A comparative perspective of knowledge management via social media: India and China

2015 ◽  
Vol 22 (2) ◽  
pp. 93-114 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michelle Liu ◽  
Pramila Rao

Purpose – This research paper aims to showcase current knowledge management (KM) practices via social media that is being adopted by organizations in India and China. India and China are considered leading economies in today’s global market. Any understanding of management practices in these countries will help practitioners in doing businesses in these nations. Design/methodology/approach – This conceptual paper analyzes KM practices in India and China using an in-depth analysis of the extant literature to provide a comparative perspective of KM policies in these two economies. This paper has used a wide range of scholarly and non-scholarly databases from ABI Global Inform to Business Source Complete to Google Scholar among others. Findings – This research offers valuable insights into characteristic KM trends followed by Indian and Chinese firms. This paper also highlights different approaches adopted by these two cultures in managing their KM practices. The study also provides hypotheses that can be tested by potential scholars. This paper also offers theoretical models to understand this concept better. Practical implications – This paper also provides implications for practice by identifying guidelines for global managers. These frameworks might serve as preliminary parameters for practitioners planning to establish KM practices in India and China. Originality/value – This paper compares and contrasts KM practices in one of the two largest BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India and China) economies which have not been addressed in the literature before. It also combines two theoretical frameworks from different fields (information technology and human resource management) providing a richer viewpoint on the subject.

2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Aki Jääskeläinen ◽  
Virpi Sillanpää ◽  
Nina Helander ◽  
Riikka-Leena Leskelä ◽  
Ira Haavisto ◽  
...  

Purpose This study aims to report the design and testing of a maturity model for information and knowledge management in the public sector, intended for use in frequent monitoring, trend analysis and in-depth analysis of the contemporary information and knowledge management practices of an organization. Design/methodology/approach A design science approach was used to develop the proposed model. Creation of the model was based on an extensive literature review. Testing of the model was implemented as a survey receiving 37 responses from nine organizations organizing and purchasing public services. Findings The study presents four alternative profiles for an organization’s status, novice, experimenter, facilitator and advanced exploiter, and investigates the differences between these profiles on the basis of the empirical data gathered. The model was found to be both a valid and practical way to determine the state of an organization’s information and knowledge management and identify development needs. Research limitations/implications Testing was conducted in the Finnish public sector and further studies applying the model could be implemented in other countries. The model presented was designed specifically for the public sector and more research is needed to test its applicability in the private sector. Originality/value Maturity models are useful when evaluating information and knowledge management status in an organization, and beneficial for improving organizational performance. The proposed maturity model combines the fields of knowledge management and information management and contributes to the literature with an overarching maturity model that includes a dimension of satisfaction with the organizational maturity level. While many earlier models originate from the consultancy business, the model presented here was also designed for research purposes and tested in practice.


2016 ◽  
Vol 20 (4) ◽  
pp. 812-828 ◽  
Author(s):  
Renata V. Klafke ◽  
Caroline Lievore ◽  
Claudia Tania Picinin ◽  
Antonio Carlos de Francisco ◽  
Luiz Alberto Pilatti

Purpose This study aims to expose the main knowledge management (KM) practices applied in BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India and China) industries using scientific literature published in the Scopus database from 2001 to 2010. Design/methodology/approach A search was performed in papers selected from the Scopus database, which houses the KM practices of industries in BRIC countries. Findings The results show that Brazil, Russia and India have an easier way of converting tacit knowledge into explicit knowledge compared to China, where informal relationships of trust and friendship play a special role within organizations, as well as where the political structure (communism) is an intervening factor. Brazil, Russia and India practice similar KM mechanisms such as the use of technology, process standardization and electronic data management. They also model the positive experiences of western companies. In China, interpersonal relationships shape the tacit and explicit features of organizations. Research limitations/implications The methodological filter could potentially limit the volume of responses, as not every case study can demonstrate the usual practices of KM. Empirical studies are able to capture the nuances and even provide a holistic picture of these practices. Practical Implications The results have practical implication, in particular. They are expected to help managers and workers to better comprehend KM practices in BRIC countries or even suggest new KM practices in the business. Originality/value The main discussion of this paper brings together a large range of KM practices applied in BRIC, addressing similarities and differences between KM deployments.


2019 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
pp. 149-164 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alena Klapalová

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to provide a multidimensional understanding of the management of feedback from customer product returns and the management practices that lead to the occurrence of product returns in the context of knowledge management. The characteristics of product returns indicate that to manage them requires specific knowledge management, as the nature of their management is rather complex. Design/methodology/approach Understanding of feedback concept for the purpose of product returns avoidance management and its linkages with knowledge management through the theoretical review was performed first. Second, soft systems methodology (SSM) to analyze the very complex situation, as the product returns present, provided the conceptual framework for empirical research. The principles and best practices of SSM were followed and an analysis of documents together with the theoretical knowledge of feedback, product returns and knowledge management served as the basis for the action research. Findings The research highlighted the importance of knowledge management (even in a rather simple form) for the solution of the problematic situation and underlined the necessary interconnections between different areas of business processes management and the need to manage knowledge. It also showed that product returns act as important feedback for the whole organization. Originality/value This paper is the first attempt to apply current knowledge of the feedback construct into the knowledge and product returns management. It is also the first attempt to apply SSM to product returns management.


2019 ◽  
Vol 57 (8) ◽  
pp. 1902-1922 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roberto Chierici ◽  
Alice Mazzucchelli ◽  
Alexeis Garcia-Perez ◽  
Demetris Vrontis

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to empirically investigate how big data collected from social media contribute to knowledge management practices, innovation processes and business performance. Design/methodology/approach The study used 418 questionnaires collected from firms that actively invest in marketing, advertising and communication in the Italian market. The hypotheses testing and analysis were conducted using structural equation modeling. Findings The results reveal that customers’ data gathered from social media produce different effects on knowledge management practices and firms’ innovation capacity. Furthermore, increased innovation capacity turned out to affect customer relationship performance directly, while it contributes to gain better financial performance only when it is used to gain relational outcomes. Originality/value The outcomes of the study help firms to develop a clear understanding about which big data retrieved from social media can be useful to improve their knowledge management practices and enhance their innovation capacity. Moreover, by investigating the mediating role of big data knowledge management in the context of social media knowledge acquisition and innovation capacity, this study also extends the mediation variables used to understand the relationship between knowledge capabilities and practices and innovation constructs.


2016 ◽  
Vol 46 (4) ◽  
pp. 492-507 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fang Huang ◽  
Scott Gardner ◽  
Sanaz Moayer

Purpose This paper aims to address the limitations of current knowledge management (KM) models by presenting a strategic knowledge management (SKM) framework based on a unique configuration of literature concerned with optimising learning and knowledge creation at the interface between human (soft) and information and communication technology (hard) networks. Design/methodology/approach This paper revisits the key tenets and most frequently cited models in the existing literature, summarises their common elements, clarifies the interrelationships between the hard and soft KM processes and practices and systemically incorporates these previously separate and independent elements into a new integrated conceptual framework. Then, it identifies key organisational factors which could facilitate this integration and leverage the value generated from different systems embedded in this model. Findings The paper highlights the key elements and applications of a new SKM conceptual model for actively and purposefully integrating explicit and tacit knowledge embedded within organisation systems and broader social and business intelligence networks. Practical implications The application of the thinking, organising principles and management practices derived from the SKM framework with its unique characteristics that are hard to substitute or imitate may support improvement and/or innovation of processes, products, services and brands contributing to sustainable competitive advantage of the firm. Originality/value While both hard and soft KM systems have been individually identified by previous studies as integral to KM, the research is amongst the first attempts to explore how to integrate both systems within a strategic KM framework with supporting organisational design principles for creating firm competitive advantage.


Plants ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (11) ◽  
pp. 469 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vila-Aiub

Herbicide resistance is the ultimate evidence of the extraordinary capacity of weeds to evolve under stressful conditions. Despite the extraordinary plant fitness advantage endowed by herbicide resistance mutations in agroecosystems under herbicide selection, resistance mutations are predicted to exhibit an adaptation cost (i.e., fitness cost), relative to the susceptible wild-type, in herbicide untreated conditions. Fitness costs associated with herbicide resistance mutations are not universal and their expression depends on the particular mutation, genetic background, dominance of the fitness cost, and environmental conditions. The detrimental effects of herbicide resistance mutations on plant fitness may arise as a direct impact on fitness-related traits and/or coevolution with changes in other life history traits that ultimately may lead to fitness costs under particular ecological conditions. This brings the idea that a “lower adaptive value” of herbicide resistance mutations represents an opportunity for the design of resistance management practices that could minimize the evolution of herbicide resistance. It is evident that the challenge for weed management practices aiming to control, minimize, or even reverse the frequency of resistance mutations in the agricultural landscape is to “create” those agroecological conditions that could expose, exploit, and exacerbate those life history and/or fitness traits affecting the evolution of herbicide resistance mutations. Ideally, resistance management should implement a wide range of cultural practices leading to environmentally mediated fitness costs associated with herbicide resistance mutations.


2015 ◽  
Vol 81 (7) ◽  
pp. 2481-2488 ◽  
Author(s):  
Volker Winstel ◽  
Petra Kühner ◽  
Bernhard Krismer ◽  
Andreas Peschel ◽  
Holger Rohde

ABSTRACTGenetic manipulation of emerging bacterial pathogens, such as coagulase-negative staphylococci (CoNS), is a major hurdle in clinical and basic microbiological research. Strong genetic barriers, such as restriction modification systems or clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR), usually interfere with available techniques for DNA transformation and therefore complicate manipulation of CoNS or render it impossible. Thus, current knowledge of pathogenicity and virulence determinants of CoNS is very limited. Here, a rapid, efficient, and highly reliable technique is presented to transfer plasmid DNA essential for genetic engineering to important CoNS pathogens from a uniqueStaphylococcus aureusstrain via a specificS. aureusbacteriophage, Φ187. Even strains refractory to electroporation can be transduced by this technique once donor and recipient strains share similar Φ187 receptor properties. As a proof of principle, this technique was used to delete the alternative transcription factor sigma B (SigB) via allelic replacement in nasal and clinicalStaphylococcus epidermidisisolates at high efficiencies. The described approach will allow the genetic manipulation of a wide range of CoNS pathogens and might inspire research activities to manipulate other important pathogens in a similar fashion.


2015 ◽  
Vol 19 (3) ◽  
pp. 433-455 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christina Ling-hsing Chang ◽  
Tung-Ching Lin

Purpose – The purpose of the study is to focus on the enhancement of knowledge management (KM) performance and the relationship between organizational culture and KM process intention of individuals because of the diversity of organizational cultures (which include results-oriented, tightly controlled, job-oriented, closed system and professional-oriented cultures). Knowledge is a primary resource in organizations. If firms are able to effectively manage their knowledge resources, then a wide range of benefits can be reaped such as improved corporate efficiency, effectiveness, innovation and customer service. Design/methodology/approach – The survey methodology, which has the ability to enhance generalization of results (Dooley, 2001), was used to collect the data utilized in the testing of the research hypotheses. Findings – Results- and job-oriented cultures have positive effects on employee intention in the KM process (creation, storage, transfer and application), whereas a tightly controlled culture has negative effects. Research limitations/implications – However, it would have been better to use a longitudinal study to collect useful long-term data to understand how the KM process would be influenced when organizational culture dimensions are changed through/by management. This is the first limitation of this study. According to Mason and Pauleen (2003), KM culture is a powerful predictor of individual knowledge-sharing behavior, which is not included in this study. Thus, this is the second limitation of this paper. Moreover, national culture could be an important issue in the KM process (Jacks et al., 2012), which is the third limitation of this paper for not comprising it. Practical implications – In researchers’ point of view, results- and job-oriented cultures have positive effects, whereas a tightly controlled culture has a negative effect on the KM process intention of the individual. These findings provide evidences that challenge the perspective of Kayworth and Leidner (2003) on this issue. As for practitioners, management has a direction to modify their organizational culture to improve the performance of KM process. Social implications – Both behavioral and value perspectives of the organizational cultural dimensions (results-oriented, tightly control, job-oriented, sociability, solidarity, need for achievement and democracy) should be examined to ascertain their effects firstly on KM culture and then on the KM process intention of the individual. It is hoped that the current study will spawn future investigations that lead to the development of an integrated model which includes organizational culture, KM culture and the KM process intention of the individual. Originality/value – The results-oriented, loosely controlled and job-oriented cultures will improve the effectiveness of the KM process and will also increase employees’ satisfaction and willingness to stay with the organization.


2015 ◽  
Vol 14 (4) ◽  
pp. 118-123 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lauren Trees

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to present enterprise social networking and gamification as two potential tools to help organizations engage Millennial employees in collaboration and learning. Design/methodology/approach – The research provides general descriptions of enterprise social networking and gamification approaches, shares data on adoption of these approaches from APQC’s “2015 Knowledge Management Priorities Data Report” (based on a January 2015 survey of 524 knowledge management professionals) and includes four company examples adapted from APQC’s Connecting People to Content and Transferring and Applying Critical Knowledge best practices studies. The methodology for APQC’s best practices studies involves screening 50 or more organizations with potential best practices in a given research scope area and identifying five or six with proven best practices. APQC then conducts detailed site visits with the selected organizations and publishes case studies based on those site visits. Findings – Enterprise social networking platforms are in place at 50 per cent of organizations, with another 25 per cent planning to implement them by the end of 2015. By providing near-immediate access to information and answers, enterprise social networking helps Millennials learn the ropes at their new workplaces, gives them direct access to more knowledgeable colleagues who can assist and mentor them, and helps them improve their business outcomes by reusing knowledge and lessons learned across projects. Younger workers can also harness the power of social networking to create a sense of belonging and build their reputations in large, dispersed firms, where it is particularly difficult for them to gain visibility. A recent APQC survey indicates that 54 per cent of organizations either currently employ gamification to encourage collaboration or expect to implement it within the next three years. The rush to gamify the enterprise is, at least in part, a reflection of employers’ desire to satisfy Millennials and make them feel connected to a community of co-workers. Although games appeal to a wide range of age groups, Millennials grew up with digital interaction and tend to prefer environments that emphasize teamwork, social learning and frequent feedback – all of which can be delivered through gamification. Originality/value – The value of this paper is to introduce the value of and relationship between enterprise social networking and gamification platforms to human resource (HR) professionals looking to increase engagement and retention rates for Millennial employees.


2014 ◽  
Vol 18 (5) ◽  
pp. 905-918 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel Jiménez-Jiménez ◽  
Micaela Martínez-Costa ◽  
Raquel Sanz-Valle

Purpose – This paper aims to assess the importance of different knowledge management practices to promote organizational innovation in multinational companies. The links among internationalization, reverse knowledge transfer and social capital and organizational innovation are analyzed. Design/methodology/approach – Structural equation modeling was used to check the research hypotheses with a sample of 104 multinational companies. Findings – The results show that internalization has no direct effect on organizational innovation but a indirect effect trhrough the transfer of knowledge from external subsidiaries to the headquarter. Furthermore, this knowledge and other that comes from internal and external social capital is essential for the development of innovations. Research limitations/implications – Self-reporting by the CEOs may be the most significant limitation, as a single key informant provided the data; multiple informants would enhance the validity of the research findings. A second limitation is the cross-sectional design of the research that does not allow observation of the short- and long-term impact of the relationships among the variables. Practical implications – Organizational innovation is not an easy task. However, those multinational companies which foster knowledge management practices that generate new knowledge from external subsidiaries, internal or external social relationships, will facilitate the generation of innovations. In consequence, these companies should foster the generation of knowledge from different sources. Originality/value – The focus of the study in this paper is on multinational companies and the possibility to acquire knowledge from different sources (inside organization, external local environment and international context). Specially, focus on the transfer of knowledge from subsidiaries to headquarters (reverse knowledge transfer), as it is insufficiently investigated by current literature.


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