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1 – 10 of over 15000This paper aims to discuss the challenge for the classical idea of professionalism in understanding the Chinese software engineering industry after giving a close insight into the…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to discuss the challenge for the classical idea of professionalism in understanding the Chinese software engineering industry after giving a close insight into the development of this industry as well as individual engineers with a psycho‐societal perspective.
Design/methodology/approach
The study starts with the general review of the sociological concept of profession, professional and specialization of knowledge. Together with revealing the critical challenge from the empirical field of software engineering industry regarding its professionalization, a critique of the neglect of subjective agency in classical conception of professionalism in sociology theory and methodology is set out.
Findings
A case study with interpretation of the subject's continuously developing identification with their specialization in knowledge and occupation from their narration of career experience reveals the dynamics in this development process relating to individual, social practice and societal factors.
Originality/value
This paper contributes to empirical research of analyzing the professionalization process of software engineering and software engineers in relation to the concept of professionalism, and it contributes theoretically by discussing the challenge of this process to the development of professionalism within this highly knowledge‐based industry in a Chinese societal context.
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The purpose of this paper is to focus on the distinction between smart specialisation and smart specialisation policy and it studies under what conditions a smart specialisation…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to focus on the distinction between smart specialisation and smart specialisation policy and it studies under what conditions a smart specialisation policy is necessary.
Design/methodology/approach
A conceptual framework is built based on historical evidence of successful dynamics of structural changes at regional level qualified as “smart specialisation”. The identification of market and coordination failures that are likely to impede the occurrence of spontaneous process of smart specialisation makes a good case for a smart specialisation policy.
Findings
The paper highlights important design principles for the policy process that should help to minimise potential risks of policy failures and policy capture.
Research limitations/implications
The paper does assess the effect of smart specialisation on innovation and growth at regional level because it is too early to observe and measure effects. The paper confines itself to conjectures about the effects of such a policy.
Practical implications
The paper makes recommendations and explains some of the practicalities about the implementation of the policy at regional level.
Originality/value
The paper is one of the first dealing with the topic of smart specialisation policy.
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Francesca Michelino, Antonello Cammarano, Emilia Lamberti and Mauro Caputo
The purpose of this paper is to provide a methodological framework for evaluating the impact of open innovation (OI) adoption on start-up ventures at the knowledge domain level…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to provide a methodological framework for evaluating the impact of open innovation (OI) adoption on start-up ventures at the knowledge domain level, taking into account the technological specialization and the quality of innovation output.
Design/methodology/approach
The framework employs patent data for investigating joint development activities between start-ups and partners, thus defining an openness degree of R&D. The partner typology and the levels of specialization on the knowledge fields affected by each invention are investigated. The methodology is tested on a sample of bio-pharmaceutical start-ups.
Findings
On average, the openness level in the start-up phase is higher than the consolidation one. Furthermore, the higher the level of openness during the start-up phase, the higher the propensity to collaborate with scientific organizations. And yet, the occurrence of R&D collaborations is positively correlated to the level of specialization on the knowledge fields involved in joint development activities.
Practical implications
OI strategies are valuable for start-ups, particularly in the bio-pharmaceutical industry, since their adoption improves the quality of innovation output. This is particularly true when R&D collaborations are established with scientific entities.
Originality/value
This work investigates the impact of OI adoption on start-up ventures at the knowledge domain level, by employing objective and standardized data. Hence, the methodology can be considered as a first step in developing a useful tool for managers, researchers and business analysts.
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Complexity is endogenous for humans and increasing at an accelerating rate. At the same time individual lives become better and even simpler. This seems to be a paradox for which…
Abstract
Purpose
Complexity is endogenous for humans and increasing at an accelerating rate. At the same time individual lives become better and even simpler. This seems to be a paradox for which this paper aims to offer a solution.
Design/methodology/approach
The paradox and its solution are explained in some detail.
Findings
Specialisation is the missing link which fuels overall complexity and shelters individuals from it. Specialisation is a good solution for most problems arising from increasing complexity, although it results in some problems of its own and general knowledge is still needed as well as general education to obtain this knowledge.
Research limitations/implications
The presented argument is quite general in itself and needs further elaboration and empirical testing.
Practical implications
Aims and limits of specialised as well as general education are discussed.
Social implications
The right kind and amount of general education increases welfare and efficiency.
Originality/value
This connection between complexity, specialisation and education has not been shown before (at least to the best of knowledge of the author, who has the same problems to deal with the complexity of all human knowledge as everybody else).
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The paper underpins an advanced domestic manufacturing that comes with some advanced employment specialization status of individual industries as the key determinant of foreign…
Abstract
Purpose
The paper underpins an advanced domestic manufacturing that comes with some advanced employment specialization status of individual industries as the key determinant of foreign direct investment (FDI) and considers how FDI in the food processing industry in India relates to this focal point.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper investigates how inward FDI inflows relate to domestic investment and revival in the industry using Auto Regressive Distributed lags (ARDL) model over the period 2000–2017. The model allows for different specifications to study whether FDI is responsible for the revival or the prior revival induces the FDI.
Findings
The results show the lack of proper advanced specialized employment status of the food processing industry. FDI in food processing is mainly guided by exports and imports opportunities and FDI plays no role in the revival of advanced growth in the industry. This finding explains why FDI in the industry is predominantly service sector oriented.
Originality/value
The paper underlines (1) the proper conceptualization of human capital as an important determinant of FDI; (2) reinterpretation of Kaldor's technical progress function that uncovers how employment dynamics embedded in intermediate goods specializations play a key role in supporting a higher pace of investment (and FDI); (3) labor costs' importance should involve not only the wage rate but also the advantages that a specialized employment base and (4) FDI in manufacturing demands a greater policy focus on developing domestic bases of intermediate goods specializations.
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Qian Huang, Hefu Liu and Xuepan Zhong
The paper aims to combine TMS with knowledge management outcomes to investigate their impact on team performance based on an integrative research framework. Two types of social…
Abstract
Purpose
The paper aims to combine TMS with knowledge management outcomes to investigate their impact on team performance based on an integrative research framework. Two types of social ties (instrumental ties and expressive ties) are also investigated as moderators to explore their impact on the relationship between TMS and knowledge quality.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors conduct a survey to test their research hypotheses. Their final data set consisted of 249 individuals from 61 teams in 34 companies.
Findings
Results indicate that TMSs have a positive impact on team performance mediated by knowledge management outcomes. The authors further found that instrumental ties could strengthen the relationship between specialization and knowledge quality, while weakening the influence of coordination on knowledge quality. In contrast, the results showed that expressive ties weaken the relationship between specialization and knowledge quality, while strengthening the influence of coordination on knowledge quality.
Research limitations/implications
This study involved a cross‐sectional design instead of investigating team work from a long‐term perspective. Future research could conduct a longitudinal project to investigate how TMSs form and how TMSs at different levels of maturity may affect team performance through perceived knowledge satisfaction. Further, the authors only examined a few of the factors as intermediate outcomes of KM from the knowledge perspective rather than the capability of the team.
Practical implications
When initiating KM projects, managers should focus on employees’ perceived knowledge satisfaction since the essence of KM is to focus on people, specifically the way people think, work and interact. Simply assigning employees with different types of expertise into a single team is unlikely to produce the desired results unless they can develop mutual credibility and coordinate their tasks effectively. To achieve such outcomes, they will need to feel comfortable in their work context – and comfortable to exchange knowledge with their team members.
Originality/value
The authors’ research makes significant contributions to research and practice. This study advances theoretical development in the areas of TMS and KM by illustrating their combined impact on team performance. It contributes to a better understanding of how TMS can enhance team performance through KM mechanisms. Moreover, while the relationship between TMS and team performance has been confirmed in previous research, the underlying mechanisms have seldom been explored. This study fills the gap by considering KM outcomes, comprising knowledge quality and perceived knowledge satisfaction. Although both have been shown in previous research to be related to performance, the authors investigated them specifically as mediators between TMS and team performance through a KM perspective. The present research proposes and confirms the positive influence of perceived knowledge satisfaction on team performance. The study also highlights the need to examine TMS’ dimensions separately, not as a single construct.
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Mario J. Donate, Fátima Guadamillas and Miguel González-Mohíno
This paper aims to analyze factors based on organizational knowledge management (KM; transactional memory systems and knowledge-oriented leadership [K-OL]) that help firms to…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to analyze factors based on organizational knowledge management (KM; transactional memory systems and knowledge-oriented leadership [K-OL]) that help firms to mitigate conflicts based on task management at work, with the aim to improve their innovation capabilities (IC). The knowledge-based view of the firm, conflict management theory and cognitive collective engagement theory have been used to build a model of relationships that connects the development of positive KM contexts and management of dysfunctional conflict with IC improvement.
Design/methodology/approach
Data survey collected from inland hotel establishments in Spain is used to test seven hypotheses by means of structural equations modeling, applying the partial least squares technique. Direct, indirect and mediating relationships between variables are examined from the structural path model.
Findings
The results confirm that, as expected, IC improve when K-OL and transactive memory systems (TMSs) are properly implemented by hotel establishments, which leads them to reduce negative effects of task management conflict (TMC). Significant direct effects are found between the key variables of the study and also a significant indirect effect between K-OL and IC through TMS reinforcement and the mitigation of TMC.
Practical implications
This paper provides useful ideas for hotel managers about how to improve KM contexts in their establishments while avoiding TMC. Efforts devoted to creating those contexts by hotel establishments are shown to be effective to improve their IC and create competitive advantages.
Originality/value
The analysis of IC improvement by studying TMC mitigation had not been researched to date by the KM literature. The consideration and testing of a model that integrates KM-related tools such as K-OL and TMS to avoid TMC in the hotel industry is the main contribution of this study.
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Dainelis Cabeza Pullés, Leopoldo J. Gutiérrez Gutiérrez and F. Javier Lloréns‐Montes
The purpose of this paper is to study how transactive memory systems (TMS) facilitate the transfer and absorption of knowledge in the presence of quality management (QM) within a…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to study how transactive memory systems (TMS) facilitate the transfer and absorption of knowledge in the presence of quality management (QM) within a university research and development (R&D) environment.
Design/methodology/approach
The data come from a simple random sampling of 257 Spanish university R&D groups in nine different areas of knowledge. To verify the hypotheses, the authors used multiple linear regression analysis with a moderating effect.
Findings
The conclusions show that the relationship between knowledge transfer (KT) and TMS is significant when QM practices are included as a moderating variable but that this is not the case for knowledge absorption (KA), which does not show any effect.
Research limitations/implications
The effects described were found in a sample composed of various R&D sectors taken from a single country and not distributed equally. Further, the perception analyzed represents the judgment of a single manager.
Practical implications
It is interesting to study this interaction in university R&D because of the important role R&D plays in the development of regions. Improving the internal processes of this research helps to make its results more competitive. This study contributes information on non‐business management and introduces university R&D to the use of QM practices.
Originality/value
The authors found no studies that test empirically the moderating effect of QM practices on the relationships studied in university R&D. The paper's results contribute information to help fill this gap and demonstrate once again that QM practices can be applied to any environment.
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This research seeks to respond to Simon's challenge to apply “an economic calculus to knowledge”. The paper aims to develop a typology of knowledge that may be fruitful in…
Abstract
Purpose
This research seeks to respond to Simon's challenge to apply “an economic calculus to knowledge”. The paper aims to develop a typology of knowledge that may be fruitful in facilitating research in a knowledge‐based view of production.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper reviews the enduring literature on the knowledge‐based view of the firm (KBV) and gleans three classifications of organisational knowledge as distinct factors of production: tacit, codified, and encapsulated knowledge.
Findings
Differences between the tacit, codified, and encapsulated shapes of knowledge carry strategic implications for the firm along six important dimensions. Distinguishing between its three classifications sets the stage for measurement of knowledge as a factor of production.
Research limitations/implications
Distinctions between the three shapes of knowledge may be less defined in practice than in theory. The classification in which a repository of knowledge falls is dependent on the tacit knowledge being applied by the user. Software may be encapsulated to a user, but codified to its creator.
Practical implications
Recognition of the differences between the three shapes of organisational knowledge may help managers to: determine the most economic combination of knowledge to use in production; transfer knowledge more effectively within and across organisational boundaries; determine the most economic location of firm boundaries; and ensure value is appropriated for the firm.
Originality/value
The paper suggests that distinguishing and accentuating encapsulated knowledge as a distinct classification of knowledge can help advance the development of a strategic knowledge‐based theory of production.
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Radu Vlas, Huy Will Nguyen and Cristina O. Vlas
Past research on transactive memory systems (TMS) often treated the focal team as an isolated entity. Previous literature overlooked two aspects of TMS: its existence beyond the…
Abstract
Purpose
Past research on transactive memory systems (TMS) often treated the focal team as an isolated entity. Previous literature overlooked two aspects of TMS: its existence beyond the boundaries of the focal team (further referred to as out-group TMS) and the way the out-group TMS helps teams adapt and remain effective when the circumstances change. This study aims to fill this gap by exploring the overlooked aspects of TMS on the dynamics of team effectiveness.
Design/methodology/approach
This study adopts a theoretical perspective and proposes two sets of propositions. First set explores the overlooked construct of out-group TMS and defines the boundaries of its applicability by building on Lewis’ (2003) dimensions of TMS. Second set explores ways in which out-group TMS can combine with in-group TMS to enable higher team effectiveness in fast-paced settings facing uncertainty and change.
Findings
The study’s conceptual perspective builds the grounds for improving scholars’ understanding of the drivers of team effectiveness in relation to the locus of TMS. The study investigates ways to combine in-group and out-group TMS and conceptually discusses their effects on team effectiveness: a mediation, an interaction and an additive model. The investigation concludes that out-group TMS plays a critical role and that overlooking its impact can be devastating for organizations in fast-paced environments.
Originality/value
This study unveils the unique and previously underexplored dynamics of transactive memory in teams with looser boundaries. Further, it extends scholars’ understanding of team cognition in contemporary, fast-paced business environments.
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