study aims to elaborate the picture of the relationships between information and power by examining how expert power appears in the characterizations of gatekeeping presented in the research literature.

This study uses conceptual analysis for examining how expert power is constitutive of the construct of gatekeeper and how people subject to the influence of gatekeeping trust or challenge the expert power attributed to gatekeepers. The study draws on the analysis of 40 key studies on the above issues.

Researchers have mainly constructed the gatekeepers' expert power in terms of superior knowledge and skills applicable to a specific domain, coupled with an ability to control or facilitate access to information. The gatekeeper's expert power has been approached as a contextual factor that facilitates rather than controls access to information. The power relationships between the gatekeepers and those subject to gatekeeping vary contextually, depending on the extent to which the latter have access to alternative sources of information. The findings highlight the need to elaborate the construct of gatekeeping by rethinking its relevance in the networked information environments where the traditional picture of gatekeepers controlling access to information sources is eroding.

As the study focuses on how expert power figures in gatekeeping, no attention is devoted to the role of social power of other types, for example, reward power and referent power.

The study pioneers by providing an in-depth analysis of the nature of expert power as a constituent of gatekeeping.