To be or not to be franchised? A knowledge-based perspective

This paper investigates the rationale for choosing franchising rather than independent activity, arguing that this choice may be motivated by knowledge and competence considerations. We consider the franchise chain as a specific learning organizational form and explore whether this structure handles knowledge and builds competences according to an idiosyncratic pattern. Concretely, we empirically identify differences in the architecture of competences of franchised vs independent shops in the car maintenance industry in France, and analyse some causes for those differences. Thanks to in depth interviews coupled with lexical and quantitative analyses we find that franchised shops do master specific competences. However, the distinctive competences held by franchisees do not necessarily reflect franchisors’ knowledge, and are not exclusively the consequences of a shared identity in the franchise chain. We conclude that the development of franchise cannot be explained by competence-related arguments only, knowledge and competences being managed in distinctive ways within different franchising networks.     

Brand communities based in social media: How unique are they? Evidence from two exemplary brand communities

Understanding how brands should operate on social media is very important for contemporary marketing researchers and managers. This paper argues that due to the social and networked nature of social media it is an ideal environment for brand communities. Taking a deep qualitative approach and with analysis of a vast array of data, the article articulates the existence of brand communities on social media. More importantly, it delineates five unique and relevant dimensions of brand communities based in social media. The authors advise researchers to consider these dimensions while conducting research on brand communities and social media. Further implications for practitioners and researchers are discussed.     

To share or not to share? Self-perception and knowledge-sharing intent

The paper explores the intent of knowledge sharing in complex organizational contexts. Findings from semi-structured interviewing with 54 subjects in two large organizations in Saudi Arabia indicate that self-perception and contextual interpretation create tensions that affect the way knowledge is managed and shared. The dichotomy between self-centeredness and self-doubt was found to affect trust and openness necessary for genuine knowledge sharing. Mutual trust, developed through timely self-disclosure, was found to offer psychological safety for employees to share knowledge more openly. Inner tensions become the stimuli for maximizing the social aspect of interaction to negotiate meanings, strategize knowledge sharing, and redefine role identity. The interplay of cognitive and behavioural participation challenges one’s knowing and becoming, increasing the complexity and dynamics of knowledge sharing. Knowledge-sharing intent determines the learning of individuals and learning in organizations. A conceptual framework is introduced and implications for practice are discussed.     

Asking Clarifying Questions: To benefit or to disturb users in Web search?

Modern information-seeking systems are becoming more interactive, mainly through asking Clarifying Questions (CQs) to refine users’ information needs. System-generated CQs may be of different qualities. However, the impact of asking multiple CQs of different qualities in a search session remains underexplored. Given the multi-turn nature of conversational information-seeking sessions, it is critical to understand and measure the impact of CQs of different qualities, when they are posed in various orders. In this paper, we conduct a user study on CQ quality trajectories, i.e., asking CQs of different qualities in chronological order. We aim to investigate to what extent the trajectory of CQs of different qualities affects user search behavior and satisfaction, on both query-level and session-level. Our user study is conducted with 89 participants as search engine users. Participants are asked to complete a set of Web search tasks. We find that the trajectory of CQs does affect the way users interact with Search Engine Result Pages (SERPs), e.g., a preceding high-quality CQ prompts the depth users to interact with SERPs, while a preceding low-quality CQ prevents such interaction. Our study also demonstrates that asking follow-up high-quality CQs improves the low search performance and user satisfaction caused by earlier low-quality CQs. In addition, only showing high-quality CQs while hiding other CQs receives better gains with less effort. That is, always showing all CQs may be risky and low-quality CQs do disturb users. Based on observations from our user study, we further propose a transformer-based model to predict which CQs to ask, to avoid disturbing users. In short, our study provides insights into the effects of trajectory of asking CQs, and our results will be helpful in designing more effective and enjoyable search clarification systems.     

To have or to be? The interplay between knowledge structure and market identity in knowledge-based alliance formation

We explore how a firm’s knowledge structure characteristics and market identity—as reflected in its position in the industry value chain and market status—influence knowledge-based alliance (KBA) formation. We propose that a firm’s propensity to form KBAs is affected by the congruence (or misalignment) between its knowledge structure characteristics (i.e., knowledge depth and scope) and the role it plays in the industry, as demanded by its position in the value chain. We further argue that while a firm’s market status can amplify the positive effect of the congruence, thereby enhancing a firm’s proclivity to form KBAs, being prominent can also hurt a firm when it faces a misalignment between its knowledge structure characteristics and externally induced expectations related to its value chain position. We validate our arguments using panel data on 1051 firm-year observations for 197 firms patenting in the global fuel cell industry for the period 1999–2009. By developing a richer understanding of the relationship between a firm’s knowledge-based resources and KBA formation, we answer the call for a better understanding of how and when firms can leverage their internal knowledge configurations to improve their proclivity to form alliances.     

To explore or to exploit? An empirical investigation of acquisitions by large incumbents

Innovation in high technology industries poses considerable challenges, frequently forcing firms to consider using acquisitions as a means of sourcing technology. This paper investigates such behaviour in a major high technology sector, namely the semiconductor industry. The paper focuses on differential effects of technology-related versus nontechnological acquisitions on exploratory and exploitative research and innovation. Most importantly, it confirms the important role of technology-related acquisitions for exploratory innovation.     

Do your social media lead you to make social deal purchases? Consumer-generated social referrals for sales via social commerce

The advent of social commerce has resulted in a new business model for e-commerce. Although studies on this business model have increased over time, they have paid less attention to its core business model: consumer-generated social influence on sales on a social commerce site. Therefore, in this paper, we examine the effect on sales of social sharing, such as Facebook “likes” and Twitter tweets, which generate social influence, using data from major social commerce companies. We find that consumer-generated social referrals regarding deals significantly boost sales in social commerce. When we examine deals involved in national sales, this finding holds only for Facebook but not for tweets. These findings have the implication for managers that not all social referrals are meaningful in increasing sales for their business.     

How do scientific papers from different journal tiers gain attention on social media?

The emergence of social media has fundamentally changed the way of scholarly communication and allows for scientific research to be shared at an unprecedented speed and scale. While many studies have discussed what papers attract most online attention, how they prevail online is unclear. In this paper, we explore the diffusion patterns of ～170,000 papers with different journal tiers from 2012 to 2019 based on over 3 million Twitter mentions. We first categorize journals by the elite (the top of Q1) and non-elite (Q2～Q4) according to their journal impact factor quartiles, then use network analysis and time series analysis to characterize papers’ dynamic diffusion process, and finally discuss papers’ engaged users and disciplinary contexts. Results show that though elite journal papers spread significantly faster and more broadly than non-elite, some non-elite journal papers reached a sizable audience. For non-elite journal papers, a decent size of social media reach can be achieved through the aid of highly influential users or multiple waves of small spread that span a long period. As a result, popular non-elite journal papers tend to be more viral than the elite, focusing discussions around topics close to daily life. This study provides a new perspective to characterize the diffusion process of scientific papers and helps to further enhance the understanding of such a process.     

The important thing is not to win,it is to take part: What if scientists benefit from participating in research grant competitions?

“The important thing is not to win, it is to take part,” this famous saying by Pierre de Coubertin asserts that the value athletes draw from Olympic games lies in their participation in the event and not in the gold they collect during it. We find similar evidence for scientists involved in grant competitions. Relying on unique data from a Swiss funding program, we find that scientists taking part in a research grant competition boost their number of publications and average impact factor while extending their knowledge base and their collaboration network regardless of the result of the competition. Receiving the funds increases the probability of co-authoring with co-applicants but has no additional impact on the individual productivity.     

How can tacit knowledge be shared more in organizations? A multidimensional approach to the role of social capital and locus of control

This multidimensional study looks at the influence of social capital and internal vs external locus of control on tacit knowledge-sharing intention and behaviour, and the relationship between the two. The relations studied within the framework of the proposed model are tested by regression analyses. The findings indicate that social capital and its basic structural, cognitive, and relational dimensions tend to increase tacit knowledge-sharing intention, which gradually turns into behaviour because, according to Ajzen’s theory of planned behaviour, behavioural intention is the immediate antecedent to behaviour (or according to Ajzen’s theory of planned behaviour, a person’s intention to perform a behaviour increases as subjective norms become more favourable). It is further concluded that having an internal locus of control increases both the intentions and behaviour, whereas external locus of control only increases the behaviour. The study also concludes that tacit knowledge-sharing intention gradually turns into sharing behaviour. The study is considered to contribute to the field of knowledge management in various ways. In this study a multidimensional survey of 42 questions was used to investigate the research topic and its sub-dimensions, and the data were collected via face-to-face interviews. The population of the study was 106 nursing students, and all components of the research universe were reached. It was found that social capital positively affects and increases tacit knowledge-sharing intentions and behaviour. A research model based on the conceptual framework was developed and research questions were addressed by means of this model and the findings.     

Stuff or love? How metaphors direct our efforts to manage knowledge in organisations

Knowledge Management Research & Practice - This position paper addresses the way knowledge is conceptualised in knowledge management (KM) literature and practice. Using the work of Lakoff and...     

How to encourage students in learning chemistry?

<正>Chemistry is a basis for almost all science and engineering disciplines) and needs to be well mastered by both researchers and students.But in the eyes of many Chinese students and their parents, chemistry is not an initial choice because first, it seems to be less important than mathematics and physics,and second) chemistry-majored students usually cannot get high salaries after graduation, and may encounter safety risks when conducting chemical experiments.     

From ivory towers to online bazaars? The internet,social media and competing discourses in the newspaper industry

In line with the development of new media, newspaper companies are facing drastic changes in their competitive environment. Managing change requires both new capabilities and new ways of thinking. Organizational learning could be seen in terms of increasing shared organizational knowledge through changing social practices, which in turn consist of discourses. In this article we investigate the Internet and social-media-related discourse among newspaper journalists, in order to enhance understanding of how social reality is constituted and made sense of in this environment. We identify four types of discourse: Ivory-tower-creating and Shielding, which seem to impede learning, and Accelerating and Connecting, which encourage adaptation to learning and change within newspaper companies.     

Approach or avoid? The dualistic effects of envy on social media users’ behavioral intention

People express themselves through posts or selfies with brands and activities on social networking sites (SNSs) such as Facebook and Instagram. This user-generated content provides adequate social information that may elicit the emotions of users who are exposed to such content on these online platforms. Although academic researchers have focused on factors affecting users’ emotions on SNSs, how users reconcile both positive and negative emotions to their attitude and behavior in triadic interactions remains unclear. The current study attempted to answer this research question through the lens of social comparison theory by investigating the effects of tie strength and focus of attention as two forces eliciting online social comparisons on emotional consequences measured through pleasure and envy. Moreover, the dualistic effects of the two distinct types of envy, namely benign and malicious, and the effect of pleasure on users’ approach and avoidance behavior were explored and hypothesized. The results indicated that strong ties triggered more benign envy compared with malicious envy. Furthermore, benign envy positively affected brand attitude and SNS avoidance in terms of exhaustion, whereas malicious envy negatively influenced brand attitude and increased the likelihood of SNS avoidance in terms of both exhaustion and discontinuance.     

Polar or nonpolar? That is not the question for perovskite solar cells

Perovskite solar cells (PSC) are promising next generation photovoltaic technologies, and there is considerable interest in the role of possible polarization of organic-inorganic halide perovskites (OIHPs) in photovoltaic conversion. The polarity of OIHPs is still hotly debated, however. In this review, we examine recent literature on the polarity of OIHPs from both theoretical and experimental points of view, and argue that they can be both polar and nonpolar, depending on composition, processing and environment. Implications of OIHP polarity to photovoltaic conversion are also discussed, and new insights gained through research efforts. In the future, integration of a local scanning probe with global macroscopic measurements in situ will provide invaluable microscopic insight into the intriguing macroscopic phenomena, while synchrotron diffractions and scanning transmission electron microscopy on more stable samples may ultimately settle the debate.     

How community interactions contribute to harmonious community relationships and customers’ identification in online brand community

As a proxy for the vitality of online brand community, effective interaction has always been viewed as a prerequisite for the formation of harmonious organization atmosphere and high degree of organizational identity. To investigate the process, this study proposes a model delineates the relationship among community interactions, harmonious community relationships, and customers’ community identification. The findings, based on 665 valid samples, reveal that different community interactions (product-information, human-computer, and interpersonal) have different effects on harmonious community relationships (customer-brand and customer-other customers’ relationships), which in turn influences customers’ identification with community. Furthermore, these community interactions have an interactive effect on harmonious community relationships. Based on the analytical results, this study concludes with some managerial and research implications.     

Knowledge,knowing, knower: what is to be managed and does it matter?

Knowledge Management Research & Practice - A knowledge management (KM) scope denotes our conception about what is relevant and useful, concerns what and how we are to manage, in KM. KM scopes...     

The social as the heart of social innovation and social entrepreneurship: An emerging area or an old crossroads?

This paper aims to contribute to the conceptual debate on the connection between social innovation and social entrepreneurship, considering the role of the ‘social’ within this connection. Supported by a systematic literature review (SLR) with an in-depth analysis of 34 articles from Scopus-indexed and Web of Science databases journals, this paper identifies, analyzes and describes the difficulties and opportunities in the social innovation and social entrepreneurship literature. Little is known about the link between both concepts and the influence of the ‘social’ in their development and implementation. This SLR was conducted to identify and describe definitions and patterns. Results show that the connection between social innovation and social entrepreneurship is in its take-off phase, but it still is a fragmented field with a huge lack of consensus. Thus, it will be important to see where the field will head, as this paper aims to be a first step in the understanding of social innovation and social entrepreneurship through a collective and integrated perspective, providing an elucidation of the different perspectives of the literature.