Search results

The purpose of this paper is to understand the representation that senior managers of Italian social enterprises have about their organization’s intellectual capital (IC), precisely about the human capital, relational capital and organizational capital.

This paper used a qualitative approach. A total of 81 senior managers were interviewed individually. Interview data were analyzed using different techniques of content analysis, particularly by using the T-Lab software (analysis of word occurrence and co-word mapping, analysis of Markovian sequences).

Findings confirm the divide between theory and practice of IC. The representation of the IC dimensions is rather different from the definition that is found in the academic literature. Limited awareness about IC components and their generative power of knowledge determines a limited exploitation of the social enterprises’ organizational knowledge.

The group reached is limited to Italy and is not statistically representative of all Italian social enterprises.

Social enterprises are crucial in the development and well-being of societies. However, the findings suggest that many social enterprises managers are not fully aware of the importance of IC and how it may create value for their organizations. This paper stresses that senior managers of social enterprises need to, through various methods, have a better understanding of IC management and knowledge creation if they are to fully utilise the potential of IC in their organizations for survival and growth.

This is the first attempt to explore the perception of IC’s components among social enterprises, which represent an important development of non-profit organizations.

Social enterprises are not purely commercial and philanthropic. They represent a hybrid form of organizations that involve taking business‐like, innovative approaches to deliver public services. Very little research has investigated the role of intellectual capital (IC) in innovation processes in social enterprises. This paper aims to address this.

This paper uses a critical analysis of current literature in relation to the IC concept within the social enterprise context.

The paper argues that the IC concept can be utilized as a strategic management framework that assists social enterprises to harness knowledge for the pursuit of innovative social and commercial activities.

The paper contributes to the literature by theoretically arguing that IC can be utilized in innovation processes in social enterprises. It also informs social entrepreneurs that the IC concept is a valid strategic management framework that assists facilitating innovation in social enterprises. An IC conceptual framework is proposed using theoretical arguments from the literature. The framework helps social entrepreneurs to visualize IC and its components in their organizations for the development of effective innovation‐based strategies in social enterprises. The increased awareness of the IC concept in social enterprises, as a result of this paper, is likely to generate further research from both non‐profit practitioners and scholars.

The paper is considered as a starting‐point and serves as a milestone in examining the role of IC in innovation processes in social enterprises.

The purpose of this editorial is to introduce the background and rationale to the special issue, “Intellectual capital and non‐profit organizations in the knowledge economy”. It aims at helping in communicating and disseminating relevant recent intellectual capital research studies within the non‐profit context.

The call for papers for the special issue was made publicly available in the journal web site. Authors from Australia, Finland, Germany, Israel, Italy, Poland, Portugal, Spain, the UK and the USA were attracted, submitting their manuscripts for the consideration of publication in the special issue. All submissions underwent a double‐blind refereed selection process. Following a brief discussion of the contemporary non‐profit challenge, the main ideas of the eight papers selected are then presented.

The selected papers summarize the state‐of‐the‐art in the research of intellectual capital in the non‐profit sector in the knowledge economy. The papers embrace an eclectic mix of topics and methodologies.

As a collection, the special issue sets the groundwork for many years of future hypothesis development and testing in intellectual capital research studies within the non‐profit context.

The special issue is the first to bring together theoretical pieces that link context to theory, empirical works, and case studies that address the application of IC in non‐profit organizations.

The purpose of this paper is to deepen the knowledge on the role played by the intellectual capital (IC) of small and medium non-profit socio-cooperatives (SMSCs) in generating knowledge and organisational growth, as well as on the challenges and the difficulties of the management of IC among these organisations.

This exploratory study adopted a qualitative methodology. A total of 70 semi-structured interviews were conducted with senior managers of Italian non-profit SMSCs, asking them to talk about the management of their human capital, organisational capital and relational capital. The data gathered from the interviews were analysed through discourse analysis carried out by two independent judges.

IC management among Italian non-profit SMSCs is unplanned, unsystematic and short-termed. The SMSCs in question adopt an employee-centred approach; their IC management and knowledge creation are more focused on the direct contribution of the organisational members, than on the endorsement of formal or structured procedures and processes. Owing to their social aim, the well-being of both the workers and the beneficiaries of the SMSCs plays a central role in the IC management. Relationships with external stakeholders are regarded as important as those with the internal ones, re-affirming the organisations’ members as the core of the knowledge generation.

The group reached is not a statistically representative sample; furthermore, it is limited to Italy.

Deepening the knowledge on IC among these organisations can help to promote the strengths and address the weaknesses of its management, whilst also helping these micro-enterprises to develop into SMEs.

This paper contributes to the IC literature by shedding light on the role played by IC among small and medium enterprise (SMEs), and more specifically in the specific context of Italian SMSCs. To the authors’ knowledge, no previous research has thus far dealt with this issue. Deepening the knowledge on IC among these organisations can help to promote the strengths and address the weaknesses of its management, while also helping these micro-enterprises to develop into SMEs.

The purpose of this paper is to examine how the emergent 3D interactive media technologies are used as a viable tool for enhancing visitors’ overall experiences at an exhibition entitled, 300 Years of Hakka Kungfu – Digital Vision of Its Legacy and Future (Hakka Kungfu Exhibition) – presented and co-organized by the Intangible Cultural Heritage Office of Hong Kong, International Guoshu Association and the School of Creative Media, City University of Hong Kong.

A questionnaire survey in both online and paper-based formats was used for identifying visitors’ experiences in the interactions with the multimedia technologies. For this research study, a questionnaire, consisting of 26 items, was set out to measure the visitors’ experiences at the Exhibition. Since the Exhibition was about presenting a centuries-old Chinese cultural heritage, Hakka Kungfu via the use multimedia technologies, in the context of establishing a dialogue between the past and present, the researchers included questionnaire items that were devoted to enquire about the level of understanding, knowledge and enjoyment, and visitors’ new knowledge about Hong Kong history and culture was successfully disseminated to the respondents at the end of the questionnaire.

A total of 209 completed questionnaires were collected at this Hakka Kungfu Exhibition. The findings reveal that the exhibits did attract people at all ages. This Exhibition gave the visitors a sense of interest and wonder in the object and information presented in the Exhibition. Findings of this study also reveal that this Exhibition has successfully attracted a large number of female visitors, as well as visitors who have never taken any martial arts training. In addition, visitors’ Exhibition experience was found to be memorable, as well as enjoyable. Furthermore, visitors’ experience within the Exhibition suggested that it was entertaining, as well as educational. By creating a long-lasting impact on the minds of these Exhibition visitors about the connections between and relevance of traditional Chinese Kungfu, their collective cultural identity, as well as the contemporary society we live in. The Exhibition exemplified the successful integration of the presentation of Kungfu as a form of cultural heritage with engagement-creating technology, in which technology is unobtrusive but effective.

Although it is already a global trend for the museums to integrate multimedia technologies into their exhibitions, research on the situation and feedback of multimedia technology used in the museum exhibitions in Hong Kong is scarce as well as scattered. Findings of this study could help identify various factors involved in audience participation, thereby exploring the possibility of building a contact point/space for traditional Chinese Kungfu as an intangible cultural heritage, via the integration of the latest media technologies. In particular, the development of multimedia technologies has become increasingly important to museums, and museum professionals have been exploring how digital and communication technologies can be developed to offer visitors a more interactive, personalized museum experience. In general, despite the growing interest in deploying digital technology as interpretation devices in museums and galleries, there are relatively few studies that examine how visitors, both alone and with others, use new technologies when exploring the museum contents.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the critical types of knowledge lost when employees depart companies in the oil and gas field.

The study adopts a grounded theory methodology. Twelve semi-structured interviews were conducted with elite informants in the oil and gas sector to gain an in-depth insight into the research problem. ATLAS.ti was used for data analysis and coding.

In the oil and gas industry, employees generally have job rotation and work at various geographical locations during their career. The departing employees possess valuable types of knowledge depending on the role and duties they have performed over the years. These include specialized technical knowledge, contextual knowledge of working at different geographical locations, knowledge of train wrecks and history of company, knowledge of relationships and networks, knowledge of business processes and knowledge of management.

The study findings might only be applicable to the oil and gas sector.

This paper fulfills an identified gap on the identification of critical areas of knowledge loss when employees depart from oil and gas companies. The study adds to the existing body of literature on this underexplored area in the knowledge management literature.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate how companies are handling the issue of knowledge retention from old age retiring workers in the oil and gas sector. This is achieved by providing a detailed insight on the challenges and strategies related to knowledge retention through study of companies from different geographical locations across the globe.

The study adopts a qualitative research methodology and 20 semi-structured interviews, with open-ended and probing questions, were conducted to gain an in-depth insight into the knowledge retention phenomena.

Knowledge retention activities tend to be inconsistent in majority of the oil and gas companies, with not much work being done regarding knowledge loss from old employees, partly because of the fall in oil prices and layoffs. Oil prices turn out to be a decisive factor in oil and gas industry regarding workforce and knowledge retention activities. The political situation and geographical locations of the companies also affect the knowledge retention activities. Moreover, the aging workforce and retirement issue is more acute in the upstream sector.

The focus of the study was on the oil and gas sector, and thus the research results may lack generalizability.

This paper fulfills an identified need for investigating the issues and challenges of knowledge retention regarding old age retiring employees by taking into account a global perspective and providing a comparison among different companies in different geographical locations.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the relationship between big data and knowledge management (KM).

The study adopts a qualitative research methodology and a case study approach was followed by conducting nine semi-structured interviews with open-ended and probing questions.

Useful predictive knowledge can be generated through big data to help companies improve their KM capability and make effective decisions. Moreover, combination of tacit knowledge of relevant staff with explicit knowledge obtained from big data improvises the decision-making ability.

The focus of the study was on oil and gas sector, and, thus, the research results may lack generalizability.

This paper fulfills an identified need of exploring the relationship between big data and KM which has not been discussed much in the literature.

Hong Kong has experienced an average annual growth in final energy consumption of 4.7 per cent over the last ten years. An initiative being undertaken by a small number of government and commercial organisations is to limit their own consumption of electricity through performance contracting. Performance contracting is essentially a partnering process, where a client organisation partners with an energy management firm to identify and achieve energy savings for the client organisation. The research undertaken for this project has identified a number of factors that are considered to affect the success of performance contracting in Hong Kong. In a survey of practitioners, who have experience of performance contracting, some of the key benefits of this approach identified include the fact that there are substantial energy cost savings to be made. These savings are guaranteed by the partnering energy saving company and there are overall improved operational and plant efficiency gains. Key requirements for the success of such schemes include the setting‐up of an agreed energy baseline against which to measure results and human factors such as commitment to the enterprise at all levels of the organisation and trust between the co‐operating organisations. The paper expands the discussion on the benefits, obstacles and necessary ingredients for performance contracting that are likely to be applicable not just to Hong Kong but to the successful implementation of any such scheme.

The purpose of this paper is to bring consideration to the care receivers’ point of view when setting policies for the delivery of health services.

This paper briefly reviews the delivery of health services designed by the governing body in Hong Kong and China. It also looks into how the care receivers behave in the respective delivery system.

With different objectives and fundamentals, Hong Kong and China strive to improve the delivery of health services. However, there are issues which make the implementation of these improvements challenging. This paper looks into the care receiver’s concerns that impact the delivery of health services.

Provide areas for consideration when setting up health policy.