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The purpose of this paper is to propose a method for performance assessment of organizations based on integrated approach of knowledge management and safety management using data envelopment analysis, and the proposed model is then applied in the car industry in Isfahan province to be checked. Therefore, deficiencies can be highlighted and possible strategies can be evolved to improve the performance.

As data envelopment analysis is a robust mathematical tool, it has been used to evaluate organizational performance. For discovering the organizational performance of knowledge management and safety management by data envelopment analysis (DEA), the first step is to specify proper criteria. To this end, in this method, the indices in both approaches of knowledge management and safety management were identified. Then, inputs and outputs were specified. Knowledge management and safety management were determined as input indices, and customer satisfaction and accident indicators were the output indices. It is noteworthy that each output index was used one time. In the next stage, performance of organizations was assessed based on both determined approaches and via data envelopment analysis. Finally, the organizations were ranked.

The suggested method was implemented in the car industry in the Isfahan province. The obtained results disclosed that among 12 decision-making units, 4 units are efficient when customer satisfaction is the output and 5 units are efficient when accidents indices are the output. In ranking with customer satisfaction as the output, Sepahan Atlas Pump Company was ranked first via super efficiency method, data envelopment analysis and similarity to ideal solution. In ranking with accidents as the output, Sepahan Atlas Pump Company ranked first via strong efficiency method and Sanatgar Company ranked first via data envelopment analysis and similarity to ideal solution.

Knowledge has been recognized as one of the valuable resources, and knowledge management would greatly effect improvement of job quality. Knowledge level increase is led by better performance and less errors. Consequently, it can enhance the organizational health and safety. There are some studies which have been conducted on safety management or knowledge management performance analysis. The organizational performance evaluation based on integrated approach of knowledge management and safety management is an important issue which is less considered in theory and practice. Thus, the authors have proposed a method which is able to evaluate the organization based on this integrated approach with functional indices, which resulted in accurate results, and finally, ranking can show the organization status to determine proper strategies.

This study aims to assess knowledge retention of the graduates of the online graduate certificate on local development planning, land use management and disaster risk management (PDLOTGR, the abbreviation of the certificate's Spanish title). The certificate was offered to practitioners and faculty members of Latin American countries since 2016.

The authors reviewed the knowledge, attitude and practice (KAP) method to develop a specific approach, which included the preparation of a KAP survey, a composite KAP index and three sub-indices. The survey targeted two groups: (1) experimental group, composed of the certificate's 76 graduates, and (2) control group, comprised of 25 certificate's candidates, who had not yet undergone the training/intervention. The statistical analysis included a one-way multivariate analysis of variance to compare the mean scores on the KAP index and sub-indices for individuals in the experimental and control groups.

The study results showed significant differences in the knowledge sub-index between those who had completed the PDLOTGR training and those who had not, while the attitudes and practices sub-indices did not show significant differences. When using the KAP index, a statistically significant difference was also observed between the two groups.

Perceived knowledge assessment offers an acceptable and non-intimidating option for evaluating continuing education and professional development programs associated to disaster risk. It is particularly helpful in determining whether an intervention or program has a lasting impact. It is not, however, a substitute for direct knowledge assessment, and the use of other methods to evaluate the performance of a capacity building program's graduates.

This paper aims to study the correlation between knowledge management (KM) enablers and performance indices of KM.

Referring to the literature reviews, it attempts to construct the KM process performance index, analyze its importance, and further analyze a company's characteristics, the relationship between KM enablers with the importance of the KM process performance index, and try to adopt four KM enablers as independent variables. Lastly, it intends to explore whether the relationship between the importance of the KM process performance and financial performance indices affects the importance of the financial performance index.

Among KM enablers, the factor strategy and leadership appears to be one of the most significant positive relationships among all of the KM process performance indices. The importance of performance indices in knowledge creation and knowledge internalization on the operational and customer sides show a positive, significant relationship in the importance of the financial performance index.

With the constraint of the number of samples, this study does not construct the KM process performance indices of every industry category or strategy.

The main contribution of the paper is that it explores the causes that influence KM process performance indices, and this enriches empirical research literatures in the domain of the KM process performance indices.

The purpose of this paper is to develop an active larval indices surveillance system and compare the outcomes of the implementation in primary care units (PCUs) at low and high risk of dengue.

The study design was conducted by implementing a community participation action research system in low and high dengue risk PCUs in Lansaka district, Nakhon Si Thammarat province, in the Southern Region of Thailand. There were five phases to the process including preparation of all stakeholders, situation assessment, development of the surveillance system, program implementation and evaluation. The system was developed in ten villages that were categorized as either low dengue risk PCUs (comprising six villages) or high dengue risk PCUs (four villages). A village was assigned as being at high or low dengue risk according to pre-determined criteria. The low dengue risk PCU assessments were conducted on a seven-step active larval indices surveillance system where PCU officials were additionally involved in coordinating, teaching, coaching and supporting the village health volunteers (VHVs) for dengue prevention activities. The high dengue risk PCUs, on the other hand, only followed a basic larval indices surveillance system with no follow-up support.

The outcomes of using intervention systems showed that the VHVs’ dengue knowledge and larval indices understanding in both PCUs increased significantly (p<0.01). Furthermore, the low dengue risk PCUs had a higher larval indices level than the high dengue risk PCU (p<0.01).

This study showed that the low dengue risk PCU followed an active larval indices surveillance system at the sub-district level which is appropriate for villages. This study also revealed that VHVs are needed to strengthen the capacity in terms of knowledge and skills of developing such a system to ensure reduced levels of dengue in the community.

The twenty first century is increasingly categorized as a century for hyper‐competitiveness. In the knowledge economy, any country can be the location of knowledge resource and it is increasingly becoming difficult to have national competitive advantages as compared to previous centuries. This paper seeks to study the competitiveness of emerging markets, particularly Brazil, Russia, India and China (BRIC) countries.

The paper obtains help form literature and recent competitiveness reports.

Emerging markets, particularly the group of BRIC countries, are increasingly becoming the growth driver of the global economy. In the Global Competitiveness Rankings of World Economic Forum, India is most competitive among BRICs, whereas in World Competitiveness Rankings of the IMD, China is most competitive followed by India, Brazil and Russia. In the knowledge economy Index and Knowledge Index, Russia is the leading player followed by Brazil, China and India.

To maintain the growth story of emerging markets, competitiveness is a must. This issue needs to be further researched.

The paper finds that India and China are ahead of Russia and Brazil on competitiveness indices, but lag in knowledge indices. Thus, whereas Brazil and Russia need to focus on governance and business efficiency, India and China need to develop knowledge resources.

Emerging markets and competitiveness are important research issues and this paper tries to provide some basic understanding on competitiveness of emerging markets.

Social software emerges as an important and effective tool for customer knowledge management (CKM). However, the supporting role of social software in CKM is not well understood. This paper aims to bridge the gap by studying the implementation of social software to effectively manage customer knowledge assets.

The paper analytically models and investigates the optimal level of social software for a firm who maximizes its transactional benefits through managing a consumer knowledge system. The system consists of a customer knowledge base and social software that dynamically affects the customer knowledge base through customers' interactions.

The paper shows that the optimal level of social software can be obtained under certain conditions and how the level changes with the initial index of customer knowledge base, transactional benefits, and the positive and negative effects of the social software. In addition, it provides guidelines to implement social software based on the analytical results.

This research provides valuable insights and guidance for the practicing manager and lays the foundation for future research on social software and CKM.

This paper aims to examine the relationship between knowledge-economy and economic growth in 16 Asia-Pacific (AP) countries during the period 2011–2018. The study also aims to investigate a diversity of knowledge-economy pillars, including tertiary education, domestic innovation, foreign innovation, economic incentives and institutional regime and information and communications technologies (ICTs) and their relation to economic growth.

The study applies a comparative empirical analysis using pooled ordinary least squares (OLS), one-step difference generalised methods of moments (GMM) and bias-corrected least-squares dummy variables (LSDVc) estimators to test this relationship.

Pooled OLS estimators deemed suboptimal to the panel data under study, while GMM results reveal a significant relationship between tertiary education, domestic and foreign innovation, government expenditure and investments with economic growth. Of these results, domestic innovation, investments and government consumption are positively correlated with economic growth, whereas tertiary education and foreign innovation show a negative relation. Meanwhile, institutions and ICT have insignificant relationships with economic growth. LSDVc results coincide with GMM results with respect to tertiary education, whereas institutions is the only additional significant and negatively correlated variable with economic growth.

The main limitation of this research lies in the unavailability of proxy data for knowledge economy pillars in monetary terms, and hence, the paper relies on indices.

The novelty of the study lies in its aim to investigate economic growth in the AP region that is enhanced by domestic innovation, foreign innovation or both – an area which is empirically understudied in the knowledge-economy context. Further, the paper’s novelty lies in its application of a comparative empirical analysis between the most popular dynamic panel estimators – dynamic GMM and bias-corrected LSDVc for AP countries.

Knowledge organization (KO) content is central to educational programs of library and information science (LIS) and information and knowledge management (KM) programs. The components of information and KO have similar philosophies, theories, approaches, strategies and tools. LIS education programs have strong traditions of teaching KO. Fresh emphasis is noted on metadata, data mining, info-maps, knowledge maps, taxonomy, ontologies and other strategies for organizing an organization’s explicit and tacit knowledge. This paper aims to analyze how LIS schools have responded to the needs of developing competencies related to information and KO among its graduates.

This study analyzed the curricula of LIS accredited schools and leading schools in selected regions of the world based on the course titles presented on their websites.

This analysis provided an overall picture of the coverage of KO courses in LIS programs of 68 selected schools located in Southeast Asia, the Europe and accredited schools of North America.

The paper is limited to the treatment of KO in 68 selected programs of LIS education.

Library and information education programs may benefit from the findings for incorporating needed content in KO coursework.

The study is ground-breaking as it addresses the needs of development of KO competencies among LIS professionals from the perspective of findings of a systematic study of the curricula of 68 schools.

Sustainable development is becoming increasingly a major concern for African Countries. They need a relatively high rate of growth of GDP to solve the many problems of poverty and underdevelopment, while insuring sustainability to their economies. At the same time, it is increasingly recognised that sustainability requires more and more knowledge assets and capabilities. This paper aims at showing the difficulty in attaining sustainable development for African countries with a weak technological and knowledge base. It deals first with the issue of knowledge systems and knowledge economy and their links with sustainability from a conceptual point of view. It highlights the specific situation of African countries stressing the difficulties they meet in this respect in a second section. This paper then shows how knowledge capabilities are highly correlated with levels of sustainability using knowledge and sustainability indexes. The discussion addresses technology transfer and innovation as key elements of knowledge, while the conclusion explores some of the opportunities.

The purpose of this paper is to answer the following research questions: Is the knowledge of a city environment a stimulus for entrepreneurship? Which knowledge profiles of cities are more propulsive in order to stimulate entrepreneurship?

In order to answer the aforementioned research questions, two multidimensional indexes have been created: Knowledge-Based City Developing Entrepreneurship and Entrepreneurship (ENT). The sample includes all capital cities in the EU28. The presence of cities from EU28 countries is important to foster the entrepreneurial attitude in each European Country. The authors have also included 32 non-capital cities in the EU that are important hubs, contributing to a sample formed of 60 cities.

The empirical results show that the social and cultural environment may significantly improve the entrepreneurship in EU cities, more than others factors that are usually connected to economic development.

The work tries to contribute to the debate on urban economic development and entrepreneurship, providing implication for academics and urban policy makers.