Organizational Knowledge Acquisition Research Articles

Organizational Unlearning: A Bibliometric Study and Visualization Analysis Via CiteSpace

Coping with evolution and the changes it brings to the workplace remains a major concern for organizational leaders. This study explores the hotspots, trends, and future directions of the field of organizational unlearning to complement the extant research. A bibliometric analysis based on the literature collected by the Web of Science database was used to categorize or cluster different authors, their countries, institutions and different keywords (cooperation among authors, co-citation, co-occurrence of keywords), to discover their uniqueness or determine the relationship between them while using CiteSpace software to draw knowledge graphs and then results. This study advances the debate on sustainable knowledge acquisition in organizations and its interaction with organizational unlearning. It directly aids the process of radical change in workplace learning and training models and provides a clear view of the previous literature on organizational unlearning by laying a solid foundation for future research in the field of learning.

Evaluating underlying factor structures using novel machine learning algorithms: An empirical and simulation study

The scale development paradigm was created to improve the measurement of latent constructs. Although several statistical techniques have been successfully integrated into the overall process, identifying factor patterns and validating constructs using smaller datasets with different correlational structures remain a concern. This paper presents heatmapping and bootstrapping cluster analysis (HMBCA), a novel machine-learning based diagnostic workflow, as a new tool to aid in strengthening the process. A substantive example on the overall organizational knowledge acquisition behaviors demonstrates that the bootstrapping cluster simulation approach provided promising results regarding the factor structure as measured by the Approximately Unbiased (AU) p-values under the following conditions: when factor correlations are weaker or moderate, with simulated data containing smaller samples. The study suggests that researchers may leverage bootstrapping cluster simulations to validate constructs through both visual inspection and probability estimates when faced with constraints such as a small sample size.

What role does enterprise social network play? A study on enterprise social network use, knowledge acquisition and innovation performance

PurposeIn order to explore the role of enterprise social network (ESN), this study examines how the different dimensions of ESN use – within teams and across teams – facilitate knowledge acquisition in organizations and how knowledge acquisition, in turn, impacts exploitative and exploratory innovation performance.Design/methodology/approachThis study applied the survey approach to collect a valid sample of 150 Chinese companies that had innovation activities and were using ESN. The partial least squares (PLS) technique was used for data analysis to test the research model and hypotheses.FindingsESN use within teams has a positive impact on knowledge depth and knowledge breadth, and ESN use across teams has a positive impact on knowledge depth. Knowledge depth and knowledge breadth are both beneficial for innovation performance. The two types of ESN use have different impacts on knowledge depth and knowledge breadth; moreover, knowledge depth and knowledge breadth have different impacts on innovation performance. Specifically, the impacts of ESN use within teams and across teams on exploitative innovation performance are mediated by knowledge depth; the impact of ESN use within teams on exploratory innovation performance is mediated by knowledge breadth.Originality/valueThis paper can enhance the understanding of the importance of ESN use and ESN's role in facilitating knowledge acquisition and innovation performance.

Techniques for the identification of organizational knowledge management requirements

PurposeThis paper aims to explore the requirements of organizational knowledge management initiatives using requirements engineering techniques, identifying the optimal techniques configuration and serving as a management tool for knowledge engineers.Design/methodology/approachThe method is selection attributes. Knowledge management enablers are characterized and mapped with the coverage capabilities of requirements engineering techniques, using the attributes of the elicited object and a box-plot analysis. The information is gathered from 280 references, 32 companies and 16 experts in requirements engineering.FindingsRequirements of organizational knowledge management initiatives are got optimally by combining interviews, use cases, scenarios, laddering and focus group techniques. The requirements of structure and processes are more complex to identify, while culture requirements are the best covered.Research limitations/implicationsKnowledge management enablers are analyzed according to the current studies and comprehension of engineering techniques.Practical implicationsKnowledge engineers need to consider the coverage capabilities of engineering techniques to design an optimal requirement identification and meet the objectives of organizational knowledge acquisition initiatives. Requirement engineers can improve the requirements identification by a staged selection process.Social implicationsThe requirements of knowledge management initiatives that impact the community can be identified and traced to ensure the knowledge objectives. Requirements related to culture and people, like shared values, beliefs, and behaviors, are also considered.Originality/valueTo the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study about formal requirement identification of knowledge management initiatives in the organizational context, providing the optimal configuration. A novel staged process is proposed for requirements engineering techniques selection, analyzing the enablers at component level and identifying the attributes associated with the elicited object.

Learning by Seconding: Evidence from National Science Foundation Rotators

We study knowledge flows between organizations through secondments, short-term employee assignments at an organization different from the home institution. Secondments allow the sending organization to capture knowledge and network resources from the receiving organization without an organization-level contract, alliance, or colocation, a process we term learning by seconding. We focus on the National Science Foundation (NSF) rotation program, under which the NSF employs academics, called rotators, on loan from their university, to lead peer reviews. We ask how rotators affect the behavior of their academic colleagues after returning from a secondment. Using difference in differences estimations, we show that rotators’ colleagues raise considerably more research funds than similar scientists who do not have a rotator colleague. Additional quantitative and qualitative evidence implies that the treatment effect occurs via knowledge transfer, as rotators help generate ideas, frame proposals, and explain processes, rather than rent-seeking on the part of the rotator. Overall, the results suggest that strong ties and shared social identity play an important role in organizational knowledge acquisition.The online appendix is available at https://doi.org/10.1287/orsc.2018.1245 .

Learning by Seconding: Evidence from NSF Rotators

We study knowledge flows between organizations through secondments, short-term employee assignments at an organization different from the home institution. Secondments allow the sending organization to capture knowledge and network resources from the receiving organization without an organization-level contract, alliance, or colocation, a process we term learning by seconding. We focus on the National Science Foundation (NSF) rotation program, under which the NSF employs academics, called rotators, on loan from their university, to lead peer reviews. We ask how rotators affect the behavior of their academic colleagues after returning from a secondment. Using difference in differences estimations, we show that rotators’ colleagues raise considerably more research funds than similar scientists who do not have a rotator colleague. Additional quantitative and qualitative evidence implies that the treatment effect occurs via knowledge transfer, as rotators help generate ideas, frame proposals, and explain processes, rather than rent-seeking on the part of the rotator. Overall, the results suggest that strong ties and shared social identity play an important role in organizational knowledge acquisition.

ORGANIZATIONAL KNOWLEDGE ACQUISITION - STRATEGIC OBJECTIVE OF ORGANIZATION

Knowledge is now considered the most important resource of an organization, with organizational knowledge acquisition identified in literature as a process that can determine the difference between success and failure of an organization. It is considered necessary for each organization to manage the acquisition of knowledge as a central element in business continuity planning, optimizing costs, and organizational objectives. The main goal of this paper is to develop a framework for organizational knowledge acquisition. This purpose is relevant because, until now, the literature encompasses the problem of organizational knowledge acquisition through human resources, from the perspective of staff ability to learn and implement new concepts, but not from the perspective of an organizational strategy. An organization is stressed by economic and financial alliances and by clients and suppliers. These constrain managers from identifying new solutions to problems. This study is relevant for business because it analyzes an important direction for the development of strategies in the context of market globalization and for academic research because there has been little research previously in this direction.

Structuring fragmented knowledge: a case study

When the need to record and track the point of view of different actors in organizational processes becomes a key point for decision makers, a common representation of knowledge from different perspectives and a map of the situation and the decision and action needs could be useful. A methodology that easily and transparently integrates different ‘soft’ and ‘hard’ tools in a common knowledge structuring approach is proposed to deal with complexities and uncertainties in a socio-technical contest. The purpose of this paper is to show the potentialities of this methodology in a real case, in terms of organizational knowledge acquisition and structuring in a multi-actor public context, a university faculty, in relation to a radical change.

Knowledge acquisition from foreign parents in international joint ventures: an empirical examination in the Hungarian context

In this paper, we examine organizational characteristics, structural mechanisms and contextual factors that influence knowledge acquisition from the foreign parent in international joint ventures (IJVs). We in turn relate assessments of knowledge acquisition to IJV performance. The data come from a survey of IJVs in the Hungarian context, where learning and knowledge acquisition from the foreign parent is thought to be particularly critical. Adaptation mechanisms, such as capacity to learn, articulated goals, and structural mechanisms, such as the provision of training, technology and managerial assistance by foreign parents, all were positively associated with the degree to which IJVs reported acquiring knowledge from their foreign parents. We also found limited support for the belief that cultural conflicts can impede knowledge acquisition, but only for two-party joint ventures with 50/50 equity arrangements. We also looked at the relationship between knowledge acquisition and different dimensions for evaluating IJV performance. The relationship between knowledge acquisition and performance was significant for all indicators of performance, through knowledge acquisition from the foreign parent and the organizational characteristics hypothesized to enhance IJV knowledge acquisition affected assessments of some dimensions of performance more than others. Our findings contribute to advancing knowledge about the relationship between organizational characteristics and organizational knowledge acquisition in IJVs, as well as the relationships between knowledge acquisition and different dimensions of IJV performance.

2301 ワークフローの作成と共有ソフトウェアによる設計知識獲得手法に関する研究(OS07 設計におけるナレッジマネジメントI)

Knowledge transfers from experts to younger engineers are now crucial problems among Japanese manufacturing industries. We developed a Knowledge Management Software, ShareFast, for supporting organizational knowledge acquisition and transition. Work flows describe structures of work processes and details are depicted in documents, which are linked to tasks in workflows. ShareFast was tested by several Japanese shipyards and showed its efficiency in practical design knowledge acquisition.

Organizational Learning

This paper develops a ‘third way’ of organizational learning (OL) encompassing two metaphors for learning: acquisition and participation. These two metaphors can be found in the learning theories of OL. The ‘first’ and ‘second way’ of OL are identified as being, respectively, individuals’ skills and knowledge acquisition in organizations as systems, and learning as participation in communities of practice. The ‘third way’ of OL is defined as the development of experience and knowledge by inquiry (or reflective thinking) in social worlds held together by commitment. One of the practical implications of the ‘third way’ of OL is to bring intuition and emotion to the fore in organizational development and learning. The implication for research is to work with situations and events as units of analysis in order to understand individuals and organizations as being mutually forming and formed.

A fuzzy GSS framework for organizational knowledge acquisition

Although the concept of viewing knowledge as a critical resource has been widely accepted in prior studies, it is not fully understood how to acquire available knowledge in order to improve organizational effectiveness. However, it is sure that organizational knowledge management should pursue the achievement of the business goal by delivering relevant and useful information to the right person at the right time. Group Support Systems (GSS) can play an important role in transfering scattered information into meaningful business knowledge for supporting strategic corporate decision-making. This study proposes a fuzzy GSS framework for acquiring workgroup knowledge from individual memory and aggregating workgroup knowledge into organizational knowledge. This study also proposes an architecture to support the fuzzy GSS framework. The architecture consists of user agents, information management agents, and a fuzzy model manager. To illustrate how the fuzzy GSS framework can be used to support the whole process of organizational knowledge acquisition, an Internet-based GSS was developed and applied in a marketing decision process. It showed that the framework was effective for acquiring organizational knowledge.

Joint research and development projects as technology training ventures

This paper presents an empirically derived model of the process through which industrial firms that lack internal resources in a particular technology area to implement certain research and development (R&D) projects on their own, initiale nad implement them jointly with not-for-profit research institutions. Such joint R&D projects are typically initiated by smaller, technologically less advanced firms in developing countires, with the underlying objective of training themselves in the relevant technology area and acquiring new technological resources from more advanced local research institutions, while simultaneously and rapidly completing the immediate R&D project. This process model has been developed by drawing from and synthesizing several in-depth case studies of such projects. In developing countries, joint R&D projects of this nature are important, as they can be more effective than formal technology training programmes for not-for-profit research institutions to fulfil their charter by transerning their advanced technical knowledge to the relatively less advanced local industrial firms. Participating firms that seek to their immediate interest, and therefore learn it rapidly and effectively. This paper adds to the scarce literature on ht process of organizational knowledge acquisition through contractual arrangements such as joint projects. It also enables both firms and research institutions to understand effective proceses for initiating and implementing such mutually beneficial joint R&D projects.