The power of strategic knowledge management in the relationship between innovation and the performance of large manufacturing firms in Malaysia

Purpose This study aims to explore the interaction of strategic knowledge management (SKM) and innovation on the performance of large manufacturing firms (LMFs) in Malaysia. Design/methodology/approach This study used a quantitative approach in investigating this interaction. Smart partial least-squares analysis was performed to test the hypotheses. Findings It was observed that administrative innovation, process innovation and product innovation were effective drivers of LMF performance. It was also ascertained that SKM has no moderating effect on the product innovation relationship with performance, although it does moderate the relationships between LMF performance and administrative innovation and process innovation, respectively. Research limitations/implications The main limitation of this study is its focus on Malaysian LMFs. It nevertheless contributes to the literature by extending understanding of SKM and innovation dimensions from multi-faceted perspectives. As this is largely ignored in the literature, the study paves the way for additional research. Practical implications The findings may be used as guidelines for chief executive officers, particularly on the way SKM and innovation can be developed for enhanced LMF performance, in the context of South Asian countries. Originality/value To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first empirical work to confirm the main drivers of SKM, including in the analysis the effect of administrative innovation, process innovation and product innovation and performance, in the context of the manufacturing sector. In support of an original conceptual model, the insights contribute to the literature on innovation, LMFs, SKM and emerging economies.

Learning to diagnose accurately through virtual patients: do reflection phases have an added benefit?

Background Simulation-based learning with virtual patients is a highly effective method that could potentially be further enhanced by including reflection phases. The effectiveness of reflection phases for learning to diagnose has mainly been demonstrated for problem-centered instruction with text-based cases, not for simulation-based learning. To close this research gap, we conducted a study on learning history-taking using virtual patients. In this study, we examined the added benefit of including reflection phases on learning to diagnose accurately, the associations between knowledge and learning, and the diagnostic process. Methods A sample of N = 121 medical students completed a three-group experiment with a control group and pre- and posttests. The pretest consisted of a conceptual and strategic knowledge test and virtual patients to be diagnosed. In the learning phase, two intervention groups worked with virtual patients and completed different types of reflection phases, while the control group learned with virtual patients but without reflection phases. The posttest again involved virtual patients. For all virtual patients, diagnostic accuracy was assessed as the primary outcome. Current hypotheses were tracked during reflection phases and in simulation-based learning to measure diagnostic process. Results Regarding the added benefit of reflection phases, an ANCOVA controlling for pretest performance found no difference in diagnostic accuracy at posttest between the three conditions, F(2, 114) = 0.93, p = .398. Concerning knowledge and learning, both pretest conceptual knowledge and strategic knowledge were not associated with learning to diagnose accurately through reflection phases. Learners’ diagnostic process improved during simulation-based learning and the reflection phases. Conclusions Reflection phases did not have an added benefit for learning to diagnose accurately in virtual patients. This finding indicates that reflection phases may not be as effective in simulation-based learning as in problem-centered instruction with text-based cases and can be explained with two contextual differences. First, information processing in simulation-based learning uses the verbal channel and the visual channel, while text-based learning only draws on the verbal channel. Second, in simulation-based learning, serial cue cases are used to gather information step-wise, whereas, in text-based learning, whole cases are used that present all data at once.

Exploring the Relationship Between L2 Listening and Metacognition After Controlling for Vocabulary Knowledge

Metacognition is known to be important for L2 listening comprehension. However, it is unclear how much variance in listening performance it can explain after controlling for vocabulary knowledge. To examine this, data from the listening section of the TOEFL Junior test, the Metacognitive Awareness Listening Questionnaire (MALQ), and the Listening Vocabulary Levels Test were collected from 76 high school EFL learners in Japan. The MALQ measured five subscales of metacognition representing metacognitive skills and metacognitive knowledge. Representing skills, the MALQ measured perceptions of the ability to (1) plan and evaluate performance, (2) direct attention, and (3) overcome listening problems. Representing knowledge, it measured strategic knowledge of (4) avoiding mentally translating speech and person knowledge of (5) maintaining positive attitudes about listening. The descriptive results showed that participants used their metacognition moderately. Of the subscales, they directed attention the most, planned and evaluated performance least, and perceived their ability to avoid mental translation, solve problems, and maintain optimism equivalently. The results from the hierarchical regression analysis further showed that vocabulary knowledge and metacognition overall predicted listening performance. Of the MALQ subscales, only person knowledge predicted comprehension. These findings indicate that, contrary to earlier findings, metacognition was important for listening comprehension after accounting for vocabulary knowledge.

“I cannot feel your print”. How military strategic knowledge managers respond to digitalization

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to explore how military strategic knowledge managers consider and respond to digitalization of operational processes in their revision of military knowledge management technologies. The research question is: which strategic considerations and professional concerns impact decisions about how far digitalization should be incorporated into Army planning doctrine?Design/methodology/approachThe paper presents material from a qualitative research study which observed the process of revising Danish Army Field Manual III. The empirical data include 12 in-depth interviews as well as documents related to the revision process. Data were analysed using a thematic approach.FindingsThe paper identifies and discusses strategic dilemmas arising from incorporating digitalization into planning doctrine. Two major areas of concern are addressed. The first involves considerations about the extent of digitalization, including concerns about risk and issues of timing regarding choices of specific digital solutions. The second involves potential limits of digitalization in relation to military notions of the role and identity of the commander. The article suggests that digitalization may impact on professional roles and identities and that strategic knowledge management developers need to be cognizant of this.Originality/valueThe paper contributes to the literature in two ways. First, the paper draws attention to the notions of risk and timing in relation to strategic decisions on how far knowledge management technologies should make use of possibilities brought about by digitalization. Second, the paper provides insight into how digitalization may profoundly alter professional roles and identities.

SISTEMA DE GESTIÓN DEL CONOCIMIENTO BASADO EN ESTÁNDARES DE ALTA CALIDAD PARA UN PROGRAMA EDUCACIÓN SUPERIOR

Knowledge management is a useful tool for the competitiveness of many organizations. The higher education sector is particularly oriented towards adherence to this type of schemes, since its nature implies constant institutional learning based not only on its own experience but also on the exchange of knowledge in the academic environment. In Colombia, higher education institutions perceive an opportunity for improvement in the high quality standards of the National Accreditation Council, which requires an infrastructure oriented to the strategic knowledge management. This article presents the experience of implementing a prototype of a knowledge management system in a higher education undergraduate program. It describes the phases of the process and its relationship with the technological platform that supported the development. The conclusions highlight the advantages of the exercise, emphasizing institutional learning, the importance of the technological platform and, finally, reflections on knowledge management as a fundamental axis of accreditation processes.

The Effect of Language Dominance on the Selective Attention of Segments and Tones in Urdu-Cantonese Speakers

To perceive a second language (L2), non-native speakers not only have to focus on phonological, lexical, and grammatical knowledge, but also need to develop a good mastery of L2 strategic knowledge, including selective attention and language planning. Previous research has found that non-tonal speakers are overtly attentive to segments, while tonal language speakers give more attention to tones. However, it is unclear how different dominant language speakers distribute their attention while processing segments or tones and segments and tones stimuli in non-native speeches. The present study also aims to examine the roles of language dominance play in the designed perceptual tasks. In the current study 20 Cantonese native speakers, 18 Cantonese-dominants, and 18 Urdu-dominants participated in an attention distribution experiment in Cantonese. The results show that the Urdu-dominants retain their L1 attentional strategy in the processing of Cantonese stimuli, classifying the stimuli along segments, while the Cantonese native speakers are more attentive to tones. Moreover, the Cantonese-dominants show a perceptual flexibility as highly proficient and experienced listeners. The results reveal that language dominance plays a vital role in listeners' attention distribution. The research also supports PAM-L2 theory on bilingual. The findings of the current study can be applied to Chinese language learning and teaching and language acquisition studies.

Teaching as Altered Knowledge: Rethinking the Teaching Practice with Michel De Certeau

Michel De Certeau’s scholars have rarely explored the pedagogical potential of the French thinker’s thought. This paper aims at reconstructing the question of the teaching practice in De Certeau’s works and, building on such reconstruction, it proposes a possible ‘heterological’ comprehension of teaching. Moving from an early writing dealing specifically with the teacher’s identity, the paper shows how the famous dyad of strategies and tactics exposed in The practice of everyday life can be usefully applied to teaching and studying and helps further elaborate the question of teaching. From this analysis, the teacher will emerge as the owner of a strategic knowledge that, if he wants to teach, needs to be altered by the uncanny and tactical presence of the student. Teaching will finally be shown as the practice of alteration of knowledge operated by the other of such knowledge, namely, the student. In such alteration of knowledge lies the potential of a heterological comprehension of teaching.

Strategic Knowledge Acquisition

The article proposes a trimodal logical system that can express the strategic ability of coalitions to learn from their experience. The main technical result is the completeness of the proposed system.