Knowledge Asymmetries Research Articles

Leveraging Prior Knowledge Asymmetries in the Design of Location Privacy-Preserving Mechanisms

The prevalence of mobile devices and Location-Based Services (LBS) necessitates the study of Location Privacy-Preserving Mechanisms (LPPM). However, LPPMs reduce the utility of LBSes due to the noise they add to users’ locations. Here, we consider the remapping technique, which presumes the adversary has a perfect statistical model for the user location. We consider this assumption and show that under practical assumptions on the adversary’s knowledge, the remapping technique leaks privacy not only about the true location data, but also about the statistical model. Finally, we introduce a novel method termed Randomized Remapping to provide a trade-off between leakage of the users’ location and leakage of the users’ model for a given utility.

Expanding Financial Inclusion Using Digital Finance

Financial innovation based on digital finance is achieving financial development and, at the same time, expanding financial inclusion. Digital finance is considered to be one of the most important and essential stages of financial development. Financial inclusion has often been approached from the perspective of social policy rather than economic or financial policy. Recently developed fintech technology is at the cutting edge of the financial markets but, at the same time, plays a decisive role in bringing the most underprivileged to the financial sector. We have reviewed recent trends in digital finance such as internet banks, crowdfunding, and peer-to-peer financing, and credit rating calculations through AI-big data analysis and found out that digital finance has contributed to expanding financial inclusion. The emergence of cryptocurrencies is also beginning to cast a new light of financial inclusion on the socially marginalized people. ICO, a new method of using blockchain technology, allows venture startup companies to be funded through the sale of digital currency. However, there are risks in fintech financial products, and there are also risks in financial consumer protection because of financial illiteracy and asymmetry of information. The AI-big data analysis can ease the asymmetry of information for the financial company. However, the asymmetry of information and knowledge may get worse as the structure of financial products of digital finance is more and more complicated for financial consumers. Therefore the government needs to take policies to develop digital finance while trying to protect financial consumers.

Positioning Selves in Narrative Accounts of Military Trauma

Abstract Linguistic and narrative strategies employed in two dyadic interviews of male veterans of the war in Afghanistan were analysed and compared. Each interviewee told chains of connected stories that positioned them in relation to catastrophic events and their effects. These incidents were framed as being linked to decisions that the teller had taken in perilous circumstances. Sequences of generic clauses in sections of orientation were used to manage knowledge asymmetries, to establish story world norms, to display professional, soldierly and veteran identities and to present danger, serious injury, and death as normative in the context of military work in a conflict zone. Resolutions to narratives involving death or injury resided not in specific narrative event clauses but in sections of evaluation that framed the outcome of a preceding story chain in terms of its personal, current significance to the speaker. Our exploration of contrasting accounts of similarly catastrophic events by two storytellers, one of whom was diagnosed with posttraumatic stress disorder, offers insights into ways in which trauma is represented that could be useful in psychotherapeutic contexts.

Comparative Law for Legal Translation: Through Multiple Perspectives to Multidimensional Knowledge

With this paper, I suggest a multiperspectivist approach for assessing conceptual legal knowledge with relevance for the translation of legal terms in translation between two or more different legal systems. The basic quest is to present a set of categories and analytical approaches for legal translators to generate (collect) and classify knowledge necessary for their professional conceptual needs. In this paper, I will focus on the translational, juridical, and cognitive basics of such an approach. In order to cope with the broad range of possible translational purposes in different translational situations and choose relevantly between alternative formulations, translators need methods and strategies in order to construct the necessary conceptual knowledge. This presupposes a broad knowledge structured in ways that enable the translator to recognize relevant characteristics of legal systems and relevant differences between different legal systems. Concerning translational theory, the basis is the functional theory of translation as adapted to legal translation, based upon the idea of translation as choice between alternatives and distinguishing between documentary translation, at one end of a scale, and instrumental translation, at the other. This basis and the distinction presuppose relevant knowledge from comparative law. Hence, existing approaches and fundamental tenets concerning comparative law inside and outside of translation are presented. In order for knowledge to be presented in a manageable way with relevance to translators, I work with the approach of concept frames as basic unit of knowledge gathering and categorization. This way of presenting knowledge is embedded more generally in a knowledge communication approach, focusing on knowledge asymmetry. Within this general framework, the multiperspectivist approach combines insights from cultural studies (especially the study of law-as-culture), law as a disciplinary social system, and communicative interaction generating meanings in legal communication, also across national borders.

Consumerism Made Real

Consumerism Made Real

Promise of inclusive innovation: A Re-look into the opportunities at the grassroots

A tectonic shift in the paradigm of innovation is being witnessed lately at the Bottom of the Pyramid. Although previous studies have been empirical; the approach, processes, practices of innovation have received limited attention at the grassroots. Thus, inclusive innovation comes into the discussion, which is bridging the knowledge gap between innovators, organizations, and the communities at grassroots. The objective of this study is to explore the dynamics and interplay of inclusive innovation under which innovative practice translates to inclusive development using a multi-case design approach. The qualitative study involves primary data from field interviews, and secondary data from documents, online sources, which were analysed following the grounded theory approach. The research findings present five strategic themes which play a significant role in stimulating inclusive innovation: establishing a sense of ownership and responsibility, intensive innovation practices, transformative social learning, maximizing impacts at the grassroots, and capturing psychological aspects. The seminal contribution of this study emphasizes on the central role that organizations must undertake in promoting indigenous knowledge, empathizing with communities, capacity building, and bridging knowledge asymmetry, as prescribed in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) advocated by the United Nations.

Bridging the citizen gap: Bureaucratic representation and knowledge linkage in (international) public administration

AbstractBureaucratic representation theory holds that civil servants are not “neutral” in a Weberian sense. Bureaucrats are thought to “actively” represent their communities by trying to make them better off. This article proposes an alternative understanding of individual behavior in representation that emphasizes knowledge sharing instead of patronage, but leads to similar outcomes: Their societal background provides officials with advanced social knowledge about the group(s) they represent, including both informational knowledge (facts about culture, history, politics) and relational knowledge (how people interact). Bureaucratic knowledge linkage is the process of sharing information and managing relations internally and with citizens. An extreme case serves to illustrate knowledge linkage empirically: Survey data from an international organization yield high levels of knowledge asymmetries within staff bodies and subsequent observation of knowledge linkage mechanisms. In generalizing findings, the risks (knowledge distortions) and benefits (attaining public value) of knowledge linkage are discussed for both international and domestic administrations.

The convivial and the pastoral in patient-doctor relationships: a multi-country study of patient stories of care, choice and medical authority in cancer diagnostic processes.

Experiences of cancer diagnosis are changing in light of both the increasingly technological‐clinical diagnostic processes and the socio‐political context in which interpersonal relations take place. This has raised questions about how we might understand patient–doctor relationship marked by asymmetries of knowledge and social capital, but that emphasise patients’ empowered choices and individualised care. As part of an interview study of 155 participants with bowel or lung cancer across Denmark, England and Sweden, we explored participants’ stories of the decisions made during their cancer diagnostic process. By focusing on the intersections of care, choice and medical authority – a convivial pastoral dynamic – we provide a conceptual analysis of the normative ambivalences in people's stories of their cancer diagnosis. We found that participants drew from care, choice and medical authority to emphasise their relationality and interdependence with their doctors in their stories of their diagnosis. Importantly negotiations of an asymmetrical patient–doctor relationship were part of an on‐going realisation of the healthcare processes as a human endeavour. We were therefore able to draw attention to the limitations of dichotomising emancipatory‐empowerment discourses and argue for a theorisation of the patient–doctor relationship as a contextually bounded and relationally ambivalent humanity.

Reaching informed decisions: Corporate governance, knowledge asymmetry and intellectual capital influences in the international and romanian business environment, before and after the financial crisis

The scientific research centers on the sensible aspects represented by reaching informed decisions both in the private and public sectors, while being under the influence of three key factors, namely: corporate governance, knowledge asymmetry, and intellectual capital. In continuation, this scientific work points out the powerful role played by the economic, financial, political and social crisis in the international and Romanian business environment, and underlines the most dramatic changes brought by this crisis into individuals’ and entities’ daily lives. In addition, this study aims at providing valuable insights on numerous life-saving solutions meant to enable both individuals and entities to cope with the future, in the attempt to create more and deeper connections with our environment, thus becoming more aware of the dangers of continuously exploiting and neglecting the needs of our Planet. Researchers have shown an increased interest in analyzing and discussing the aspects concerning (yet, not limited to) biodiversity, circular economy, corporate social responsibility, corporate governance, good governance, and smart cities, in particular due to the unprecedented changes experienced by our society, which prompted the authors of this article to adopt the following approach in this paper: (a) the first part is dedicated to the literature review, which describes the most relevant terms associated with corporate governance, knowledge asymmetry and intellectual capital;(b) the second part is consecrated to the methodology, which stresses on the most significant instruments used in order to facilitate the in-depth examination of corporate governance, knowledge asymmetry and intellectual capital;(c) the next sections are devoted to presenting the most important elements attributed to corporate governance, knowledge asymmetry and intellectual capital, in order to accelerate positive changes in our society;(d) the section dedicated to the case study is keen on describing the case of Romanian business environment in the context where corporate governance, knowledge and intellectual capital become a priority in the process of reaching informed decisions;(e) the results and discussions section is meant to show the most relevant solutions in reaching informed decisions at both a national and international level, keeping in mind the main influences derived from corporate governance, knowledge asymmetry and intellectual capital;(f) the conclusions section accentuates, once again, the role that corporate governance, knowledge and intellectual capital must play in order to support growth, development and sustainability at a worldwide level. There are several important areas where this study makes an original contribution, namely: the literature revised, the subject taken into discussion, the implications of reaching informed and sustainable decisions, the case of Romania and its position on corporate governance, knowledge asymmetry and intellectual capital, in turbulent times. Copyright © 2020. Cristina Raluca GH. POPESCU and Mihail DUMITRESCU. Distributed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International CC-BY 4.0

Information disclosure in a local socio-economic system with tacit knowledge and information asymmetry

We study the effects of institutional information disclosure on the market equilibrium in a local market with knowledge asymmetry and scarce information. The purpose of our work is the analysis of long-term efficiency of a dedicated institutional mechanism of information disclosure for such a market. The paper presents the game-theoretic model of a local property rights market with an infrastructural institution disclosing non-personalized information in a system with a combination of market elements, administrative and shadow economy. For each object, there is some hidden non-transferrable information essential for assessment. Under such conditions, the influence of subjective biases on the market equilibrium can be described as a Bayesian probability model of adverse selection. In the elaborated model, the equilibrium parameters are theoretically analyzed. It is shown that information asymmetry in the modeled systems leads to an irrational allocation of investment resources. It is shown that the infrastructural institutions disclosing non-personalized information are not only unable to efficiently counteract adverse selection, but facilitate it.

Politics, Power, Policy, and a Fair Society: The Failed Promise of the Asian Medicine Market

Asymmetry in knowledge and bargaining power creates opportunities for duplicity and malpractice. Based on the experiences of the Asian medicine market, we propose that this economic sector is particularly susceptible to these vices. The visible hand of the government appears to be more effective in disciplining malefactors than the invisible hand of the market. This thesis is based on areas of knowledge such as political science, ethics, and philosophy that remain, in general, off limits to economists wishing to maintain the purity of the discipline.

Intertwining the individual and organisational experience: asymmetries of cross-cultural knowledge sharing, networking and learning

Intertwining the individual and organisational experience: asymmetries of cross-cultural knowledge sharing, networking and learning

Expert-Lay Communication in Oral and Written Information on Human Research Projects

Informed consent is an ethical and legal prerequisite for research on humans. In this context, the purpose of the verbal and written consent information is to reduce the knowledge asymmetry between experts and laypersons. While previous research has mainly focused on oral and written consent as separate entities, the present contribution aims to interlink these two modalities more strongly on a linguistic and conceptual level. For instance, it is suggested that the necessary content of the conversation needs to be defined on the consent form, basic research concepts and meta-information be used in the consent form in order to bridge the divergence of perspectives between experts and laypersons.

Professional Responsibility: Conceptual Rescue and Plea for Reform

Provided one accepts that there may be a discrepancy between the sociological sphere of the professions and the scope of professional responsibility as an ethical and legal concept, the latter may be rescued from its current maelstrom. Why? Because what calls for distinct, professional responsibility is a feature of the lay-professional relationship -a situational, ‘sense of self’ vulnerability- that is not present in some ‘professional’ occupations (from commercial lawyers to accountants). For as long as knowledge asymmetry continues to be deemed the defining characteristic of the lay-professional relationship, the courts’ delineation of obligations meant to address lay vulnerability will too frequently end up compounding the layperson’s non-epistemic, ‘sense of self’ vulnerability. The proposed re-conceptualisation of professional responsibility calls for reform on several fronts: among these, an expanded ‘duty to consult’ (beyond do-not-resuscitate-orders) is uniquely placed as a justiciable criterion capable of addressing such ‘sense of self’ vulnerability.

PC-FACS

PC-FACS

Mediating knowledge across health ecosystems: a qualitative field study

PurposeKnowledge sharing across health ecosystems is extremely fuzzy because of knowledge asymmetries, barriers and diverse types and sources of knowledge, all of which together affect patient decision making and value creation. The purpose of this study is to identify core knowledge mediators across ecosystem with the focus on a patient as a central decision maker in their own health management to ensure smooth knowledge flows across actors.Design/methodology/approachTo understand the knowledge flows in the health ecosystem, a phenomenological approach was applied in this study. Based on case study research. The analysis is based on the patient-centric approach and draws on qualitative, semi-structured interviews. Moreover, a knowledge-creating community approach (Paavola et al., 2004) is applied in which various stakeholders create and share knowledge of clinical and social domain, which together contribute to patient value creation.FindingsKnowledge socialization and development starts within very close and trusted community members. Trust, validity, reliability and responsibility of knowledge have emerged as full mediators for knowledge absorption. Thus, health communities and knowledge ecosystems need safe places for “unverified” knowledge to ensure that the important trends and unresolved questions are not missed.Originality/valueThis study proposes a new health knowledge management approach for communities, which is more than clinical decisions and formal medical knowledge and embraces varieties of knowledge and information sources and types. At the end, the identified barriers and mediators can be used for serving the main goal of patient value increase because it responds to the need for a systematic approach in encouraging patients to play a more active role in their own health management.

Enduring hardships in global knowledge asymmetries: a national scenario of China’s English-language academic journals in the humanities and social sciences

Since the 2000s, China has been fast establishing English-language academic journals to further internationalize research. This article delineates a national scenario of such journals in the humanities and social sciences (HSS) and explores their efforts and predicaments in bringing China’s HSS research to the world. Based on first-hand data collected empirically through interviews and documents, it shows that HSS English-language journals in China attempt to challenge yet are conditioned at the same time by the imbalanced international knowledge structure. While still at a preliminary stage of development in terms of quantity and quality, the journals have already been confronted with major challenges including English language hurdles, unfavorable position in research evaluation systems, unfamiliarity with standards of international academic writing and publishing, and tensions between international ambition and local commitment. This article argues that HSS journals in non-Western societies including China need to strike a balance between their contemporary bid for international visibility and long-term contribution to multiple perspectives in global HSS research.

Multicomponent signals and financial constraints

ABSTRACTThe inventive process creates knowledge asymmetries between research-intensive firms and external investors, making it difficult for firms to obtain funding for inventive activities. Consequently, most research-intensive firms face financial constraints (FC). Some suggest patents act as signals to reduce asymmetries, attracting external financing. Yet, prior findings are mixed. We integrate literature on FC with signaling to explore these inconsistent conclusions. We argue ambiguity in previous studies results from examining patents as sending a single signal. We examine impacts of three firm-level attributes on FC – use of emergent technology inputs, firm age, and repeat alliance partners. We demonstrate consideration of multiple simultaneous signals provides better insights into the patenting-FC relationship.

Barriers to Palliative Care in Pediatric Oncology in Switzerland: A Focus Group Study

Introduction: For children with cancer, early integration of pediatric palliative care in conjunction with curative treatments is recommended. In Switzerland, pediatric palliative care is mostly provided by an interdisciplinary primary oncology team that is mainly composed of nurses. However, only a small fraction of children receive pediatric palliative care and only a minority of them in a timely manner. The main aim was to identify barriers to the provision of pediatric palliative care in Swiss pediatric oncology. Method: This qualitative study consisted of five focus groups. In total, 29 pediatric oncology providers participated (13 nurses, 11 physicians, 4 psycho-oncologists, 1 social worker). Data were analyzed employing applied thematic analysis. Results: Analysis revealed eleven barriers: lack of financial resources, lack of prejob education regarding pediatric palliative care, lack of awareness in politics and policy making, absence of a well-established nationwide bridging care system, insufficient psychosocial and professional supervision for staff, understaffing, inadequate infrastructure of hospitals, asymmetry of factual and emotional knowledge between parents and providers, cultural aspects, irrational parental hopes, and "the unspoken." Discussion: Awareness should be raised for pediatric palliative care (in particular in demarcation from palliative care in adults) among politics and policy makers which could lead to increased financial resources that, in turn, could be used to improve bridging care, hospital's infrastructure, and team support. More flexibility for care determining factors is needed, for example, with respect to convening team meetings, short-termed staffing, and reimbursement at the interface between inpatient and outpatient services.

Managing tension in coopetition through mutual dependence and asymmetries: A longitudinal study of a Norwegian R&D alliance

Strategic alliances between competitors (coopetition) is perceived to be full of tensions that needs to be managed. This study explore the evolution of a Norwegian coopetition alliance, through how firms handle tensions over time. The study finds that the firms experience a mutual dependence towards one another and that this dependence evolves over time. In the early phases of a coopetition alliance firms handle tension by relying on a structural dependence with their partners whereas firms move towards a more harmonious relationship with their partners by building a psychological dependence through trust and generosity. Further, the results indicate these dependencies might reduce the possible tensions related to asymmetries in size and knowledge between firms.