Knowledge markets in firms: knowledge sharing with trust and signalling

Knowledge sharing and learning are critically important to the success of knowledge management. In this research, we study the design of incentive rewards to facilitate knowledge transfer utilizing an internal knowledge market within organizations. The internal knowledge market is modelled as a marketplace where knowledge providers can send signals about their knowledge and learners may voluntarily acquire the knowledge based on the signals. Three types of knowledge recipients are differentiated with respect to their signalling threshold functions: knowledge connoisseur, knowledge public, and knowledge dilettante. In addition, a knowledge recipient may be either humble or arrogant, with different propensities for learning characterized by different learning inhibition cost functions. For different knowledge recipients, we study the knowledge providers’ best signalling strategies and the firm's optimal design of reward structures. Knowledge providers will adopt different signalling strategies if they lack the necessary trust that knowledge recipients will accurately report their learning. We analyse how the firm can offer learning rewards and employ IT support to improve the trust so as to increase knowledge transfer. This research provides valuable insights for practitioners to manage an internal knowledge market.     

Impact of organizational support on organizational intention to facilitate knowledge sharing

Knowledge sharing can be viewed as an organizational innovation that has the potential to generate new ideas and develop new business opportunities through socialization and learning process of knowledge workers. Moreover, numerous scholars have proposed that interpersonal trust is an important facilitator of knowledge sharing. This study aims to develop a research model examining how organizational support influences the intention to facilitate knowledge sharing through organizational perceptions of innovation characteristics (perceived relative advantage and compatibility) and interpersonal trust. Data from a survey of senior executives in Taiwan were used to test the proposed research model. Confirmatory factor analysis was conducted to examine the validity of the measurement model, and the structural model also was analyzed to test the associations hypothesized in the research model. The results showed that organizational support is positively associated with organizational perceptions of innovation characteristics (perceived relative advantage and compatibility) and interpersonal trust, which in turn are positively related to organizational intention to facilitate knowledge sharing. Implications for organizations are also discussed.     

In- and extra-role knowledge sharing among information technology professionals: The five-factor model perspective

Knowledge is a valuable asset, and knowledge sharing (KS) among employees is particularly important in knowledge-based organizations. This study proposes and investigates two types of KS: in- and extra-role. In-role KS is based on role expectations, and extra-role KS extends beyond role expectations. This study also investigates the antecedents and consequences of the two types of KS among information technology (IT) professionals. The five-factor model is applied to build the research model. The results reveal that among IT professionals, openness to experience, conscientiousness, agreeableness, and neuroticism influence in- or extra-role KS. Unexpectedly, extroversion has no effect on either, indicating the unique behavior of IT professionals compared with others. The study also shows that both in- and extra-role KS have positive effects on team cohesion. Academic and practical implications are provided based on the research findings.     

组织理论视角的知识共享影响因素整合模型研究——基于湖南省IT企业的实证分析

以湖南省内21家IT企业知识管理实践活动为研究对象,基于组织理论分析框架,从组织结构特征、组织文化和组织互动关系构建并检验了知识共享影响因素模型。研究发现,组织正式化程度、复杂化程度和集权化程度对企业知识共享行为都有负向影响;官僚型文化不利于知识共享行为的产生,虽然支持型文化和创新型文化都有利于知识共享,但创新型文化的影响更大;跨部门或个体之间的信任和组织承诺对知识共享行为有积极影响作用。     

学习目标取向、共享意愿与员工创造力:机理与路径

尽管已有研究认为员工学习目标取向有助于员工创造力的实现,但是关于员工学习目标取向通过怎样的具体机制来影响员工创造力并没有得到系统的阐释。整合了心理机制和社会互动机制,探讨了一个有中介的调节效应是如何影响员工创造力的。研究结果表明:员工学习目标取向对创造力具有显著正向影响,知识共享意愿在员工学习目标取向与创造力之间起部分中介作用;心理安全感调节了员工学习目标取向对知识共享意愿的影响,进一步,心理安全感调节了知识共享意愿对员工学习目标取向与创造力关系的部分中介作用。     

Knowledge creation for science and technology in academic laboratories: a pilot study

In the last decade, there has been increasing pressure on academic laboratories to produce practical results. The last 10 years also have seen a growing interest in knowledge management, a management discipline believed to enhance organizations’ innovative capability by the sharing and creation of knowledge. While most knowledge management cases refer to the business setting, we believe that the introduction of these practices can also enhance knowledge creation and knowledge sharing within and among research units. This paper focuses on a pilot study being conducted at a Japanese public graduate university – JAIST – under a Center of Excellence (COE) program that was established to bring the performance of research laboratories up to a world class level in productivity by applying the theories and tools of knowledge science. This study is a cooperative effort between the School of Knowledge Science, doing research on knowledge management and systems, and two research laboratories in the School of Materials Science, doing basic and applied research on materials science. The goal of this project is to enhance materials science students’ capabilities so that they become successful creators of new scientific knowledge. A group of seven graduate research students volunteered for the study. As one of the first steps, we introduced a formal and periodic written reporting system that motivates students to think strategically about their experiments, helps them to improve their communications skills, and enables students to self-evaluate their skills and supervisors to evaluate the students’ skills as well as monitor their progress and developments in a formalized way. Since the project is relatively new, these preliminary results are associated with a generalized awareness and participation of the students in the project. However, we are expecting to obtain more concrete results, that is, quantifiable improvements in scientific production, in the near future.     

Knowledge integration mechanisms in high-technology business-to-business services vendors

Employing a multidisciplinary approach this paper addresses an important area of how born global high-technology firms develop knowledge integration capability through their internal and external networks. Knowledge integration is noted as a critical capability in the innovation process. Our exploratory study contributes by: presenting evidence from India’s high-technology IT/BPO offshore outsourcing business-to-business (B2B) vendors; adding to the theoretical body of knowledge by identifying the three critical operational routines of learning, market and quality orientations that are critical in developing knowledge integration capability and supporting innovation processes; and develops a theoretical framework for future researchers to test it through survey designs. We conclude by identifying future research and managerial implications for firms operating in such milieus.     

Tacit knowledge acquisition & sharing,and its influence on innovations: A Polish/US cross-country study

This study measures the relationship between tacit knowledge sharing and innovation in the Polish (n = 350) and US (n = 379) IT industries. Conceptually, the study identifies the potential sources of tacit knowledge development by individuals. That is, the study examines how “learning by doing” and “learning by interaction” lead to a willingness to share knowledge and, as a consequence, to support process and product/service innovation. This study empirically demonstrates that tacit knowledge internalization and externalization (awareness and sharing) significantly mediate between tacit knowledge experimentation and socialization (acquisition) and its final combination (knowledge in action). While such theoretical assumptions already exist, they have not yet been empirically explained and revealed in a single structural model. Further, this empirical approach enabled a demonstration that internalization and externalization of tacit knowledge may occur consciously or unconsciously with equal success. Even so, the study also showed conscious tacit knowledge’s greater impact on innovation. Therefore, an organizational effort to manage autonomous, informal, and strongly contextual tacit knowledge is worthwhile and creates the capacity for superior competitive advantage. Finally, this study also demonstrates that national context influences tacit knowledge acquisition. In the US, “learning by doing” is dominant, whereas in Poland, “learning by interaction” and critical thinking are more common. This might be related to factors such as risk acceptance that could be studied in more detail and provide opportunities for future research.     

Knowledge management mechanisms and common knowledge impacts on the value of knowledge at individual and organizational levels

Knowledge management (KM) impacts have typically been examined on the value of knowledge to organizations but not individuals. This paper uses survey data (186 employees) and qualitative data (300 + employees) at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration to examine the effects of four KM mechanisms (social learning, learning from others through IT, learning from IT, and IT-based knowledge substitution) and common knowledge on the individual and organizational value of knowledge. The results indicate that common knowledge and the two interpersonal mechanisms (social learning, learning from others through IT) enhance the perceived value of knowledge at both levels, but both mechanisms that rely on IT for the knowledge (learning from IT, IT-based knowledge substitution) reduce the perceived knowledge value at one level and have no significant effect at the other level. Further, common knowledge strengthens the positive effects of both interpersonal mechanisms, and weakens the negative effects of IT-based knowledge substitution, on perceived value of knowledge at both levels.     

组织激励、组织文化对知识共享的差异化作用机理——基于修订的社会影响理论

 组织智力资本的增进依赖于组织成员间广泛的共享知识。组织激励与组织文化分别代表了促进组织成员知识共享的正式和非正式组织因素成为学术界与企业界关注的焦点。鉴于鲜有研究同时关注并区分正式的组织激励和非正式的组织文化对知识共享的差异化作用机理,本研究采用修订的社会影响理论对组织激励、组织文化与知识共享三者间的关系进行了系统研究,通过对1182名知识型员工的问卷调查发现：组织激励通过顺从机制的中介效应间接影响组织成员的知识共享意愿;组织文化通过认同机制和内化机制（情感承诺）的中介效应间接影响组织成员的知识共享态度,进而最终影响组织成员的知识共享意愿。     

项目导向型企业知识共享路径、障碍及对策研究

在分析项目导向型企业知识共享主体以及共享路径的基础上,对其知识共享障碍因素进行深入的研究。结果表明,项目导向型企业的知识共享障碍主要表现在个体与个体、团队与团队以及个体、团队与组织等3个层面。为解决项目导向型企业中知识共享的障碍问题,从搭建知识共享平台、制定制度保障和营造欢快、信任与合作的文化氛围等方面提出解决方案。     

科研团队创造力的团队认知机制研究

基于知识管理的视角，探讨交互记忆系统、团队心智模型对团队创造力的影响以及探索式学习与知识共享的中介作用。以33个科研团队为样本的问卷调查表明：（1）交互记忆系统、团队心智模型均分别对团队创造力产生正U型曲线影响；（2）探索式学习、知识共享在交互记忆系统与团队创造力的关系中均起到完全中介作用，在团队心智模型与团队创造力的关系中均起到部分中介作用；（3）知识共享能力在探索式学习与团队创造力的关系中起到部分中介作用。     

激励、同事态度和个人文化对知识共享的影响

知识共享有利于促进企业员工知识更新与创新,提升企业竞争力,增加企业绩效。过去关于知识共享的研究很多是借助于信息技术的应用与支撑来开展,现在人们逐渐认识到知识共享是一个复杂的管理系统。本文选取了激励机制、同事态度与个人文化三个对知识共享产生影响的重要因素来展开实证研究,构建实验背景与材料进行了两组管理实验,一是组通过信息系统平台共享显性知识给全体组织成员,二组是通过互助交流共享隐形知识给组织的部分成员,通过对实验数据的分析,得出了一些研究结果:足够的奖励以及非货币奖励更能促进知识共享;把知识共享作为一种考核标准和增加培训均能增进知识的共享;同事态度对知识共享有显著影响;平面集体主义的个人文化与知识共享正相关。在此基础上提出几点管理启示与建议。     

中国IT服务外包企业成长机理的案例研究

与跨国IT公司合作,进行行业内知识学习和跨行业知识溢出是我国IT服务外包企业快速成长的必由之路.本文在综述知识转移过程、环境及影响因素的基础上,分析我国IT服务外包企业的知识学习和知识溢出过程,研究专业化软件开发-集成化产品-与流程结合的行业化解决方案-国际化服务交付中的知识转移特征,得出我国IT服务外包企业的成长机理模型.     

集体主义导向、知识属性与知识共享行为研究

知识共享行为是一种高度情景嵌入性行为，但以往研究鲜有同时关注文化情景与知识情景对知识共享行为的影响机理。本文选取集体主义导向作为文化情境的代表构念，选取知识的隐性程度、感知的知识个体所有权、感知的知识价值作为知识情景的代表构念，探究了集体主义导向(文化情景)、三类知识属性(知识情景)与知识共享行为之间的关系。通过多源信息(自我+他人汇报)问卷调查，采集了1182份有效数据。研究结果表明：集体主义导向促进知识共享行为；知识的隐性程度和感知的知识个体所有权抑制知识共享行为；感知的知识价值与知识共享行为存在“倒U型”关系；感知的知识个体所有权和感知的知识价值正向调节集体主义导向与知识共享行为间关系。     

集体主义导向、知识属性与知识共享间关系的实证研究：基于情境依赖性视角

知识共享行为是一种高度情景嵌入性行为,但以往研究鲜有同时关注文化情景与知识情景对知识共享行为的影响机理。本文选取集体主义导向作为文化情境的代表构念,选取知识的隐性程度、感知的知识个体所有权、感知的知识价值作为知识情景的代表构念,探究了集体主义导向(文化情景)、三类知识属性(知识情景)与知识共享行为之间的关系。通过多源信息(自我+他人汇报)问卷调查,采集了1182份有效数据。研究结果表明：集体主义导向促进知识共享行为;知识的隐性程度和感知的知识个体所有权抑制知识共享行为;感知的知识价值与知识共享行为存在“倒U型”关系;感知的知识个体所有权和感知的知识价值正向调节集体主义导向与知识共享行为间关系。     

基于知识共享视角的企业自主创新能力建设

知识是企业基本的构成要素和企业创新的核心,知识在企业内外能否有效地传递、变换、吸收和运用,实现知识共享,对企业的自主创新起着决定性作用。本文从知识共享角度研究思考企业自主创新能力建设,并在此基础上提出提高企业自主创新能力的一些建议。     

知识管理的组织基础

我国企业开展知识管理必须从知识管理的技术基础结构、知识化和组织基础三方面入手,缺一不可。技术基础结构为企业的知识管理提供合适的硬件环境基础;知识化是企业内促进知识生成（创新）、知识共享和知识使用的化。本对知识管理的组织基础进行研究,它包括三个方面：一是企业的组织结构要按照知识管理的要求进行适当的调整;二是建立知识管理的职能部门;三是知识管理发挥作用的软环境基础,即建立学习型组织。     

知识治理对个体知识共享行为影响的跨层次分析

知识治理是知识管理活动的制度保障,是在制度层面上对知识行为的引导、激励和约束,进而维护知识活动各方的利益平衡、促进知识活动效益的最优化。知识共享行为是一种组织制度安排的结果,同时也是一种行为过程,受到知识治理的影响。知识治理对于知识共享行为的影响研究,很多的学者都从不同的侧面进行分析,涉及变量和因素有限,结论不稳定。另外,知识治理对于知识共享影响的内在机理有待进一步深入地探究。最后,从研究方法上,知识治理是组织层面的变量,个体知识共享是个体层面的变量,现有文献较少运用跨层次分析方法来整合组织和个体两个层面,剖析知识治理机制对个人层次知识共享的影响,因而研究结论有待验证。因此,基于现有文献研究的不足,本文探索性地引入中介变量组织支持感来分析知识治理对于知识共享行为的影响关系。依据已有的文献成果,本文提出以下8个假设:(1)正式知识治理对非正式知识治理具有正向的影响作用;(2)正式知识治理对于个体知识共享行为具有显著的正向影响;(3)非正式知识治理对于个体知识共享行为具有显著的正向影响;(4)正式知识治理对于组织支持感有显著的正向影响;(5)非正式知识治理对于组织支持感有显著的正向影响;(6)组织支持感对个体知识分享行为有显著的正向影响;(7)组织支持感中介了正式知识治理与个体知识共享行为之间的关系;(8)组织支持感中介了非正式知识治理与个体知识共享行为之间的关系。为了验证以上假设的有效性,本研究以中国华北地区140家企业621名员工为被试对象,其中男性占53.62%,本科以上员工占89.05%,工龄在5年以上的员工占76.97%,基层和一线工人占87.76%。对于模型中所涉及的变量,本文借鉴已有研究的中成熟量表进行测量。正式知识治理和非正式知识治理的测量参考了Cao等(2012)对于正式知识治理和非正式知识治理的测量量表,组织支持感使用Eisenberger编制的问卷,知识共享行为采用Yi开发了一套有效可靠的知识共享行为量表。所有变量在本文样本中内部一致性信度α系数都达到标准。在确保问卷的可信性和有效性基础上,本文利用跨层次分析对研究假设进行验证。得到了如下结论:(1)在知识管理领域中,员工组织支持感是链接组织知识治理与个体知识共享行为的中介桥梁。组织层面的知识管理活动一方面通过正式的知识治理对于员工的知识共享行为产生一定程度的影响,但是更重要是要通过对于员工组织支持感的影响来间接的作用员工知识共享行为。(2)组织知识活动对于员工个体知识共享行为的影响是多层次相互作用的结果,过程复杂。组织层面的正式知识治理通过三条途径作用员工个体知识共享行为:直接作用、通过非正式知识治理影响组织支持感的间接作用以及通过组织支持感的间接作用。非正式知识治理是间接的通过组织支持感的单途径来影响个体知识共享行为。与同类研究相比,本文进一步打开了知识治理对知识共享行为影响的"黑箱",丰富了知识管理的相关理论。此外,本文结论对企业知识管理实践活动具有很强的指导意义,具体表现在两个方面:一是企业要有效创建完善的知识治理机制,二是要重视对员工组织支持感的提升。本文虽然做出了一定的贡献,但仍然存在一些不足:第一,样本收集的数据受到地域和行业的限制;第二,对于知识治理的划分需要进一步研究;第三,中介变量、作用路径和机理还需要进一步探索。以上三点问题将是今后研究和改进的方向。     

Web knowledge sharing and its effect on innovation: an empirical investigation in SMEs

This paper extends previous studies on knowledge management by analysing factors affecting Web Knowledge Sharing (WKS) in small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). In addition, the impact of WKS on organizational innovation and the moderating effect of IT skills on this relation are analysed. Grounded in the technology-organization-environment (TOE) theory and the resource-based view (RBV), this paper develops an integrative research model, which analyses these relations using structural equation modelling on a data set of 535 Spanish SMEs. Results suggest that technological and organizational factors – IT expertise and commitment-based human resources practices – positively influence WKS, while the contrary is found for environmental factors (customer power). In addition, results show that WKS contributes positively to organizational innovation, though support for the moderating effect of IT skills in this relation is not found. The main conclusions of this research can be valuable to SMEs that use or intend to use Internet technologies for knowledge management.