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1 – 10 of over 156000
Article
Publication date: 8 July 2014

Ram Manohar Singh and Meenakshi Gupta

This paper aims to develop a scale to measure knowledge management holistically at team level and to provide an empirical integration to a fractured body of literature on knowledge

2317

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to develop a scale to measure knowledge management holistically at team level and to provide an empirical integration to a fractured body of literature on knowledge management.

Design/methodology/approach

Ten concepts commonly studied under the umbrella term “knowledge management” were reviewed. On the basis of literature review, a semi-structured interview was conducted with 24 information technology (IT) professionals. A scale was developed based on the literature review and the interviews. The scale was tested in two phases, on samples of 91 and 699 IT professionals. Team knowledge management was analysed on 512 respondents, belonging to 34 teams.

Findings

Findings suggest that the newly developed scale is a reliable and valid measure of knowledge management. Exploratory factor analysis of the 27-item scale suggests that knowledge management should be measured along four dimensions: knowledge creation, sharing, retention and actionable knowledge support.

Practical implications

Organizations expect their teams to make the best use of knowledge resources. This scale would help organizations diagnose knowledge management practices in teams and develop interventions according to the needs of each team. The scale and four-factor model will provide a framework and a tool to investigate relationship of knowledge management with other variables.

Originality/value

The attempts to integrate literature on knowledge management have largely been theoretical, and there has been little empirical work to provide an integrative framework for knowledge management concepts. This paper presents an empirical basis for the integration of knowledge management concepts. The paper also presents development of a scale which measures knowledge management practices in teams.

Details

Journal of Knowledge Management, vol. 18 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1367-3270

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 22 June 2023

Nusrat Hafiz, Md. Fazla Mohiuddin, Ahmad Shaharudin Abdul Latiff, Ida Md. Yasin, Sazali Abd Wahab and Ahmed Razman Abdul Latiff

Although scaling is considered a “hot topic”, very little is known about how knowledge management (KM) assists in scaling social impact. To fill this gap, the authors draw on…

Abstract

Purpose

Although scaling is considered a “hot topic”, very little is known about how knowledge management (KM) assists in scaling social impact. To fill this gap, the authors draw on knowledge-based and social capital theories and investigate how various KM practices and external networks (e.g. bridging social capital) affect scaling social impact in developing countries.

Design/methodology/approach

Applying structural equation modeling (SEM) with AMOS version 23, the authors conducted a survey with 354 women leaders who are working in women-led social enterprises in Dhaka, Bangladesh.

Findings

The authors found that knowledge codification, training and mentoring, and bridging social capital are positively and significantly associated with scaling social impact.

Originality/value

This is one of the pioneering study that explore how KM impacts scaling social impact for women-led social enterprises in the context of a developing country. The authors also extend knowledge-based theory by applying it at the individual level. Finally, the authors enhance the understanding of women entrepreneurship by showing that women entrepreneurs in developing countries are also utilizing bridging social capital to overcome challenges associated with scaling social impact.

Details

Management Decision, vol. 61 no. 7
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0025-1747

Keywords

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 27 April 2022

Caroline Fischer

This paper aims to develop and validate a scale to measure knowledge-sharing motives at work. It is aimed to construct a scale which is explicitly different from knowledge-sharing…

1459

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to develop and validate a scale to measure knowledge-sharing motives at work. It is aimed to construct a scale which is explicitly different from knowledge-sharing behavior and to develop a comprehensive and domain-specific scale for this special kind of work motivation.

Design/methodology/approach

The constructed scale was tested in two studies. Survey data (n = 355) were used to perform an exploratory factor analysis. Results were further tested on survey data from the core public sector (n = 314) and the health sector (n = 315). A confirmatory factor analysis confirms the results in both samples. The developed scale was further validated internally and externally.

Findings

The analysis underlines that knowledge-sharing motivation and knowledge-sharing behavior are different constructs. The data suggest three dimensions of knowledge-sharing motives: appreciation, growth and altruism and tangible rewards. While it is suggested that the developed scale works in the public as well as the private sector context, it is found that knowledge sharing of public employees is merely driven by “growth and altruism” and “appreciation of coworkers.”

Originality/value

No comprehensive and reproducible scale to measure knowledge-sharing motives, which is different from behavior and domain-specific as well, was available in the literature. Therefore, such a scale has been constructed in this study. Furthermore, this study uses samples from different organizational sectors to deepen the understanding of knowledge sharing in context.

Details

VINE Journal of Information and Knowledge Management Systems, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2059-5891

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 3 February 2023

Leander Luiz Klein, Kelmara Mendes Vieira, Anabela Carvalho Alves and Matheus Pissutti

Since few studies have explored and advanced on the development of measures of knowledge waste, the purpose of this paper is to develop and validate a scale for measuring the…

Abstract

Purpose

Since few studies have explored and advanced on the development of measures of knowledge waste, the purpose of this paper is to develop and validate a scale for measuring the waste of knowledge.

Design/methodology/approach

A research was carried out in Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) divided into five distinct stages, three qualitative and two quantitative. For the quantitative steps, a sample of 223 responses was obtained for the exploratory part and another sample of 614 responses for the confirmatory part of the study. Data analysis procedures involved Exploratory and Confirmatory Factor Analysis to test and validate the proposed scale.

Findings

A fifteen-item scale divided into four constructs was obtained after refinement of the proposed scale and validation procedures (convergent and discriminant validity). The scale also has satisfactory levels of reliability.

Research limitations/implications

The resulting scale was validated in a single institutional culture environment (HEIs in Southern Brazil). So it still should be tested in different organizational contexts and cross-culturally in different countries. The scale may be useful for decision-making improvement about knowledge management and waste reduction.

Practical implications

A scale with a practical and quick application is provided. Additionally, a classification of the waste of knowledge level was developed and it could be easily applied in different sectors or organizations.

Originality/value

The literature on waste of knowledge is limited and often confused with knowledge loss. This study provides a clear distinction between these topics, and it advances on the explanation and definition of knowledge waste. Also, it is the first study to offer a scale to measure the elements of knowledge waste.

Details

International Journal of Quality & Reliability Management, vol. 40 no. 8
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0265-671X

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 16 November 2022

Achutha Jois and Somnath Chakrabarti

The education services sector faces ever-changing global market dynamics with creative disruptions. Building knowledge brands can push the higher education sector beyond its…

Abstract

Purpose

The education services sector faces ever-changing global market dynamics with creative disruptions. Building knowledge brands can push the higher education sector beyond its geographical boundaries into the global arena. This study aims to identify key constructs, their theoretical background and dimensions that aid in building a global knowledge brand. The authors' research focuses on adapting and validating scales for global knowledge and education services brands from well-established academic literature.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors have adopted a mixed methodology approach and a systematic literature review. Authors interviewed 18 subject matter experts as part of content and face validity to arrive at select constructs, dimensions and items. Quantitative methods with random sampling were adopted as the primary methodology. Initially, the survey was administered to 390 students to test preliminary results. The survey was also administered to 5,112 students at a later part of this study. Valid responses stood at 3,244 with a 63% response rate. Further, the authors conducted confirmatory factor analysis, exploratory factor analysis and structural equation modeling to test the reliability and validity of scales. This study analyzed composite reliability, convergent validity and discriminant validity to finalize items for scales. The authors also validated the hypotheses based on the discriminant validity assessment scores.

Findings

Authors' key research findings are that academic stimulus, campus infrastructure and student intent play a significant role in campus culture and events design and experience at campus. Authors were able to bring out 16 key constructs and 55 critical dimensions vital to global education services brand building. This study also adapted and validated 99 items that meet construct validity and composite reliability criteria. This study also highlights that constructs such as student intent, academic stimulus, campus infrastructure scalability, selection mechanism, pedagogical content knowledge, brand identity, events experience and campus culture play a vital role in global brand recognition.

Research limitations/implications

The authors' work is fairly generalizable to education services and the higher education sector. However, this study must be extrapolated and empirically validated in other industry sectors. The research implications of this study are that it aided the authors in building theoretical background for student brand loyalty theory, student expectation theory and study loyalty theory. This study adds to the body of knowledge by contributing to theoretical concepts on students, knowledge culture, events, infrastructure and branding. Researchers can adopt the scales proposed in this study to build research models in higher education branding. This study acts as a catalyst for building theories in education services areas. Researchers can delve deep into proposed research aspects of campus infrastructure, knowledge infrastructure, campus knowledge culture, events design and events experience.

Practical implications

This study aids educators and brand managers to develop global education services and optimize their effort and budget. Administrators in the education services sector must focus on practical aspects of student perception, campus infrastructure, culture and events experience. Practically administrators can reorient their efforts based on this study to achieve global brand recognition.

Social implications

This study highlights that students are not customers but are co-creators of value in the education sector. This study provides scales and dimensions needed to build co-creation frameworks and models.

Originality/value

Most research in higher education branding has not covered wider aspects of global brand building. Existing theories proposed in higher education and education services articles cover only narrower aspects of campus infrastructure, culture, events design and branding. This study presents a comprehensive list of critical factors that play a vital role in global knowledge brand building. This study highlights the constructs and scales integral to building a global education services brand.

Details

VINE Journal of Information and Knowledge Management Systems, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2059-5891

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 8 April 2014

Annette Dunham and Christopher Burt

The aim of this study is to develop a psychometrically sound self-report scale of organizational memory. The scale is planned for use in future research to test the relationship…

1434

Abstract

Purpose

The aim of this study is to develop a psychometrically sound self-report scale of organizational memory. The scale is planned for use in future research to test the relationship between what employees know and their attitudes to passing on their knowledge.

Design/methodology/approach

A total of 72 organizational memory scale items representing six hypothesised dimensions of organizational memory were developed and tested with 143 participants using exploratory factor analysis. The resulting five-factor model was tested with a further sample of 288 employees using structural equation modelling, and the test-retest reliability was examined.

Findings

Five factors of the organizational memory scale were identified. These were: socio-political knowledge, job knowledge, external network, history, and industry knowledge. The dimensions correlated with tenure variables often used as proxies for experience. Structural equation modelling confirmed the five-factor model and the scale achieved adequate test-retest reliability.

Research limitations/implications

The five organizational memory factors are not an exhaustive list. While the scale enables employees to evaluate their own organizational memory, it may not necessarily be an accurate indicator of their knowledge.

Practical implications

The scale can be used as a knowledge audit instrument for examining attitudes to mentoring and knowledge sharing, as well as for auditing knowledge that may potentially be lost when experienced employees leave organizations.

Originality/value

The scale is a valid and reliable self-report measure of organizational memory. It is an innovative tool for examining employee attitudes to knowledge sharing initiatives. The scale also recognises the contribution made to organizational memory by those with industry knowledge outside the organization.

Details

The Learning Organization, vol. 21 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0969-6474

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 13 March 2024

Puja Khatri, Preeti Kumari and Asha Thomas

The significant role of universities in generating and diffusing new knowledge in the interest of society has positioned faculty as knowledge creators. The present study…

Abstract

Purpose

The significant role of universities in generating and diffusing new knowledge in the interest of society has positioned faculty as knowledge creators. The present study contributes to the domain of positive psychology by heeding the happiness call in academia. The research intends to develop and validate a scale for measuring happiness at work (HAW) for knowledge creators.

Design/methodology/approach

The study is systematically designed across a series of four independent studies: (1) Dimensionality and item analysis, (2) scale purification, (3) scale refinement and nomological validation and (4) generalizability. Additionally, common method bias (CMB) was checked utilizing the marker variable technique.

Findings

HAW has been established as a second-order reflective-reflective construct with six factors, namely work satisfaction, self-directedness, self-love, positive thinking, positive social relationships and work-family balance. The nomological validity and generalizability of the scale have also been established.

Research limitations/implications

The study is an attempt to address an important topic of HAW among knowledge creators. By conceptualizing HAW as a combination of intraindividual and organizational factors, this study offers a comprehensive measure of HAW that was previously absent in the literature. The results of the study will assist management in making strategic decisions to ensure the HAW of knowledge creators.

Originality/value

Knowledge creators’ happiness is a major concern in academia and has received little attention till date. The primary contribution of this study is the conceptualization and development of a validated scale for measuring knowledge creators’ HAW. A valid and reliable scale for measuring HAW would enable researchers to gain fresh perspectives on the essence, attributes and quantification of this particularly noteworthy construct.

Details

Kybernetes, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0368-492X

Keywords

Book part
Publication date: 24 August 2011

Breda Kenny and John Fahy

The study this chapter reports focuses on how network theory contributes to the understanding of the internationalization process of SMEs and measures the effect of network…

Abstract

The study this chapter reports focuses on how network theory contributes to the understanding of the internationalization process of SMEs and measures the effect of network capability on performance in international trade and has three research objectives.

The first objective of the study relates to providing new insights into the international market development activities through the application of a network perspective. The chapter reviews the international business literature to ascertain the development of thought, the research gaps, and the shortcomings. This review shows that the network perspective is a useful and popular theoretical domain that researchers can use to understand international activities, particularly of small, high technology, resource-constrained firms.

The second research objective is to gain a deeper understanding of network capability. This chapter presents a model for the impact of network capability on international performance by building on the emerging literature on the dynamic capabilities view of the firm. The model conceptualizes network capability in terms of network characteristics, network operation, and network resources. Network characteristics comprise strong and weak ties (operationalized as foreign-market entry modes), relational capability, and the level of trust between partners. Network operation focuses on network initiation, network coordination, and network learning capabilities. Network resources comprise network human-capital resources, synergy-sensitive resources (resource combinations within the network), and information sharing within the network.

The third research objective is to determine the impact of networking capability on the international performance of SMEs. The study analyzes 11 hypotheses through structural equations modeling using LISREL. The hypotheses relate to strong and weak ties, the relative strength of strong ties over weak ties, and each of the eight remaining constructs of networking capability in the study. The research conducts a cross-sectional study by using a sample of SMEs drawn from the telecommunications industry in Ireland.

The study supports the hypothesis that strong ties are more influential on international performance than weak ties. Similarly, network coordination and human-capital resources have a positive and significant association with international performance. Strong ties, weak ties, trust, network initiation, synergy-sensitive resources, relational capability, network learning, and information sharing do not have a significant association with international performance. The results of this study are strong (R2=0.63 for performance as the outcome) and provide a number of interesting insights into the relations between collaboration or networking capability and performance.

This study provides managers and policy makers with an improved understanding of the contingent effects of networks to highlight situations where networks might have limited, zero, or even negative effects on business outcomes. The study cautions against the tendency to interpret networks as universally beneficial to business development and performance outcomes.

Details

Interfirm Networks: Theory, Strategy, and Behavior
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-78052-024-7

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 28 February 2023

Yi Su and Yuehan Yan

This paper aims to focus on the characteristics of a two-tier network featuring internal subject cooperation and external embedded cooperation in the context of regional…

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to focus on the characteristics of a two-tier network featuring internal subject cooperation and external embedded cooperation in the context of regional innovation systems (RISs) and explore the influence of network characteristics on knowledge emergence.

Design/methodology/approach

Using social network analysis, a two-tier internal and external cooperation network of a RIS is constructed. A negative binomial regression method is used to explore the effects of the characteristics of these two-tier internal and external networks on knowledge emergence, the moderating effect of the cooperation knowledge base in this context is investigated and grouping and quantile regressions are used to conduct heterogeneity analysis.

Findings

The scale of the internal cooperation network has a positive effect on knowledge emergence, and the betweenness centralization of the internal cooperation network has an inverted U-shaped effect on knowledge emergence. The scale and structural holes of the external embedded network have an inverted U-shaped effect on knowledge emergence. Furthermore, the internal cooperation knowledge base weakens the influence of the external embedded network on knowledge emergence.

Practical implications

This research may enlighten policymakers with respect to improving the scale and structure of the RIS cooperation network and matching the embedded network based on the internal cooperation knowledge base to promote knowledge emergence.

Originality/value

This research contributes to the study of knowledge emergence by exploring the influence of a two-tier network structure and scale characteristics on knowledge emergence in RISs. This paper also extends the framework of relevant research by integrating the internal cooperation knowledge base into the analysis of externally embedded cooperation and knowledge emergence.

Details

Journal of Knowledge Management, vol. 27 no. 9
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1367-3270

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 5 August 2014

Wafa Belkahla Hakimi, Abdelfattah Triki and Samiha Mjahed Hammami

The purpose of this paper is to introduce the concept of customer knowledge-enabled innovation (CKEI) and suggests a scale for its eventual measurement. The process of the scale

1869

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to introduce the concept of customer knowledge-enabled innovation (CKEI) and suggests a scale for its eventual measurement. The process of the scale development is presented in detail following the Churchill (1979) paradigm. CKEI is defined as the capacity of the organization to introduce new products and services on the basis of effective management of customer knowledge. It reflects the degree to which the company is endowed with the expertise of managing properly customer knowledge in order to enhance innovation.

Design/methodology/approach

The CKEI raw scale is mainly composed of 57 items. In an effort to purify the scale measurement, test and validate its psychometric specificities, two surveys were administrated among two independent samples. Respondents were new product managers or marketing managers. One manager per firm was interviewed. The convenience sampling method was applied.

Findings

The CKEI scale has been intended to be uni-dimensional. It encompasses three main facets: the integrative capacity of the firm, the structural capacity and the internal management capacity. The developed scale is valid and highly reliable (composite reliability=0.90; variance extracted=0.5). After exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis, a pool of ten items was retained for the eventual measurement of the CKEI scale.

Research limitations/implications

CKEI has been tested in a Tunisian context; continued refinement of the proposed CKEI scale is, undoubtedly, possible and even desired, based on further research in other business environments. Such refinements and modifications could necessitate the inclusion of new items, or the deletion of original ones. In some cases, the hypothesized factor structure may need modifications. To keep abreast with the ever-changing business environment, the paper strongly urged to incorporate these relevant aspects in the scale into the future research, so that a valid measure of CKEI can be ensured on an ongoing basis.

Practical implications

The scale is offered to provide managers with a practical tool for the evaluation of their forces and weaknesses in managing customer knowledge in organizations. It is considered as a barometer allowing them to adjust and to modify continually their innovation strategies focusing on the intellectual capital management.

Originality/value

CKEI is a new concept that is introduced in this research as a knowledge-based capability which helps companies to sustain competitive advantage. The relevance of the CKEI is that it is considered as a dynamic capability integrating both innovation and customer knowledge management theories.

Details

European Journal of Innovation Management, vol. 17 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1460-1060

Keywords

1 – 10 of over 156000