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Personal knowledge management (KM) lends new emphasis to ways through which individual knowledge workers engage with knowledge in organizational contexts. This paper aims to go beyond an organizational approach to KM to examine key personal KM and knowledge building (KB) practices among adult professionals.

This paper presents a summary of the findings from interviews with 58 consultants from 17 managing consulting firms. Participants were selected based on their knowledge-intensive roles and their willingness to share information about their knowledge practices. Data analysis was inductive and revealed multiple personal KM activities common among research participants, and the way these are supported by informal ties and various technologies.

This work highlights ways in which “shadow information technology” undergirds personal knowledge infrastructures and supports KM and KB practices in the context of management consulting firms. The results uncover how personal knowledge infrastructures emerge from personal KM and KB practices, and the role of informal social networks as well as social media in supporting personal KM and KB.

This study contributes an overall conceptual model of factors that help knowledge workers build a personal knowledge infrastructure. By affording an understanding of socially embedded personal KM activities, this work helps organizations create a balance between KM strategies at the organizational level and personal knowledge goals of individual workers.

Much of the previous research on KM adopts organizational approaches to KM, accentuating how organizations can effectively capture, organize and distribute organizational knowledge (primarily through KM systems).

This study builds on the extant research of the authors on illegal rural enterprise (IRE). However, instead of taking a single or micro case approach within specific sections of the farming and food industries we examine the concept holistically from a macro case perspective. Many IRE crimes simply could not be committed without insider knowledge and complicity, making it essential to appreciate this when researching or investigating such crimes.

Using data from published studies, we introduce the theoretical concept of “Shadow infrastructure” to analyse and explain the prevalence and endurance of such criminal enterprises. Using a multiple case approach, we examine data across the cases to provide an analysis of several industry wide crimes—the illicit halal meat trade; the theft of sheep; the theft of tractors and plant; and the supply of illicit veterinary medicines.

We examine IRE crimes across various sectors to identify commonalities in practice and in relation to business models drawing from a multidisciplinary literature spanning business and criminology. Such enterprises can be are inter-linked. We also provide suggestions on investigating such structures.

We identify academic and practical implications in relation to the investigation of IRE crime and from an academic perspective in relation to researching the phenomenon.

This study combines data from numerous individual studies from a macro perspective to provide practical solutions to a multifaceted problem.

On account of its easy and intuitive usage as well as obvious advantages (e.g. access to work data from anywhere, at any time and through any means) the evolutionary cloud computing paradigm favors the use of shadow IT. Since many employees are not aware of the associated risks and possible legal violations, unauthorized use of cloud computing services could result in substantial risk exposure for any company. The purpose of this paper is to explore and to extend the body of knowledge concerning the topic of cloud computing with regard to shadow IT.

The aim of this contribution is to identify the reasons for the use of cloud computing services and the resulting shadow IT from an employee’s perspective, to demonstrate the counteractions a company may take against the unauthorized use of cloud computing services and to elaborate on the inherent opportunities and risks. We follow a mixed-methods approach consisting of a systematic literature review, a cloud computing awareness study, a vignette study and expert interviews.

Based on a triangulation of the data sets, the paper at hand proposes a morphological box as well as a two-piece belief-action-outcome model, both from an employee’s and employer’s point of view. Our findings ultimately lead to recommendations for action for employers to counteract the risk exposure. Furthermore, also employees are sensitized by means of insights into the topic of unauthorized usage of cloud computing services in everyday working life.

The limitations of the triangulation reflect the limitations of each applied research method. These limitations justify why a mixed-methods approach is favored – rather than relying on a single source of data – because data from various sources can be triangulated.

The paper includes recommendations for action for the handling of the unauthorized usage of cloud computing services within a company, e.g., the set up of a company-wide cloud security strategy and the conduction of an anonymous employee survey to identify the status quo.

This paper fulfills an identified need to explore the usage of cloud computing services within the context of shadow IT.

Building on the first cross-national study that had demystified various assumptions about the worldwide use of shadow education two decades ago, we analyze data from the 2012 Programme for International Student Assessment to examine the cross-national pattern of the use of shadow education by families in 64 nations and use improved statistical estimation methods. Focusing on fee-paying out-of-school classes, we find a continued, and likely an intensified pattern of the cross-national use of shadow education in the contemporary world. Approximately about one-third of all 15-year-old students from 64 countries/economies across the world use this form of shadow education. Students of higher socioeconomic status, females, and students in urban areas and general programs are more likely to use fee-paying services, while families and students turn to these services to address academic deficiencies in general. In addition, students from poorer countries more extensively rely on shadow education than students from wealthier countries after controlling for other variables. Students in South-Eastern and Eastern Asian countries are more likely to pursue shadow education than their counterparts in many other regions. Implications of these findings for theories of education and society as well as for educational policy in relation to shadow education are discussed.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the various approaches prescribed in literature in the assessment of value for money (VfM) of public–private partnership (PPP) projects with the aim to develop a theoretical framework for measuring VfM in Ghana.Public–private partnership (PPP) has long been recognized as an effective way of procuring public infrastructure to deliver value for money, but the subject has received little research attention in Ghana.

The methodology comprises a multi-stage critical review of relevant literature; review of Ghana’s National Policy on PPP and review of the Public Procurement Act, 2003 (Act 663). This paper was underpinned by an interpretivist philosophy and is inductive in nature.

The approach for VfM assessment largely depends on the jurisdiction of the project. Multiple methods (qualitative and quantitative) are used along the project cycle in the bid to achieve VfM. The most common assessment approaches include public sector comparator shadow bid, lease-purchase analysis, cost benefits analysis, public interest test central guidelines and competitive bidding. The study developed a theoretical framework for assessing VfM in Ghana.

The research was purely exploratory and non-empirical; and hence cannot be generalized in a broader context.

Implementation of the National PPP policy and for PPP to thrive in Ghana, a framework to guide the assessment and achievement of VfM is crucial. The steps outlined if followed would help ensure the public receives the best of all PPP deals in Ghana.

This paper is unique providing insights into a conceptual basis for assessing VfM and provides a basis for future empirical study.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the fluidity of the fieldwork roles “insider” and “outsider.” The paper aims to move the discussion of insiders from an a priori categorized status and contribute to the literary insider–outsider debate by unfolding the micro process of how the role of an insider is shaped in situ. Grounded in empirical examples, the paper illustrates how the researcher’s role is shaped through interactions with organizational members and by context.

The paper is based on an ethnographic study in an IT department of a Nordic bank and draws on empirical material generated through a combination of data: shadowing, interviews, observations and documents. Excerpts from fieldnotes are included to invite the reader into “the scenes” played out in the field and are analyzed in order to illustrate the shaping of roles in situ.

The study finds that, independent of the researcher’s role as sponsored by the organization, the interactions with organizational members and context determine whether the researcher is assigned a role as insider or outsider, or even both within the same context.

The paper contributes with a new discussion of how the roles of insiders and outsiders are fluid by discussing the shaping of the roles in situ. By drawing on relational identity theories, the paper illustrates how interactions and context influence the researcher’s role, grounded in empirical examples. In addition, the paper discusses what the assigned roles enable and constrain for the ethnographer in that particular situation.

The issue of black economy has long been debated in India and it has been one of the key targets of policy action from last four decades. The debate is further fueled by demonetization of higher currency notes in the country. In this context, the purpose of this paper is to estimate the size of black economy in India for the period 1970–2017.

A currency demand approach is adopted for this purpose. The test of structure break indicates for a break in the system; therefore, the authors employ Johansen et al. (2000) cointegration test. For estimating the empirical model, the authors utilize fully modified ordinary least squares in a cointegration framework for taking care the endogeneity problem.

The estimates indicate that the Indian economy has a sizable black economy. In early 1970s, when the tax rate in India was significantly higher, the estimated black economy was above 30 percent of the official GDP. A variety of economic reforms including taxation, regulation and industrial licensing have drastically reduced the size to below 15 percent of official GDP in the last two decades. In the last estimated year (2017), the black economy was 23,849bn Indian rupees at current market price (around $400bn), which was 14 percent of the official GDP.

On the basis of the findings, the authors suggest some important fiscal, administrative and regulatory reforms to curb the generation of black economy in India.

The structural breaks can induce stochastic behavior similar to an integrated process, which makes it difficult to differentiate between the lack of cointegration and a structural shift. Thus, in the present study, the authors attempt to address this issue by incorporating the issue of structural break in the analysis. Furthermore, India is a cash-based economy; therefore, it is likely that currency-based models are more suitable. The application of advanced time-series techniques is likely to yield better and robust results.

In public-private partnership (PPP) contracts of water utilities, of particular concern is lack of market competition. This paper focuses on the size of contracts. If governments design a large-scale transaction, economies of scale in service operation can be expected, but competition in auctions may be compromised. For small contracts many firms will apply, but at the cost of scale diseconomies in operation. The estimated cost function of PPP water utilities indicates that economies of scale exist but diminish quickly as production increases. There is no rationale for more than 300 million cubic meters of water service concessions under a single package, taking a risk of little competition. Conversely, less than 50 million cubic meters of concessions are too small; the bundling approach is required.

This study aims to seek, on the basis of Hofstede's culture consequences, to explore the notion that regional characteristics may influence the prioritisation of certain types of public-private partnerships (PPP) contract governance skills over others. It further sets out to determine which skills are considered the most critical between the groups of respondents surveyed.

To bring this important and neglected perspective into the mainstream of PPP discussions, the study, being of an exploratory nature, relied on a survey of 340 respondents from around the globe. The respondents are a rich mix of public policy experts, economists, construction professionals, project finance experts, lawyers and academic researchers in PPP.s.

Analysis revealed that, regional characteristics was an important factor influencing skills prioritisation. Furthermore, exploratory factor analysis with Monte Carlo principal component analysis (PCA) confirmation revealed that project management, contract design, negotiations, performance management and stakeholder management skills were very critical for successful contract management of PPP projects.

The findings indicate that the design and implementation of regulatory governance for infrastructure PPPs should be context-specific rather than the current one-size-fits all model. Training should be tailored to reflect regional specific characteristics.

Studies are increasingly pointing to the absence of critical PPP skills among institutions responsible for managing PPP contracts. This lack of capacity has resulted in poor oversight of private companies providing public services resulting in poor services, and financial recklessness, which threaten the sustainability of service provision.