Examining Voluntary Engagement Barriers in Knowledge Sharing Practices for Supply Chain Innovation

Voluntary engagement (VE) creates a sense of coordination and harmonization to share knowledge. The eminence of knowledge sharing (KS) for supply chain (SC) innovation is undeniable to initiate development in products, services, and operations. However, KS process is undergoing challenges in sustaining KS engagement by SC partners. Hence, recent researchers call for the need to address this gap in the literature to assess VE barriers. This paper studies the causal relationship of VE barriers on two MNCs, i.e., Toyota and Suzuki, via the fuzzy DEMATEL approach. The case examination findings indicate culture's alignment as the prime cause of VE and leadership commitment has stronger interdependence. The core problems which need elimination are fear of losing the job, prominence and opportunistic behavior. The study concludes that companies need to instigate the natural attributes of employees’ VE by setting-up earnest guidelines to practice free information and knowledge flow.

Communication Strategies of Entrepreneurial Organizations in Mobile Apps Industry

This research advances scholarly understanding of the strategic decisions regarding external communication during the critical period of product launch. Drawing on research about dynamic capabilities and external organizational communication, this study examines ways in which entrepreneurial organizations use silence as an effective communication strategy to reduce external uncertainty and to nurture growth during critical periods of development. Data were collected tracking the external communication of 54 entrepreneurial organizations that focus on mobile news application development. Results show a significant relationship between the attention organizations attract after product launch and an organization’s performance. The greater the magnitude of change from pre-launch to post-launch, from less frequent external communication to more frequent external communication, the more likely there is to be an increase in the product performance. The findings emphasize a more nuanced understanding of external communication as a strategic tool in entrepreneurial organizations.

Influential Indicators and Measurements of Mediating and Moderating Roles on SME Performance

Overcoming the failure of SMEs has been an important research topic. The critical research finding is that it has verified the essential elements of performance improvement. We presented a solution to the research question, "Is there a causal relationship between the effect on SMEs' success on capacity and business performance?". We analyzed whether the competence of SMEs had a mediating effect between success variables and performance. Secondary effects were empirically studied by converting independent variables to Higher-Order Component (HOC). The second-order variable of management influenced financial, non-financial, and technical performance, and the second-order variable of technology affected technical performance. As a result of introducing demographic variables as a controlling variable for performance, gender, and year of establishment showed a moderating effect on technical and non-financial performance. We expect to contribute to practical application to SME CEOs and government policymakers, support organizations, academia, and industry.

Knowledge Retention Challenges in Information Systems Development Teams

Information systems development (ISD) is an integral part of organizational agility in today’s competitive business environment. High turnover, agile ways of working, and fluid work environments pose challenges for ISD. This paper explores the erosion of knowledge retention (KR) arising from ISD staff churn in a New Zealand-based financial organization in the aftermath of a major earthquake. In this exploratory study, the authors develop a causal model of KR in the ISD context, which articulates the challenges to and consequences of ineffective KR at the routine and exiting stages of KR. The model identifies four challenges—coordination complexity, insufficient resources for knowledge retention, insufficient attention to knowledge retention, and slow staff replacement and handover processes—that can affect the loss of ISD knowledge when routine and exiting KR fall into disarray. This study also reveals that role stress and reduced ISD agility reinforce the cycle of knowledge loss.

Knowledge Sharing and the Improvement of Service Delivery in an Academic Library

Knowledge can play an important role in ascertaining an organization’s competitive edge if the knowledge of employees is nurtured and utilized as an asset with a potential to improve service delivery. The study focused on knowledge sharing at the Thomas Mofolo Library in Lesotho to determine if knowledge sharing was being used to improve service delivery at the Library. A case study design that triangulated interviews and questionnaires was used in this study. Quantitative data was processed using software packages. Data from the interviews was analyzed through content analysis based on the objectives of the study. This study established that staff recognized the need to share knowledge. However, knowledge sharing occurred on an ad hoc basis. There was a limited use of technology-based and human-based mechanisms of sharing knowledge. The study suggests practical knowledge-sharing practices that may contribute to improved service delivery in a library setup. As a case study, study may also contribute to the development of theory about the phenomenon.

Assessing the success of the perceived usefulness for knowledge management systems

Recently, Knowledge Management Systems (KMS) consider one of the major fields of study in educational institutions, caused by the necessity to identify their knowledge value and success. Hence, based on the updated DeLone and McLean’s Information Systems Success Model (DMISSM), this study set out to assess the success of the Perceived Usefulness of Knowledge Management Systems (PUKMS) in Iraqi universities. To achieve this objective, the quantitative method is selected as the research design. In total, 421 university administration staff members from 13 Iraqi private universities were conducted. This study highlights a number of significant results depending on structural equation modeling which confirms that system, information, and service quality play a fulfilling role in ensuring user satisfaction and the PUKMS.

Exploring the Dynamics of Justification in the Wake of a Rumor Outbreak on Social Media

This paper explores the dynamics of justification in the wake of a rumor outbreak on social media. Specifically, it examines the extent to which the five types of justification—descriptive argumentation, presumptive argumentation, evidentialism, truth skepticism, and epistemological skepticism—manifested in different voices including pro-rumor, anti-rumor and doubts before and after fact-checking. Content analysis was employed on 1,911 tweets related to a rumor outbreak. Non-parametric cross-tabulation was used to uncover nuances in information sharing before and after fact-checking. Augmenting the literature which suggests the online community’s susceptibility to hoaxes, the paper offers a silver lining: Users are responsible enough to correct rumors during the later phase of a rumor lifecycle. This sense of public-spiritedness can be harnessed by knowledge management practitioners and public relations professionals for crowdsourced rumor refutation.

Revisiting Knowledge Management System Use

Knowledge Management Systems (KMS) are adopted with the aim of facilitating knowledge flow within the organization. However, it is seen that member participation on these platforms is limited. The objective of this work is to identify aspects that influence intention to seek knowledge on KMS. Antecedents to knowledge seeking behaviour were identified through a morphological review of literature. A conceptual model was proposed based on the Decomposed Theory of Planned Behaviour. Structural Equation Modelling was used to assess the adequacy of the model. Results show that seeking happens when the individual has an intrinsic motivation to learn and when the quality of knowledge available on KMS is perceived as having high content value. Interestingly, we find that top management has no bearing on one’s intention to seek. Findings reveal that HR activities need to identify people management practices, such as hiring people with a curious disposition and promoting seeking as a positive behaviour. KM practices need to focus on stimulating curiosity and learning amongst members.

Knowledge Sharing Through Enterprise Social Media in a Telecommunications Context

This study investigated the motivators knowledge workers employ when sharing knowledge though enterprise social media (ESM) in a telecommunications context. A questionnaire was distributed among knowledge workers in one of the leading telecommunication companies in the Sultanate of Oman. Based on the Structural Equation Modelling-Partial Least Squares (SEM-PLS) analysis of 100 responses from knowledge workers, results showed that technological motivators had significant effects on knowledge workers’ knowledge sharing through ESM. Further analysis based on the knowledge type indicated that technological motivators and organizational motivators significantly impact knowledge workers’ tacit knowledge sharing, whereas only technological motivators impact knowledge workers’ explicit knowledge sharing. This study provides decision makers with useful insights on the motivators of sharing knowledge through ESM and further advances knowledge workers’ learning and business operations, especially in under-investigated countries.

A semi-auto text mining approach for literature review

The emergence of powerful information technologies (IT) has changed innovation and entrepreneurship in significant ways. Research in IT for entrepreneurship is relatively new and there is a growing interest from academics for further studies on investigating this area of research. This study reviews research carried out in the domain of IT for entrepreneurship. A total of 1005 papers, published between 1980 and 2021 were used to uncover the latent topics addressed in this domain. A topic modeling (LDA) algorithm was used to automate the process of extracting the initial research topics from the data. The results show that IT for entrepreneurship studies are classified into six aspects of research: entrepreneurship initiative and innovation, strategy, business process management and operation management, entrepreneurship education, industry analysis, and business model. The results raise awareness of IT-associated entrepreneurship areas of research, provide useful insights for future research, and informs practice in this domain of study.