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Article
Publication date: 30 August 2022

Noof Aldaheri, Gustavo Guzman and Heather Stewart

This study aims to explore how professional–cultural knowledge is reciprocally shared between experienced expatriates and novice local nurses. To address this, the situated…

Abstract

Purpose

This study aims to explore how professional–cultural knowledge is reciprocally shared between experienced expatriates and novice local nurses. To address this, the situated learning in practice lens is combined with social exchange lens.

Design/methodology/approach

An interpretive case study methodology enabled an exploratory approach into the knowledge-sharing practices between experienced expatriates and novice local nurses in Saudi Arabia.

Findings

Insights gained in the fieldwork suggest that professional–cultural knowledge sharing (KS) often occurred through three primary practices, namely, developing a professional–cultural meaning, forming clinical competency development opportunities and intervening in unfamiliar professional–cultural situations. In addition, two micro-level conditions shaped the reciprocity of professional–cultural KS practices between expatriate and local nurses, which were individual differences and situational conditions.

Originality/value

This study advances and improves the understanding of two intertwined but rarely studied aspects of knowledge-sharing practices. The exploratory lens sought and gained rich insights into the knowledge-sharing practices between experienced and novice individuals and expatriate and local individuals.

Details

Journal of Knowledge Management, vol. 27 no. 5
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1367-3270

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 16 March 2018

Girts Racko

The purpose of this paper is to examine how knowledge exchange between academics and clinicians in Collaborations for Leadership in Applied Health Research and Care (CLAHRCs) is…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to examine how knowledge exchange between academics and clinicians in Collaborations for Leadership in Applied Health Research and Care (CLAHRCs) is influenced by their social position based on their symbolic and social capitals, that is, their personal professional status and connections to high-status professional peers, knowledge brokers, and unfamiliar professional peers.

Design/methodology/approach

Using an online survey, the author triangulates the cross-sectional measurement of the effects of academic and clinicians’ social position in the initial and later phases of CLAHRCs with the longitudinal measurement of these effects over a two-year period.

Findings

First, academics and clinicians with a higher personal professional status are more likely to develop joint networks and decision making both in the early and later phases of a CLAHRC. Second, academics and clinicians who are more connected to higher status occupational peers are more likely to develop joint networks in the early phase of a knowledge exchange partnership but are less likely to become engaged in joint networks over time. Third, involvement of knowledge brokers in the networks of academics and clinicians is likely to facilitate their inter-professional networking only in the later partnership phase.

Practical implications

Academics and clinicians’ capitals have a distinctive influence on knowledge exchange in the early and later phases of CLAHRCs and on a change in knowledge exchange over a two-year period.

Originality/value

Prior research on CLAHRCs has examined how knowledge exchange between academics and clinicians can be encouraged by the creation of shared governance mechanisms. The author advances this research by highlighting the role of their social position in facilitating knowledge exchange.

Details

Journal of Health Organization and Management, vol. 32 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1477-7266

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 24 October 2020

Martin Johanson, Pao T. Kao and Heléne Lundberg

The purpose of this paper is to understand knowledge grafting through localized professionals in the internationalization of the firm. Knowledge grafting refers to firms…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to understand knowledge grafting through localized professionals in the internationalization of the firm. Knowledge grafting refers to firms increasing their knowledge stock by acquiring new staff, and while the concept is not new in studies on firms’ internationalization, there is little understanding of the characteristics of the individuals carrying the knowledge, the types of knowledge grafted and how it contributes to a market entry process.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors conducted an explorative study with a multiple-case research design and purposely selected five localized Swedish managers working for Russian subsidiaries of Swedish firms. Face-to-face interviews were conducted. The interviews were transcribed and analyzed based on three types of knowledge: general foreign market knowledge, social network knowledge and professional knowledge. The authors also considered both private and professional ties.

Findings

The findings show that characteristics of the localized professional and the firm can influence the type of knowledge grafted and how it is used. The findings also highlight the key role of the individual as knowledge carrier and show an alternative way to obtain knowledge in firm internationalization.

Research limitations/implications

This study comes with limitations. Only Swedish firms entering Russia with wholly owned subsidiaries have been considered. Further studies comparing knowledge grafting with firms in different entry mode, varying stage of market entry, as well as other countries of origin can further enrich our understanding. Future studies can also focus on localized professionals to shed light on the knowledge transfer between them and other individuals within the firms and the potential impact of their departure on knowledge grafting.

Practical implications

Internationalizing firms should pay attention to the opportunity of grafting knowledge by appointing localized professionals already living in the market. Governmental agencies in the host county can be a valuable source for identifying foreign nationals of the same origin as the firm.

Originality/value

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study to focus on the individual level of knowledge grafting and to examine how localized professionals acquire knowledge to support firms in internationalization.

Article
Publication date: 17 April 2009

Jocelyn Cranefield and Pak Yoong

This paper aims to investigate how online communities of practice facilitate the embedding of personal professional knowledge in a complex online environment.

1349

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to investigate how online communities of practice facilitate the embedding of personal professional knowledge in a complex online environment.

Design/methodology/approach

This research consisted of exploratory, interpretivist case research, using qualitative methods. Forty‐one individuals from five online communities in a national professional development programme were interviewed. Additional data were drawn from diverse online records. Data were coded via text analysis. A wiki was used for participant feedback.

Findings

Embedding of new knowledge was facilitated by individuals' crossings between different engagement spaces – communication and sense‐making contexts. Community members repeatedly crossed between online and offline, visible and invisible, formal and informal, and reflective and active engagement spaces as they sought to meet diverse needs. As they did this, they had to continually recontextualise knowledge, adapting, varying and personalising it to fit the function, genre and conventions of each engagement space. This promoted the embedding of professional knowledge. The complex online environment in which they operated can be seen as providing a situation of enhanced polycontextuality, within which multiple boundary crossings facilitated strong personalisation. At the community level, knowledge convergence was fostered by the recurrence of dominant, powerful mnemonic themes.

Research limitations/implications

An opportunity exists to investigate the applicability of these findings in other online professional contexts.

Originality/value

The paper extends the concept of boundary crossing to crossings in a polycontextual online environment. It updates literature on communities of practice by outlining the dynamics of a complex online community system. It provides an explanation for how personal knowledge evolves to fit emerging trends and considers how information systems can support deep knowledge transfer.

Details

Online Information Review, vol. 33 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1468-4527

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 23 November 2018

Michael John Segon, Chris Booth and Jeremy Pearce

The purpose of this paper is to establish a typology of a profession and to then assess the circumstances under which management could be classified as a profession against such a…

1117

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to establish a typology of a profession and to then assess the circumstances under which management could be classified as a profession against such a typology.

Design/methodology/approach

The current paper is conceptual. The research approach consists of formulating a typology of a profession based on the literature research methodology. The resulting typology is applied to assess management as a profession.

Findings

Although there have been efforts in recent literature and media commentary to position management as a profession, no thorough conceptually based analysis to rigorously analyze nor test this claim against the dominant arguments in the literature has been undertaken. The typology presents comprehensive research and analysis across disciplines to identify the circumstances under which management could be considered a profession.

Research limitations/implications

The paper offers a complete typology upon which to classify a profession. It provides highly supported arguments to discern elements of a profession. The key limitation lies in capturing and organizing extensive concepts and views across diverse literature disciplines to refine a holistic perspective (i.e. accountancy, business management, ethics, psychology and sociology).

Practical implications

This conceptual typology enables the design of a highly operable assessment system. It considers requisite standards for professions. It also informs potential professional bodies of the obligations to which they and their members must adhere to achieve and retain the status of a profession.

Originality/value

A comprehensive typology indicating the interdependent requirements and obligations required by a profession has not been espoused in either popular business journals or academic journals across the discipline areas now covered by this research investigation. The contribution provides a comprehensive academic argument to answer the question: can management be considered a profession?

Details

Management Decision, vol. 57 no. 9
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0025-1747

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 18 October 2019

Justin Waring, Simon Bishop, Fiona Marshall, Natasha Tyler and Robert Vickers

The purpose of this paper is to investigate how three communication interventions commonly used during discharge planning and care transitions enable inter-professional knowledge…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to investigate how three communication interventions commonly used during discharge planning and care transitions enable inter-professional knowledge sharing and learning as a foundation for more integrated working. These interventions include information communication systems, dedicated discharge planning roles and group-based planning activities.

Design/methodology/approach

A two-year ethnographic study was carried out across two regional health and care systems in the English National Health Service, focussing on the discharge of stroke and hip fracture patients. Data collection involved in-depth observations and 213 semi-structured interviews.

Findings

Information systems (e.g. e-records) represent a relatively stable conduit for routine and standardised forms of syntactic information exchange that can “bridge” time–space knowledge boundaries. Specialist discharge roles (e.g. discharge coordinators) support personalised and dynamic forms of “semantic” knowledge sharing that can “broker” epistemic and cultural boundaries. Group-based activities (e.g. team meetings) provide a basis for more direct “pragmatic” knowledge translation that can support inter-professional “bonding” at the cultural and organisational level, but where inclusion factors complicate exchange.

Research limitations/implications

The study offers analysis of how professional boundaries complicate discharge planning and care transition, and the potential for different communication interventions to support knowledge sharing and learning.

Originality/value

The paper builds upon existing research on inter-professional collaboration and patient safety by focussing on the problems of communication and coordination in the context of discharge planning and care transitions. It suggests that care systems should look to develop multiple complementary approaches to inter-professional communication that offer opportunities for dynamic knowledge sharing and learning.

Details

Journal of Health Organization and Management, vol. 33 no. 6
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1477-7266

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 30 May 2023

Rikke Amalie Agergaard Jensen, Charlotte Jonasson, Martin Gartmeier and Jaana Parviainen

The purpose of this study is to investigate how professionals learn from varying experiences with errors in health-care digitalization and develop and use negative knowledge and…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to investigate how professionals learn from varying experiences with errors in health-care digitalization and develop and use negative knowledge and digital ignorance in efforts to improve digitalized health care.

Design/methodology/approach

A two-year qualitative field study was conducted in the context of a public health-care organization working with digital patient communication. The data consisted of participant observation, semistructured interviews and document data. Inductive coding and a theoretically informed generation of themes were applied.

Findings

The findings show that both health-care and digital communication professionals learn through experiences with digital “rule-” and “knowledge-based” errors in patient communication and develop negative knowledge and awareness of digital ignorance. In their joint efforts, they use negative knowledge to “bend the rules” and to explore digital ignorance in efforts to improve patient communication.

Originality/value

This study provides insight into the importance of collaboration between professionals with varying experience of errors in digitalizing patient communication. Such collaboration is required to acknowledge own shortcomings and create complementary negative knowledge to improve digital patient communication. This is particularly important when working with innovative digitalization in health care.

Article
Publication date: 3 July 2023

Fanbo Meng, Yixuan Liu, Xiaofei Zhang and Libo Liu

Effectively engaging patients is critical for the sustainable development of online health communities (OHCs). Although physicians’ general knowledge-sharing, which is free to the…

Abstract

Purpose

Effectively engaging patients is critical for the sustainable development of online health communities (OHCs). Although physicians’ general knowledge-sharing, which is free to the public, represents essential resources of OHCs that have been shown to promote patient engagement, little is known about whether such knowledge-sharing can backfire when superfluous knowledge-sharing is perceived as overwhelming and anxiety-provoking. Thus, this study aims to gain a comprehensive understanding of the role of general knowledge-sharing in OHCs by exploring the spillover effects of the depth and breadth of general knowledge-sharing on patient engagement.

Design/methodology/approach

The research model is established based on a knowledge-based view and the literature on knowledge-sharing in OHCs. Then the authors test the research model and associated hypotheses with objective data from a leading OHC.

Findings

Although counterintuitive, the findings revealed an inverted U-shape relationship between general knowledge-sharing (depth and breadth of knowledge-sharing) and patient engagement that is positively associated with physicians’ number of patients. Specifically, the positive effects of depth and breadth of general knowledge-sharing increase and then decrease as the quantity of general knowledge-sharing grows. In addition, physicians’ offline and online professional status negatively moderated these curvilinear relationships.

Originality/value

This study further enriches the literature on knowledge-sharing and the operations of OHCs from a novel perspective while also offering significant specific implications for OHCs practitioners.

Details

Journal of Knowledge Management, vol. 28 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1367-3270

Keywords

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 1 August 2023

Maarten Matheus van Houten

The purpose of this study is to gain insight into the dynamics and considerations of professionals regarding the sharing of tacit, personal knowledge in their practice.

1116

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to gain insight into the dynamics and considerations of professionals regarding the sharing of tacit, personal knowledge in their practice.

Design/methodology/approach

Adopting a social-constructivist ontology, the qualitative design deploys semi-structured interviews and focus groups. Data were coded, and analysed through interrelating and reasoning.

Findings

Personal knowledge is difficult to share precisely, but can be shared to some extent using reflection and stories. Knowledge also provides a position and professional agency, emphasising boundaries and impacting the decisions on interaction and sharing. As such, professional commitment is vulnerable and contextual and, by extension, material becomes part of this interplay of professional practice and collaborative development.

Research limitations/implications

Findings imply that exchange and use of knowledge and material present in organisations are impacted by individual professionals’ autonomy and decisions, which consequently impact on employees’ practice. This calls for research that focuses on individual factors such as autonomy, professionalism and attitudes in addition to organisational and facilitative matters.

Practical implications

Stimulating professional commitment and interpersonal learning is a matter of valuing personal knowledge and practice to avoid protectionism, boundaries and segregated agency. Management and professionals should consider how and why individuals exchange their personal knowledge, paying attention to social structures and individuals’ voices and objectives in forming communities.

Originality/value

This study combines the concept of tacit knowledge with the younger field of practice theory. By connecting personal knowledge to practice, it extends agency to the material world and offers a more individual perspective to knowledge sharing in and between entities.

Details

Journal of Workplace Learning, vol. 35 no. 9
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1366-5626

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 3 April 2009

Patrick S.W. Fong and Sonia K.Y. Choi

Quantity surveying firms are characterized by their professional identity and knowledge‐driven nature; knowledge is crucial to their success in the competitive and dynamic

4981

Abstract

Purpose

Quantity surveying firms are characterized by their professional identity and knowledge‐driven nature; knowledge is crucial to their success in the competitive and dynamic business environment. As knowledge management is still in its infancy in the construction industry and structured knowledge management processes have not yet been adequately deployed in the surveying discipline, this research seeks to focus on the implicit knowledge management processes being undertaken in professional quantity surveying firms in Hong Kong.

Design/methodology/approach

A framework of knowledge processes was developed from a detailed literature review in an attempt to enhance the knowledge flow in Hong Kong professional quantity surveying firms. The applicability and validity of the framework were verified by quantitative research methods. Based on the proposed process model, a questionnaire survey was then conducted to study the opinions of professional quantity surveyors on the details of these processes; the questionnaire was returned with a response rate of 42.6 percent out of 260.

Findings

From the findings of the questionnaire survey, the research confirms the six knowledge management processes in quantity surveying firms, namely acquisition, creation, storage, distribution, use, and maintaining. There is a general lack of specifically assigned staff for knowledge acquisition from external sources, knowledge acquisition having an overall mean value marginally below the passing point, and a relatively low reliance on external knowledge by these firms.

Research limitations/implications

The paper unravels some of the mysteries and difficulties of transferring knowledge both within and across projects. The findings can equally be applied in other project‐based industries.

Practical implications

A clear policy/strategy governing the ways in which knowledge should be handled is far from prevalent in Hong Kong quantity surveying firms. The appointment of managers for knowledge aspects was only carried out by one third of the responding quantity surveyors. Despite the absence of such an appointment and policy, nearly half of the responding quantity surveyors can seek the necessary knowledge when they need it.

Originality/value

Although the study applies uniquely to quantity surveying professional services firms and may not yield an evaluation that is comparable with previous studies, it is hoped that the same survey instrument can be applied to other types of project‐based professional services organizations in order to find out whether there are differences among different professions in terms of how they manage their organizational knowledge. In addition, these future studies can offer a benchmarking effect to firms providing customized professional services to clients.

Details

Journal of Knowledge Management, vol. 13 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1367-3270

Keywords

1 – 10 of over 116000