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1 – 10 of 406Lukas Zenk, Nicole Hynek, Noella Edelmann, Shefali Virkar, Peter Parycek and Gerald Steiner
Intraorganizational knowledge and information sharing are important steps toward more-accessible organizational knowledge. The aim of this study is to qualitatively explore…
Abstract
Purpose
Intraorganizational knowledge and information sharing are important steps toward more-accessible organizational knowledge. The aim of this study is to qualitatively explore factors that contribute to employees' motivations for sustaining intraorganizational knowledge-sharing behaviors and to examine the impact of these factors in a quantitative study with the Austrian Federal Ministry of Defense. This ministry faces a retirement wave in the next 5–10 years. Intraorganizational knowledge sharing before, during, and following this wave will play a decisive role for the organization in the near future.
Design/methodology/approach
An exploratory sequential mixed-methods study was conducted. The study design involved a qualitative study phase with expert interviews and stakeholder workshops (n = 9) and a quantitative study phase based on a cross-sectional online survey with an implicit association test on intraorganizational knowledge sharing (n = 59).
Findings
In the qualitative study phase, three main research topics regarding intraorganizational knowledge sharing were identified: employee attitude, organizational support, and specific relational aspects of knowledge transfer, such as reciprocal relationships among employees and opportunities for knowledge exchange. A hierarchical multiple regression analysis revealed that perceived organizational support was the only factor that was a significant predictor of motivation for engaging in knowledge sharing. We also analyzed the data for moderation effects and demonstrated that sociopsychological factors (e.g., the engagement or openness of colleagues to share their knowledge) further strengthened the positive relationship between employees' perceived support and personal willingness to share knowledge.
Practical implications
We conclude that an organizational culture that supports knowledge sharing within the organization is highly relevant for motivating employees to share their knowledge. Practitioners will also benefit from the insights of the various dimensions of employees' willingness to engage in knowledge-sharing behaviors to better design further interventions in organizations.
Originality/value
In accordance with an exploratory sequential mixed-methods approach, we followed a transdisciplinary process in which scientific and practical experiences and knowledge were integrated. For this purpose, interviews and workshops with experts and stakeholders in the organization were conducted. The qualitative findings were incorporated into a quantitative survey and an implicit association test for the employees of the organization. This approach demonstrates a different and more holistic approach to analyzing a real-world problem in the context of a governmental agency in order to investigate the multidimensional and complex topic of intraorganizational knowledge sharing.
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Francesca Rossignoli, Andrea Lionzo, Thomas Henschel and Börje Boers
The aim of this paper is to analyse the role of communities of practice (CoP) as knowledge-sharing tools in family small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). In this context, CoPs…
Abstract
Purpose
The aim of this paper is to analyse the role of communities of practice (CoP) as knowledge-sharing tools in family small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). In this context, CoPs that jointly involve family and non-family members are expected to act as knowledge-sharing tools.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper employs a multiple case study methodology, analysing the cases of six small companies in different sectors and countries over a period of 8 years. Both primary and secondary data are used.
Findings
The results show the role CoPs play in involving family and non-family members in empowering knowledge-sharing initiatives. A CoP's role in knowledge sharing depends on the presence (or lack) of a family leader, the leadership approach, the degree of cohesion around shared approaches and values within the CoP, and the presence of multiple generations at work.
Originality/value
This paper contributes to the literature on knowledge sharing in family businesses, by exploring for the first time the role of the CoP as a knowledge-sharing tool, depending on families' involvement in the CoP.
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Darija Aleksić, Kaja Rangus and Alenka Slavec Gomezel
The purpose of this research is to better understand the human aspects of open innovation in small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) by exploring how intrinsic and extrinsic…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this research is to better understand the human aspects of open innovation in small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) by exploring how intrinsic and extrinsic motivation influence enjoyment in helping others, knowledge sharing and knowledge hiding and consequently firms' open innovation.
Design/methodology/approach
We collected data with a survey among CEOs in 140 SMEs and performed confirmatory factor analysis applying structural equation modeling in IBM SPSS AMOS (v. 26).
Findings
Results reveal that intrinsic motivation is positively associated with helping behavior and knowledge sharing and negatively associated with knowledge hiding. We also confirm the positive relationship between extrinsic motivation and knowledge sharing. Moreover, we find that knowledge sharing increases and knowledge hiding decreases the firm-level open innovation. Especially in high-tech industry, knowledge sharing is a vital determinant of open innovation.
Originality/value
Responding to the calls for a deeper understanding of the individual-level factors that determine organization-level open innovation, in this research we focus on the human aspect of open innovation in SMEs. Open innovation is a widely recognized and implemented concept among large corporations and facilitates better understanding of new technological and market developments both within and outside of organizations. However, understanding of the microfoundations of open innovation in smaller firms is still limited, but this steam of research is growing rapidly.
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Wioleta Kucharska and Teresa Rebelo
This study aims to examine the micromechanisms of how knowledge culture fosters human capital development.
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to examine the micromechanisms of how knowledge culture fosters human capital development.
Design/methodology/approach
An empirical model was developed by using the structural equation modeling method based on a sample of 321 Polish knowledge workers employed in different industries.
Findings
This study provides direct empirical evidence that tacit knowledge sharing supports human capital, whereas tacit knowledge hiding does not, and this hiding is considered a waste of knowledge. If tacit knowledge does not circulate within an organization, it is a severe waste of an organization. The findings indicate that shame from making mistakes might impede the sharing of knowledge gained from making those mistakes, and in such cases, the knowledge remains hidden.
Practical implications
Leaders aiming to ensure human capital growth should implement an authentic learning culture composed of a learning climate and mistakes acceptance components that enable open discussion about mistakes on each organizational level.
Originality/value
The knowledge culture is found to be an essential element of building human capital but, at the same time, not sufficient without a learning culture, and its mistakes acceptance component. A permanent organizational learning mode that supports a continuous organizational shared mental model reframing is an antidote to tacit knowledge hiding.
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Naiara Escribá-Carda, Teresa Canet-Giner and Francisco Balbastre-Benavent
This paper aims to examine two indirect mechanisms through which employees' perceptions of high-performance work systems (HPWS) foster employees' innovative behaviour (IB)…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to examine two indirect mechanisms through which employees' perceptions of high-performance work systems (HPWS) foster employees' innovative behaviour (IB). Particularly, this study analyses the sequential mediating role of work engagement and knowledge-sharing in this relationship at the individual level.
Design/methodology/approach
Using researchers and professors working at a Spanish state university as an empirical sample and applying partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM), the authors test hypotheses regarding the impact of the indirect and sequential effect of engagement and knowledge-sharing on the relationship between employees' perceptions of HPWS and IB.
Findings
Findings indicate the existence of a sequential mediating effect of work engagement and knowledge-sharing. The authors' results suggest that the existence of engagement is necessary for the influence of HPWS on IB to become effective.
Social implications
The authors' results also highlighted the importance of suitable design and implementation for HPWS so that employees feel motivated and dedicated to their work.
Originality/value
The authors' findings contribute to the understanding of the mechanisms by which HPWS enhance employees' IB, and the results are especially salient in advancing the theoretical understanding of how HPWS, engagement and knowledge-sharing are relevant variables for IB.
研究目的
本文擬探討兩個間接機制,透過這兩個機制,僱員對高績效工作系統的看法,會促進其創新行為。具體地說,本文擬分析在個人層面上,工作參與和知識共享在高績效工作系統與創新行為之間的關係中所扮演的有序中介角色 。
研究設計/方法/理念
我們以於一所西班牙州立大學工作的研究人員和教授為實證樣本,並使用偏最小平方法的結構方程模型 (PLS-SEM) 來進行研究。研究乃對一些假設進行試驗。這些假設,是關於工作參與和知識共享對高績效工作系統與創新行為之間關係的間接順序效應之影響。
研究結果
研究結果顯示、工作參與和知識共享有其有序的中介效應。
研究給予的啟示
我們的研究結果暗示、若要使高績效工作系統能有效地影響創新行為,工作參與是不可或缺的。
社會性的啟示
研究結果也強調了若要僱員盡心盡力、抱有積極的工作態度,企業必須設計合適的高績效工作系統,並予以有效的執行。
研究的原創性/價值
本研究的結果,幫助我們了解高績效工作系統能增強僱員創新行為的機制; 更重要的是,研究結果促進了我們對高績效工作系統、工作參與和知識共享作為創新行為的相關變數的理論理解。
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Ani Gerbin and Mateja Drnovsek
Knowledge sharing in research communities has been considered indispensable to progress in science. The aim of this paper is to analyze the mechanisms restricting knowledge sharing…
Abstract
Purpose
Knowledge sharing in research communities has been considered indispensable to progress in science. The aim of this paper is to analyze the mechanisms restricting knowledge sharing in science. It considers three categories of academia–industry knowledge transfer and a range of individual and contextual variables as possible predictors of knowledge-sharing restrictions.
Design/methodology/approach
A unique empirical data sample was collected based on a survey among 212 life science researchers affiliated with universities and other non-profit research institutions. A rich descriptive analysis was followed by binominal regression analysis, including relevant checks for the robustness of the results.
Findings
Researchers in academia who actively collaborate with industry are more likely to omit relevant content from publications in co-authorship with other academic researchers; delay their co-authored publications, exclude relevant content during public presentations; and deny requests for access to their unpublished and published knowledge.
Practical implications
This study informs policymakers that different types of knowledge-sharing restrictions are predicted by different individual and contextual factors, which suggests that policies concerning academia–industry knowledge and technology transfer should be tailored to contextual specificities.
Originality/value
This study contributes new predictors of knowledge-sharing restrictions to the literature on academia–industry interactions, including outcome expectations, trust and sharing climate. This study augments the knowledge management literature by separately considering the roles of various academic knowledge-transfer activities in instigating different types of knowledge-sharing restrictions in scientific research.
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This paper aims to enrich knowledge management theory and practice by investigating how boundary spanners’ willingness to share their knowledge contributes to innovation success…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to enrich knowledge management theory and practice by investigating how boundary spanners’ willingness to share their knowledge contributes to innovation success and by examining the contingent role of market turbulence.
Design/methodology/approach
Cross-sectional survey data were collected from 296 top income Hungarian firms. Structural equation modelling with bootstrap procedures was used to test the hypotheses.
Findings
Boundary spanners’ willingness to share their knowledge has a dual effect on innovation success, which is captured by new product development innovativeness and performance. It has a direct effect on both new product development innovativeness and performance, and it has a mediated effect on new product development performance, where new product development innovativeness serves as a mediator. The study’s results indicate that these effects are robust and not contingent on the turbulence of the firm’s marketplace.
Research limitations/implications
This study’s respondents were managers in boundary-spanning positions charged with the task of linking the organisation with its external environment. Owing to their proximity to the external environment, their evaluation of market turbulence may be distorted.
Practical implications
Maintaining the willingness of managers in boundary-spanning positions to share what they know is essential to the continuous creation of superior new product development performance. Hence, firms should develop organisational cultures where employees’ knowledge-sharing willingness is presented as an important asset. While turbulent markets may be unpredictable and hostile, firms should not adjust their knowledge management practices.
Originality/value
Building on the research on knowledge sharing, boundary spanning theory and contingency theory, this paper increases the understanding of the salient factors that are often implicitly assumed in mechanisms involved in transforming knowledge into new product performance. This is the first empirical study to focus on boundary spanners’ knowledge behaviour and to consider the contingent role of market turbulence in knowledge management.
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Chenglong Li, Hongxiu Li, Reima Suomi and Yong Liu
Although knowledge sharing in online communities has been studied for many years, little is known about the determinants for individuals' knowledge sharing in online health…
Abstract
Purpose
Although knowledge sharing in online communities has been studied for many years, little is known about the determinants for individuals' knowledge sharing in online health communities (OHCs) surrounding smoking cessation. Examining the determinants of knowledge sharing in such OHCs from the social capital perspective may prove particularly enlightening.
Design/methodology/approach
A questionnaire-based online user survey of two smoking cessation OHCs, one based in Finland and one based in China, was performed. Performing data analysis with partial least squares (SmartPLS 3.0), the authors developed a model conceptualizing the structural, cognitive and relational dimensions of social capital as drivers for knowledge sharing in smoking cessation OHCs, with users' stage in giving up smoking as a moderator.
Findings
The results show that structural capital (social ties) and relational capital (reciprocity) are important motivators behind knowledge sharing in smoking cessation OHCs, and the authors found a moderating effect of the stage in quitting on the antecedents' relationship with knowledge sharing in these OHCs.
Originality/value
The study enriches understanding of knowledge sharing in smoking cessation OHCs, contributing to theory and identifying practical implications for such groups' administration.
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Md. Nurun Nabi, Liu Zhiqiang and Marium Akter
Drawing on the transformational leadership (TL) and knowledge-based view (KBV) theory, the present study investigates the impact of TL on radical innovation (RI) through the…
Abstract
Purpose
Drawing on the transformational leadership (TL) and knowledge-based view (KBV) theory, the present study investigates the impact of TL on radical innovation (RI) through the mediation of knowledge management capabilities (KMCs) and moderation of competitive intensity (CI) of textile and apparel industries with an Asian context.
Design/methodology/approach
Data were collected from the relevant stakeholders of the industry-university collaboration teams with a structured survey questionnaire. Working with 304 textile and apparel industry respondents, structural equation modeling based partial least square (PLS-SEM) is used to test the conceptual framework. PLS-SEM technique was applied to test the hypothesis using Smart-PLS 3.8 packages program.
Findings
The results proposed TL has a positive impact on KMC and RI. Furthermore, the study reveals KMC positively mediated the relationship between TL and RI. This mediation is conditional on the moderating role of CI for the KMC (knowledge acquisition capability + knowledge-sharing capability) path to RI. Conversely, moderation of CI is insignificant and does not influence on fostering RI.
Practical implications
Leaders and managers have realized creative and innovative culture is built within the organizations by leader-follower collaboration through actual knowledge acquisition and knowledge sharing. Moreover, industry policymakers and practitioners establish the knowledge management department to enhance the innovation culture among the firms' stakeholders to encourage RI to sustain the global business market.
Originality/value
The study has introduced KMC as a mediator and CI as a moderator in the proposed model between TL-RI and KMC-RI. Further, it explores the linkages between TL, KMC, CI and RI.
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Sherine Al-Ahmad Chaar and Nasser Fathi Easa
This paper aims to examine the mediating role of knowledge sharing (KS) on the relationship between the transformational leadership (TL) and innovation in banks.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to examine the mediating role of knowledge sharing (KS) on the relationship between the transformational leadership (TL) and innovation in banks.
Design/methodology/approach
Quantitative analysis was conducted by using the structural equations modeling with AMOS 24 to examine the influence of the mediating role of KS on the TL–innovation relationship. Data were collected from 310 employees at 27 banks in Lebanon.
Findings
The research highlights that leaders exhibiting transformational behavior were able to promote knowledge-sharing culture that enhances the generation of new ideas, products and processes. The findings confirmed that KS mediates the association of TL and innovation.
Practical implications
The findings point to how TL mobilizes employees to engage in innovative products and processes by encouraging a knowledge-sharing culture.
Originality/value
The research findings advance the understanding of how TL stimulates innovation and highlights the benefits gained by cultivating KS to generate more innovative outcomes.
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