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Today, the global education market is one of the faster growing sectors, and it has attracted several new actors or what we call educational brokers who are now responsible for shaping national agendas. The newer actors in education are vastly different for the former players in that whereas previous actors engrossed national educational systems through the provision of technical assistance to meet international standards, best practices, and benchmarks, these newer players are for-profit entities that emphasize austerity, leanness, human resource maximization, performance targets, and competition. Therefore, in this new educational landscape, national governments are seen as “clients” who receive “expert” advice from “external consultants” that have an assortment of experiences across different sectors. Education governance is no longer a statist endowed but one that incubates in laborites of best practices resonates with existing case studies and results driven based on Big Date collected. We argue that educational brokers are responsible for the emergence of a hybrid form of education governance that use business and market techniques to reform strategies within the education sector. We conclude by suggesting that collectively educational brokers are using what we call “educational sub-prime mechanisms” – higher interest rates, reduced quality collateral, and less advantageous terms to counterweight higher credit risk – to manage educational portfolios and newer forms of educational risk.

This study aims to investigate how contractual vs. informal governance influences the performance of collaborative innovation projects considering their exploitation vs. exploration character.

Data are collected from a sample of 218 companies that have developed innovative projects in collaboration with other organizations. Regression models are estimated to test the hypotheses.

The results indicate that contractual governance is the most effective for co-exploitation projects compared to informal governance. Specialization in either contractual or informal governance is more effective for co-exploration projects.

Developing collaborative innovation projects with other organizations is an alternative for firms to innovate either by exploiting complementary assets or by exploring new opportunities. Thus, the success of the collaborative innovation project is significantly affected by the way the collaboration is governed. On the one hand, for co-exploitation projects, companies should rely on contracts to improve their performance. On the other hand, for co-exploration projects, governance may specialize in either contracts or informal mechanisms to reach higher performance.

Despite previous studies analyzing the effect of contractual or informal governance on the performance of collaborative innovation projects, no research has focused on comparing simultaneously these effects, by using the innovation character of the project of co-exploitation or co-exploration as a moderator. Therefore, this paper explores comparatively the most effective type of governance mechanism for co-exploitation and co-exploration projects.

This study aims to investigate the relationships between the different strengths of ties (strong ties and weak ties), types of trust and project performance in megaprojects.

A questionnaire survey was conducted with various experts and professionals involved in megaprojects, and 350 valid responses were received. Data was analyzed by means of structural equation modeling.

The results show that both strong ties and weak ties have positive impacts on trust in megaprojects, but weak ties have a more significant positive effect than do strong ties. Unexpectedly, the introduction of interorganizational trust significantly weakens the effect of the strength of ties on project performance. The indirect influence of the strength of ties on performance has different paths. Weak ties have an indirect effect via calculative trust and relational trust. However, in a strong ties network, inferior stakeholders lack the information necessary to complete a megaproject, and they believe that calculative trust will not promote project performance until the megaproject is successfully delivered. Thus, the effect of calculative trust on project performance is not significant.

These findings provide evidence in regard to strength of ties governance being a part of the effective strategy in improving megaprojects’ performance. It also demonstrates the mediating function of trust and advances the current understandings of the underlying mechanism of the strength of ties on project performance, thus providing implications for researchers and practitioners. However, this study has some limitations. For example, the strength of ties and trust between organizations are a dynamic process in megaprojects. This study does not conduct in-depth analysis of the evolution mechanism and investigate the different levels of trust at different stages of the megaproject. Future research can be guided by these directions.

The main contribution of this study is fourfold. First, this study enriches the literature on strength of ties by accentuating the roles of trust in megaproject context. Second, this study contributes to the theoretical development of a conceptual model for explaining the interrelationships among strength of ties, types of trust and project performance. Third, this study responds to the call “which dimension (i.e. strong ties or weak ties) is more influential” by exploring the direct and indirect effects of strength of ties on project performance. Finally, this study breaks through the limitation of traditional cognition that megaproject management can be met by relying on rigid contracts. In other words, trust can supplement the weakness of rigid contract by forming contract flexibility with different strength of ties. Meanwhile, the specific strategies to establish and maintain trust are given, such as building information model (BIM) collaboration platform and reputation management mechanism.

The main purposes of this study are to develop a knowledge governance mechanism-fit-barrier matrix mode to resolve transfer problems resulting from knowledge characteristics and to clarify the relationship among knowledge characteristics, barriers of knowledge transfer, and effective knowledge transfer in inter-organizational contexts.

The vast literature on knowledge transfer in inter-organizational context has been reviewed. Moreover, to develop a theoretical framework, the authors developed a set of arguments based on literature pertaining to the knowledge-based view of knowledge characteristics and barriers and the response of network to inter-organizational knowledge transfer.

Knowledge-based view of knowledge characteristics and barriers and knowledge governance may provide a new understanding for network organizations seeking effective knowledge transfer strategies in inter-organizational context.

The main contribution to organizational theory is extending information-processing theory to form a new strategic model for inter-organizational knowledge transfer.

The fit model of governance mechanisms may help managers to make effective strategies for inter-organizational knowledge transfer.

Theoretically, this paper extends Information Processing Theory to inter-organizational relationships research. The developed model here also helps to explain the importance of cognitive dimensions for successful inter-organizational knowledge transfer. In KM practice, the proposed well-developed strategic models may help managers to link inter-organizational knowledge transfer processes to business strategy, and validate of the way to convert the goal of making their network organizations more intelligent into a strategic action.

This investigation into listed companies at the Ho Chi Minh City Stock Exchange (HOSE) in Vietnam aims to discern whether such constructs as trust and ethics act as precursors for brand performance with the mediating role of corporate governance.

Three hundred and twelve responses returned from self-administered structured questionnaires relayed to 1,163 middle-level managers were dissected via ANOVAs and structural equation modelling.

From the findings emerged the interconnections between ethics of justice and calculation-based trust. Ethics of care, on the other hand, tends to cultivate knowledge-based trust and identification-based trust, which in turn positively impact corporate governance. The findings also paved the path from strong corporate governance to high brand performance.

From the findings of the study, the insight into the interconnection pattern of brand performance and its antecedents highlights the magnitude of ethics training program as well as the construction of knowledge-based trust, identification-based trust as well as strong corporate governance in optimizing brand performance in listed companies in Vietnam market.

This paper aims to investigate the extent to which relation-specific investments undertaken by the distributor favor the presence of various governance structures (formal contract and relational governance). Furthermore, it examines whether dependence moderates the effect of relationship-specific investments on these governance structures.

Survey data were gathered from 224 wholesalers from the food and beverage industry. Hypotheses were tested through regression analysis.

This study illustrates that property-based relationship-specific investments have a greater positive impact on the use of formal contracts than knowledge-based relationship-specific investments. Furthermore, knowledge-based relationship-specific investments have a greater positive impact on relational governance than property-based relationship-specific investments. The results also suggest that it is necessary to consider the moderating effect of cost-based dependence and benefit-based dependence. Finally, mixed governance structures (e.g. formal contracts combined with relational governance) have a positive impact on satisfaction and intention to maintain and extend the relationship.

The findings allow manufacturers to concentrate their efforts on mixed governance structures facilitating relationship-specific investments and benefit-based dependence from distributors to develop a competitive advantage.

Several investigations have obtained a relationship between investments in specific assets, governance structures and performance. Nevertheless, they have not identified different types of investments in specific assets. This study proposes that there are two types of relationship-specific investments: based on property and based on knowledge. Additionally, a two-dimensional model of dependence (cost-based and benefit-based) allows capturing the different theoretical spheres of this concept.

Corporate governance is built on the responsibility of members towards other stakeholders inside and outside the organization. Through the testing of hypotheses on the interconnections between corporate governance and its precursors, this research aims to substantiate that emotional intelligence (EI) is the first layer of bricks, trust the second layer, and corporate social responsibility (CSR) the third layer of the entire architecture of corporate governance.

A total of 382 responses in completed form returned from self‐administered structured questionnaires relayed to 640 middle level managers underwent an analysis based on structural equation modeling (SEM).

Emotional intelligence, as the data divulges, is a rich network of social synapses among members for knowledge‐based or identity‐based trust to grow in their souls, which can activate ethical CSR deeds as levers for corporate governance.

The journey to test research hypotheses has built, layer by layer, an EI‐based model of corporate governance in which a high concentration of emotional intelligence among members in the organization catalyzes knowledge‐based or identity‐based trust, without which CSR initiatives to cultivate ethical values cannot be implemented successfully to optimize corporate governance effectiveness in Vietnamese organizations.

The first decades of the 21st century have witnessed unprecedented global political cooperation directed toward school teachers and the importance of quality education. This chapter discusses the current developments in the global educational policy field with a particular focus on teacher policy and the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development’s (OECD) program Teaching and Learning International Survey (TALIS). In adopting a critical realist approach and based on a literature review, this chapter provides a synthesis of the governance mechanisms, contexts, and outcomes of TALIS. TALIS is treated as an observable outcome resulting from the actions of an underlying mechanism – information-processing policy instruments – and two contextual conditions. The first contextual condition suggests that there is a predominance of the knowledge-based economy paradigm in the political discourse, linking school teachers to economic growth and competitiveness. The second condition is provided by the consensus that education, notwithstanding technological developments, in the foreseeable future will remain a labor-intensive sector requiring a teacher workforce, as reflected in the representation of diverse interests in the TALIS programme and their commitment to find compromises on teacher policy. We will be able to assess in future decades the extent to which the mechanism will be triggered with regard to TALIS. However, in giving voice to teachers working in different settings, TALIS findings are not easy to reconcile with human capital theory or translate into “best practice” recommendations for teacher policies that can help drive knowledge-based economies.

Despite the growing interest in IJVs and their governance, systematic research is limited on the board of directors and their roles in international joint ventures in emerging markets. In this study, we draw from corporate governance research that suggests that the levels of control and collaboration by boards are influenced by organizational complexity. While joint ventures possess several similarities compared to unitary firms, they also have unique sources of complexity given the fact that two or more international partners collaborate within JVs under an incomplete contract. Based on a sample of 114 IJVs, we argue and show four separate conditions that influence the functions that boards undertake as well as how control and collaboration as two separate functions are interrelated. Our findings address calls for research to open the black box of what boards actually do as well as to bring corporate governance theory to new organizational forms such as joint ventures.

Because the discontinuous and uncertain characteristics of knowledge-based innovation cannot be reasonably interpreted by conventional management approaches, quantum mechanics which begins with uncertainty and concerns with a dynamic process of the complex system, has been exploratorily used in the management field. Although the theoretical new insights are provided by pioneering studies, quantitative research is in short supply. This paper aims to propose a quantum mechanics-based framework for quantitative research, thus extending the application of quantum mechanics in the knowledge management area from a dynamic system evolutionary standpoint.

Based on the similarity comparison between knowledge-based system evolution and atomic motion, the authors construct the atom-like structure of the knowledge-based system and elaborate the evolutionary mechanism of the knowledge-based system, thereby establishing the quantitative model. Apple and Zhongxing Telecom Equipment were selected for an empirical study to demonstrate the usefulness of the models for research on knowledge-based innovation and explore the unique knowledge-based innovation characteristics of the two firms.

First, the transition force of dynamic knowledge shows an inverted U shape; accumulating dynamic knowledge to a moderate degree not only facilitates transforming dynamic knowledge into static knowledge but also balances the relationship between the influence of knowledge force range and dynamic knowledge transformation. Second, existing knowledge is gradually substituted by new knowledge and knowledge density at a high knowledge energy level distinctly increases with a narrower bandwidth. Third, the investment loss is associated with resource configuration, resource utilization and the amount of accumulative dynamic knowledge before investment. Knowledge loss is negatively correlated with the knowledge compatibility coefficient.

The authors use the advanced method in quantum mechanics to legitimately unveil the emergence mechanism of knowledge-based innovation. Meanwhile, the authors capture the non-linear transformation relationship of heterogeneous knowledge and expose the change in ways of both investment loss and knowledge loss that cannot be quantified by conventional models. In doing so, the authors not only reveal the principle of qualitative knowledge change but also offer practical implications for developing flexible and targeted innovation strategies.

First, by proposing a complete quantum mechanics-based framework, the authors not only supplement the quantitative research contents to knowledge-based innovation literature which proposed calls to conduct research in way of quantum mechanics but also overcome the difficulties of knowledge-based system conceptualization and measurement. Second, the authors reveal the uncertain change of knowledge transformation and measure the loss of investment and knowledge, which contribute to identifying defects of firms in knowledge-based innovation. Third, the authors explore the internal mechanism that led to knowledge-based innovation exhibits non-linear characteristics and capture unique dynamic relationships between different variables which affect the emergence of knowledge-based innovation.