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This paper aims to report findings of up-to-date insights to fill the knowledge gap of lack of theoretical and practical understandings of how knowledge is used in medium-sized enterprises (MEs) for ensuring their performance excellence, healthy survival and growth, particularly using the contextual background of quality improvement as the standing point to concretise the research content and research participants’ mind-set for data collection.

The empirical data were attained by conducting first a multiple-case study and thereafter a structured interview. Insights were obtained through analysing the collected data and triangulating the findings with the contention from the extant literature where available.

A set of approaches for effective quality improvement knowledge (QIK) utilisation in MEs have been identified and attested, as well as prioritised for a clear guidance on their application by practical businesses.

As a pioneering study on the particularly focussed issue, namely, a current knowledge gap – QIK utilisation in MEs, theoretically the research contributes to the enrichment of the current KM and QI literature with a primary focus on knowledge utilisation in MEs. Practically its findings provide insightful guidance to practice on the approaches of QIK utilisation.

This study aims to fill the knowledge gap regarding general practitioners ' (GPs) research utilization (RU) behavior in Iran. It also aims to find possible barriers to research use among GPs to inform organizational change processes.

The authors modified the research utilization questionnaire developed by Estabrooks et al., to address physicians ' views. The questionnaire was piloted and its validity and reliability was assessed before being sent to GPs. A 77 percent response rate was eventually achieved.

Respondents were generally positive concerning research evidence use. Respondents ' mean attitude score was 25.3 (SD=5.6, min. 13, max. 37). However, less than 25 percent of the GPs practiced any form of RU in the last year. Absent facilities and resources, little authority to change practices, expected increases in patient visit durations and the poor access to research information were found to be the main RU barriers for GPs.

The borderline 77 percent response rate was reached despite sending questionnaires to non-responders two times. Considering the non-probability sampling used in this study, generalizing the results should be considered cautiously.

Research utilization programs are new in Iran and there is little evidence to inform policies. This study focused attitudes concerning RU and GPs ' knowledge concerning novel research and skills, and to some extent, GPs ' behaviors toward RU.

As an important platform for academic communication and knowledge acquisition, academic social network (ASN) has attracted worldwide researchers. The purpose of this paper is to examine and compare the differences of corporation researchers in ASN utilization from the two aspects of social performance and academic performance.

Applying knowledge-based theory, this paper decoupled ASN into social network and academic network and measured utilization of users by social performance and academic performance. Hypotheses were proposed from the perspectives of research areas and corporate reputation. In the part of empirical research, the top 92 research corporations were selected as the sample, and relevant metric data from the member profile pages on ResearchGate was collected for comparing analysis to explore their utilization characteristics.

The results show that users of different research corporations have certain favoritism in their utilization of ASNs. Science and technology-oriented corporations are better in comprehensive social performance and academic quality. Science-oriented corporations are better at utilizing the interactive functions. However, neither social utilization nor academic utilization, technology-oriented corporations perform well.

This paper focuses on corporation researchers, who have started to embrace ASNs but whose behaviors were less studied. The research paradigm is an expansion and enrichment of the dual network decoupling theory in the field of ASN research. It also deepens the research on ASN utilization of corporation researchers and could give references for ASNs to improve service for corporation users in different research areas.

The peer review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/OIR-12-2019-0389

This paper proposes to rethink the concepts of relevance and usefulness and their relation to the theory–practice gap in management research.

On the basis of the cognitive-linguistic relevance theory or inferential pragmatics, supplemented by insights from information science, we define relevance as a general conceptual category, while reserving usefulness for the instrumental application in a particular case.

There is no reason to hold onto the difference between theoretical and practical relevance, nor to distinguish between instrumental and conceptual relevance.

This novel approach will help to clarify the confusion in the field and contribute to a better understanding of the added value of management research.

Considering the proliferation of free trade agreements (FTAs) worldwide, this study develops and empirically tests a conceptual model to explain the impact of CEO attitudes on the intention of exporting firms to utilize FTA preferential tariffs. Based on a survey of 221 exporting small and medium-sized enterprises in South Korea, this study employed partial least squares structural equation modelling to test the hypotheses. Results show that perceived usefulness and organizational learning partially mediate the relationship between CEO attitudes and intention to use FTA schemes. This study deepens our understanding on the firm’s internal process for utilizing FTA preferential tariffs.

The purpose of this study is to develop a taxonomy of the major factors that influence auditors' selection and assessment of evidential cues. A discussion of how future research can help extend the taxonomy is also offered.

A literature review of prior research on auditors' utilization of evidential cues is introduced, followed by a summary taxonomy of the variables influencing this decision. Then, an exploration of future research directions is introduced.

A four‐category taxonomy is designed. Auditors' decision to incorporate a certain piece of evidence is a function of one or more categories of factors: individual, environmental, task related, or related to the nature of the cues. With its emphasis on audit quality, and thus on enhanced evidence gathering, the Sarbanes‐Oxley Act (SOX) has the potential to alter and/or expand the structure of the proposed taxonomy.

The taxonomy is based mainly on prior research in accounting and auditing. Incorporating other research on evidence selection and utilization from human behavior and human psychology may enhance the model.

The paper integrates into a model a large body of research on evidential cue selection and use in auditing. The taxonomy is a convenient starting point for researchers attempting to locate prior research in this area. Additionally, the taxonomy is an important guideline for audit partners and managers when planning an audit for two reasons. First, it sheds the light on many variables audit partners and managers need to consider when assigning audit tasks to audit team members with various levels of expertise. Second, it explores the impact of the SOX on current evidence collection practices in auditing.

The purpose of this paper is to explore key determinants of knowledge utilization in a community sport initiative, with particular attention to key facets of social-organizational approaches including: organizational context including perceived user needs, characteristics of the researcher-user relationship, and adaption of dissemination materials.

The case study applies established theoretical and conceptual understandings of knowledge utilization to a research evaluation of a national initiative to increase young women's participation in sport.

This case study illustrates that academics engaging in evaluation work with sports organizations are well-placed to develop relationships with organizations that will be conducive to the use of research. Qualities that facilitate the use of research include an organizational context that is positively disposed towards using research. This can entail developing a researcher-practitioner relationship that involves shared learning and appreciating each other's aims, values and priorities.

The research initiates a discussion on the knowledge utilization in community sport evaluation; however, it is limited to a particular case which may not be representative of the spectrum of sports development initiatives.

This case study highlights some useful features of how researchers and practitioners can work together effectively and use research to improve delivery.

This case study contributes to new understandings of the immediate as well as long-term value of research in the evaluation of community sports initiatives.

For many management researchers, it is important that the knowledge they create is utilised and has some impact on managerial practice. Sustainable competitive advantage depends less on who has the information and increasingly on those able to make the best use of that information. This paper focuses on two key questions: what are the barriers to research utilisation and what are the most effective strategies for facilitating the use of research by managers in the public sector, based on research evidence? The approach entailed extensive searches of on‐line databases in the fields of management, education and medicine, from the UK, USA, Canada, Australia and Europe. Key themes to emerge from this review were the accessibility and relevance of research, trust and credibility; the gap between researchers and users, and organisational factors. Research use can be facilitated through: support and training; collaboration and partnership; dissemination strategies; networks; and strong, visible leadership.

The study tour on which this report is based resulted from a concern with problems and issues in the application of research, more particularly from the process of developing an “applied research” approach. A number of factors gave rise to this concern:

Evidence-based practice is an essential component of special education and provides a framework for promoting the use of research to inform policy and practice. Despite the importance of evidence-based practice to special education, the research-to-practice gap remains a persistent challenge to the successful dissemination of effective, research-based practices. Given the underuse of research in special education, the next big thing in evidence-based special education is to develop effective mechanisms for disseminating research and practice. The purpose of this paper is, therefore, to introduce research utilization as a concept to special education and present a preliminary analysis on special education teacher perceptions of research. Results suggest that special education teachers value evidence-based practice but remain unsure of their skills to distinguish between studies with more and less rigorous methods. Moreover, we found that special education teachers tended to use sources with lower self-reported ratings of trustworthiness, such as social media and teacher exchange websites, due to time efficiency and accessibility. Respondents provided recommendations for ameliorating the research-to-practice gap and increasing the usability of research overall.