Knowledge Management Domain Research Articles

Knowledge Management in Family Firms- A Literature Review

The paper provides a systematic understanding of research that has taken place in the knowledge management domain of family firms. No prior work has carried out a systematic review of family businesses' knowledge management to the best of the author’s knowledge. It uses a three-stage process for literature review analysis which involves collection of papers, classification and synthesis, and finally, evaluation. The classification of the papers' methodologies has been adapted from Palvia et al. 2015. The research carried out in family firm's knowledge management practices is few and scattered. Topics like succession, innovation, and entrepreneurial orientation have been touched upon. There is a high number of conceptual work. Further research should test the proposed frameworks and seek for generalizability of the same by replicating models in different settings. Given the influence of cultural practices in family firms' functioning, research work should be representative of various economies and different cultures to enrich the knowledge space as well as increase the applicability of frameworks in family firms.

Evaluating and Predicting the Quality of Answers Factors in the Research Gate’s Question and Answer System: a Case Study of the Thematic Domain of Knowledge Management

Evaluating and Predicting the Quality of Answers Factors in the Research Gate’s Question and Answer System: a Case Study of the Thematic Domain of Knowledge Management

Defining the big social data paradigm through a systematic literature review approach

PurposeThis study aims to investigate the Big Social Data (BSD) paradigm, which still lacks a clear and shared definition, and causes a lack of clarity and understanding about its beneficial opportunities for practitioners. In the knowledge management (KM) domain, a clear characterization of the BSD paradigm can lead to more effective and efficient KM strategies, processes and systems that leverage a huge amount of structured and unstructured data sources.Design/methodology/approachThe study adopts a systematic literature review (SLR) methodology based on a mixed analysis approach (unsupervised machine learning and human-based) applied to 199 research articles on BSD topics extracted from Scopus and Web of Science. In particular, machine learning processing has been implemented by using topic extraction and hierarchical clustering techniques.FindingsThe paper provides a threefold contribution: a conceptualization and a consensual definition of the BSD paradigm through the identification of four key conceptual pillars (i.e. sources, properties, technology and value exploitation); a characterization of the taxonomy of BSD data type that extends previous works on this topic; a research agenda for future research studies on BSD and its applications along with a KM perspective.Research limitations/implicationsThe main limits of the research rely on the list of articles considered for the literature review that could be enlarged by considering further sources (in addition to Scopus and Web of Science) and/or further languages (in addition to English) and/or further years (the review considers papers published until 2018). Research implications concern the development of a research agenda organized along with five thematic issues, which can feed future research to deepen the paradigm of BSD and explore linkages with the KM field.Practical implicationsPractical implications concern the usage of the proposed definition of BSD to purposefully design applications and services based on BSD in knowledge-intensive domains to generate value for citizens, individuals, companies and territories.Originality/valueThe original contribution concerns the definition of the big data social paradigm built through an SLR the combines machine learning processing and human-based processing. Moreover, the research agenda deriving from the study contributes to investigate the BSD paradigm in the wider domain of KM.

Two-decade bibliometric overview of publications in the Journal of Knowledge Management

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to accomplish a bibliometric analysis, investigate the underlying knowledge structure, founding and development, and evolution of the Journal of Knowledge Management (JKM) through its articles published between 1997 and 2020.Design/methodology/approachA total of 1,346 research papers from JKM were selected and VantagePoint® software was used to generate bubble maps, auto-correlation maps, and matrix maps through techniques such as principal component analysis (PCA) and natural language processing (NLP). The analysis gives insights about the foundation of knowledge structure, its evolution and the development of JKM.FindingsThe systematic mapping of research illustrates topics emerging as new offshoots, global favourites, saturated and plateaued and reached academic maturity. The USA, the UK, Australia, Spain, Italy, China, Canada, Germany, and France have contributed the most to JKM. This paper provides a robust roadmap for future research investigation of JKM.Research limitations/implicationsThe authors humbly admit the possibility of overlooking some research papers while evaluating and filtering the database of JKM. The research outcome summarizes 23 years, subject to information retrieval from archival files.Practical implicationsThis research is a detailed bibliometric analysis explaining paradigm shifts in the body of knowledge of JKM. The bibliometric outcomes can act as beacons for future researchers and academicians to revisit the current trends that shape the domain of knowledge management, particularly for the JKM audience with a focus on contemporary topics of research interest.Originality/valueThis is a unique endeavour to accomplish a systematic bibliometric analysis of the JKM for two decades, offering insights about its structural body of knowledge through an overview of the chronology of scholarly development in the field of knowledge management.

Is It What You Have or What You Do With It? Staffing, Human Resource Management, and Knowledge Management Practices

Research in the nursing home industry shows more robust knowledge management activities are associated with the adoption of patient-centered, culture change initiatives among high Medicaid nursing homes. These findings are notable because they highlight the important role that knowledge management activities may play for improving quality of care in under-resourced nursing homes. They also raise important questions about the conditions that may support or hinder the use of these activities. Using survey responses from 393 nursing home administrators, we empirically examined whether two components of human resources – staffing levels and HRM practices – are associated with the level of knowledge management activities in high Medicaid census nursing homes. More robust HRM practices were associated with greater levels of knowledge management activities, as well as three separate domains of knowledge management (acquisition, dissemination, and responsiveness). Staffing levels, in contrast, were not significantly associated with the level of knowledge management activities.

A ROAD MAP FOR NUCLEAR KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT PROGRAM FOR REGULATORY BODY

Nuclear Knowledge Management (NKM) is an important pillar for the capacity building program of the regulatory body. It is handled as a long term investment that yields to excellence, effectiveness, and risk management of critical knowledge. Recently, the requirements for optimization and sustainability have led to increased interest in business intelligence and knowledge management domains. In general, the nuclear industry is knowledge-based, as it relies on skilled workers and their know-how. Newcomer countries face common challenges related to brain drain, data overloads, and aging of the qualified workforce that could lead to loss of nuclear knowledge. As a result the need to develop the regulatory practices to ensure that interested parties collaborate, share and manage the evolved nuclear knowledge is significant. This paper discusses the approach applied by the national regulatory body to develop the NKM program as a tool to support the regulatory decision and maintain public trust. It highlights the real practice to improve the interactions between knowledge, organization, culture, processes, and employee's competencies.

Knowledge-based systems for the Configure Price Quote (CPQ) process – A case study in the IT solution business

Software systems for the Configure Price Quote (CPQ) process of complex product portfolios have emerged in the sales function of companies recently. A flexible quote of complex products, in particular for a Business-to-Business (B2B) customer requires a wide variability of product features and configurations, along with the ability to deliver competitive quotes in short time. The CPQ system aims to reduce the process time, to increase the process quality by integrating information and data stored in several enterprise systems with codified explicit and implicit knowledge from individuals. As in most of the knowledge management systems, the openness of the knowledge holders to share and codify their individual knowledge is a critical success factor. In this case study, we look at the CPQ system implementation of a multinational Information Technology (IT) solution provider from a process perspective and with regard to both the technical and organizational challenges in a holistic approach. The article starts with an introduction to CPQ systems based on works from the Knowledge Management (KM) domain. After outlining our research methodology, we present the case together with a generalization of the CPQ implementation process. Our findings from the investigated scenario indicate positive influence of 1) the internal promotion of CPQ systems as technology innovation for motivating expert knowledge holders to collaborate; 2) an active preparation of the organizational environment for the upcoming changes; and 3) a hybrid agile implementation process.

Estudo de categorias para sistematização de conceitos em Gestão do Conhecimento

Introdução: Com base nos princípios de categorização, o estudo relata uma pesquisa em andamento sobre o categorias para sistematização de conceitos em gestão do conhecimento. Objetivo: Objetiva criar uma taxonomia-de-base-em-conceito para o domínio da Gestão do Conhecimento (GC), cujo resultado poderá minimizar a confusão conceitual entre especialistas, promovendo uma melhor comunicação e também o crescimento da especialidade. Metodologia: Como recurso metodológico da abordagem de análise de domínio, uma revisão sistemática de literatura se fez necessária com o objetivo de identificar e definir as categorias que irão compor o referido esquema de classificação. Conclusão: Como resultado, duas grandes categorias foram criadas, além de sete subcategorias correspondentes. Como etapas seguintes, pretende-se definir os conceitos, que passarão por um processo de sistematização em cadeias hierárquicas, cumprindo assim o objetivo geral da pesquisa que é a criação de uma taxonomia para o domínio da GC.

A stratified system of knowledge and knowledge icebergs in cross-cultural business models: Synthesising ontological and epistemological views

Because the lack of consensus on defining knowledge, coupled with its associated knowledge iceberg phenomenon, is a key barrier to effectively managing dispersed knowledge in the Internet-driven cross-cultural business model (CBM), we synthesised an ontological and epistemological understanding with the view of existential phenomenology, proposing a “dynamic hierarchical system of knowledge” and three primary knowledge iceberg archetypes as metaphors of cognitive variances in this context. Theoretically, this integrative perspective enriches the philosophical grounds of knowledge by transcending individual subjectivity to achieve a universal understanding of the objectivity of knowledge, thus contributing to the literature at the intersection of international business and knowledge management domains. It also responds to the calls for addressing larger, urgent problems by associating the social phenomena of reality to theoretical development. From a practical standpoint, this research is instrumental in enabling international leaders and managers to identify the cultural impediments to fulfilling their knowledge management objectives in CBMs.

Negation and entropy: Effectual knowledge management equipment for learning organizations

The present paper aims to put forward negation and entropy as novel perspectives for knowledge management in learning organizations. The present work considers the surrounding factors of information to enumerate the effectiveness of information in the knowledge management field. Moreover, by utilizing the effectiveness of surrounding factors, a framework inspired by Dempster-Shafer theory has been presented to generate negation. Finally, the present paper defines and calculates entropy for information. We have applied negation and entropy concepts to two well-known cases of organizational systems and management domains to study their impact on the knowledge management domain. The cases have supported our decisions taken after the calculation of proposed negation and entropy concepts. The proposed method has a quality interpretation of the information operators and has the merit of simplifying knowledge management and decision making problems in the context of a learning organization. The present study combines multiple aspects of knowledge management, organizational systems, decision making, and organizational learning.

Alleviating knowledge contribution loafing among engineering designers by ethical leadership: the role of knowledge-based psychological ownership and emotion regulation strategies

PurposeThis paper aims to examine how ethical leadership alleviates knowledge contribution loafing among engineering designers through the mediating effect of knowledge-based psychological ownership and the moderating effect of emotion regulation strategies.Design/methodology/approachThis study adopts a questionnaire survey to obtain 344 valid sample from engineering designers and uses partial least squares-structural equation modeling to analyze data.FindingsThe results demonstrate that ethical leadership is a key factor to alleviate knowledge contribution loafing. Knowledge-based psychological ownership is a main factor causing knowledge contribution loafing and mediates the influence of ethical leadership on knowledge contribution loafing. Furthermore, cognitive reappraisal (a response-focused emotion regulation strategy) moderates the relationship between ethical leadership and knowledge contribution loafing, and the effect of ethical leadership on knowledge contribution loafing is stronger when cognitive reappraisal is high.Practical implicationsEngineering design organizations may inspire ethical leadership and pay attention to psychological state of designers. Leaders may help designers overcome knowledge-based psychological ownership by the influence of ethical leadership. During the process of knowledge interaction, designers may adopt cognitive reappraisal strategy consciously.Originality/valueThis study addresses the knowledge gap that ethical leadership affects knowledge contribution loafing with knowledge-based psychological ownership as the intermediary. This study also advances the literature on leadership and emotion regulation and extends the scope of social learning theory in knowledge management domain through examining the moderate role of emotion regulation strategies.

Increasing Brand Orientation and Brand Capabilities Using Licensing: an Opportunity for SMEs in International Markets

This paper explores the effects of brand licensing on brand orientation and brand capabilities for fashion small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in domestic and international markets. This work’s aim is to examine whether and how brand licensing can be a strategic marketing choice for footwear SMEs with reference to the licensee’s perspective. This paper addresses the literature gap of brand licensing in fashion SMEs, by observing that such a choice can be used strategically, not only to develop own brands, to overcome brand barriers and to reinforce the own brand orientation, but also to acquire and develop brand capabilities. The study is mainly exploratory and based on the qualitative research approach of multiple case study methodology. The firms under investigation are five Italian footwear SMEs with a brand portfolio composed of both owned and licensed brands. According to study findings, brand licensing seems strategic to build effective and lasting competitive advantage by acquiring, and furtherly developing, brand capabilities. This seems to support the idea that brand licensing can represent a useful tool to overcome brand barriers, but also to interact with the company’s knowledge management domain.

Taxonomy design methodologies: Emergent research for knowledge management domains

A knowledge management research study was integrated into a consulting internship for three students in an MLIS programme, working under the direction of a faculty member. The project scope was to organise knowledge across all academic disciplines, as represented in university structures, in support of the consulting client’s software analytics tools for scholarly journal publishers. The study team’s original research contribution was a four-phase design and validation approach to taxonomy creation, using extant research methods in concert. The students learned to bridge their coursework knowledge into a knowledge management environment in industry and to apply data collection and analysis methods to a novel research project.

Discovering Explicit Knowledge Using Text Mining Techniques for PeaceKeeping Documents

Documents are created and converted into digital to ease users in many organisations. Sharing documents among the employees throughout the companies' computer creates a conducive environment for knowledge sharing. In knowledge management domain, contents in documents are considered as explicit knowledge that can guide employees to elevate their work production. Thus, sharing the knowledge is a competitive advantage in an organisation to develop knowledge workers. However, accumulative documents over time can be difficult to trace and reuse without a proper management system. This paper describes document analysis technique in learning knowledge contained in a set of peacekeeping training manuals. The authors adopted a text mining technique to analyse and identify the theme or subject matter of a collection training manuals. The paper also describes a demonstration using a text mining tool and describes knowledge discovery of document analysis using a visualisation technique.

Perceived Training Intensity and Knowledge Sharing Among Banking Sector Employees in Turkey: Examining the Moderating Role of Intrinsic Motivation and Self-Efficacy

The aim of the present study is to show the links between the domains of knowledge management and human resources management. This study was conducted among employees from multiple organizations (within different organizational frameworks) in the banking sector in Turkey to examine the relationship between perceived training intensity (PTI) and knowledge sharing considering intrinsic motivation and self-efficacy as the moderating variables. Data was collected from 497 employees working in four different types of banking sector organizations (public banks, private banks with Turkish capital, private banks with foreign capital and participation banks). While a positive relationship was found between perceived training intensity and knowledge sharing, it was reported that, intrinsic motivation and self-efficacy had a positive impact on knowledge sharing and moderated this relationship.

Preparing healthcare delivery organizations for managing computable knowledge.

IntroductionThe growth of data science has led to an explosion in new knowledge alongside various approaches to representing and sharing biomedical knowledge in computable form. These changes have not been matched by an understanding of what healthcare delivery organizations need to do to adapt and continuously deploy computable knowledge. It is therefore important to begin to conceptualize such changes in order to facilitate routine and systematic application of knowledge that improves the health of individuals and populations.MethodsAn AHRQ‐funded conference convened a group of experts from a range of fields to analyze the current state of knowledge management in healthcare delivery organizations and describe how it needs to evolve to enable computable knowledge management. Presentations and discussions were recorded and analyzed by the author team to identify foundational concepts and new domains of healthcare delivery organization knowledge management capabilities.ResultsThree foundational concepts include 1) the current state of knowledge management in healthcare delivery organizations relies on an outdated biomedical library model, and only a small number of organizations have developed enterprise‐scale knowledge management approaches that “push” knowledge in computable form to frontline decisions, 2) the concept of Learning Health Systems creates an imperative for scalable computable knowledge management approaches, and 3) the ability to represent data science discoveries in computable form that is FAIR (findable, accessible, interoperable, reusable) is fundamental to spread knowledge at scale. For healthcare delivery organizations to engage with computable knowledge management at scale, they will need new organizational capabilities across three domains: policies and processes, technology, and people. Examples of specific capabilities were developed.ConclusionsHealthcare delivery organizations need to substantially scale up and retool their knowledge management approaches in order to benefit from computable biomedical knowledge.

Assessing the Reality of Special Education Centers Management in the Light of the Learning Organization Approach in the Provence of South Jordan

This study aimed at assessing the reality of special education centers management in the light of the learning organization approach through the perspective of its staff and recognizing the effect of some variables in the responses of the sample’s members. To realize this purpose, the descriptive approach was used through collecting and analyzing the data of this problem by using a scale to assess the reality of special education centers management after being developed by the two researchers and divided into four domains.The sample consisted of (177) workers in special education centers: (52) administrators and (125) teachers. The results indicated that the private education centers management practices the domains of the learning organization with high estimation level as the first rank was taken by the domain of organizational structure flexibility and the domain of work teams. The third rank was occupied by the domain of knowledge management while the domain of sustained education took the fourth rank. The results also revealed the absence of statistically significant effect for the responses of the sample’s members due to the impact of gender variable, the presence of an effect of the work capacity for the work capacity variable in favor of the administrators, the presence of an effect for the years of experience variable in favor of the category of experience for more than 10 years and the presence of an effect of the academic qualification variable in favor of post graduate studies.

When and how authoritarian leadership and leader renqing orientation influence tacit knowledge sharing intentions

In this study of tacit knowledge-sharing intentions in China, we examine the roles of authoritarian leadership and fairness with respect to the way managers make decisions and treat their subordinates. In particular, we examine the role of leader renqing orientation, i.e., the way leaders distribute favors and emotional concern to their subordinates, as a moderating factor. We draw on the research literature in the domains of knowledge management and cross-cultural Psychology to identify constructs that we then test with a survey of 309 Chinese employees. Our findings are counter-intuitive and are discussed in detail before we conclude with implications for research and practice.

Proposing a sequential operationalization of absorptive capacity

PurposeThis paper makes an attempt to demonstrate the importance of breaking absorptive capacity (AC) into two sequential components, to effectively measure and utilize the construct.Design/methodology/approachData on potential AC, realized AC and firm performance were collected utilizing survey questionnaire administered to 284 Indian SMEs operating in the automotive service segment.FindingsTo test the proposed hypotheses, the authors broke AC into its two sequential components – potential AC and realized AC, and tested their linkages with firm performance. The authors not only found the sequential components to be more reliable, but also found better explanation of firm performance.Research limitations/implicationsThe findings in this paper have crucial implications for researchers working in the domain of AC and knowledge management. By demonstrating the operationalization of AC as two sequential components, the authors make a case for more effective utilization of the construct in future studies.Originality/valueThis study is among the few research attempts that have tried to create a sequential operationalization of AC. The findings clearly reveal that potential AC is an enabler of the realized AC, which in turn enhances firm performance.

Reconciling digital transformation and knowledge protection: a research agenda

Digital transformation revolutionises the way people work not only in office settings but also in physical work settings such as manufacturing or construction. New ways of combining digital and physical innovations and intensified inter-organisational collaborations are key characteristics for success. Knowledge sharing becomes increasingly important, but its inter-organisational nature and the blurring of organisational boundaries create new challenges for the protection of knowledge. Existing research on knowledge protection mostly focuses on single organisations or on dyadic relationships. Complex sharing arrangements and especially sharing in networks has received little attention so far. This paper presents a literature review, integrating the perspectives of the base domains of knowledge, strategy, innovation, and information security management with the goal to identify knowledge protection requirements in the era of digital transformation. Five avenues for future research on knowledge protection to support organisations coping with challenges imposed by digital transformation are presented.