Journal of Knowledge Management, Economics and Information Technology

This paper discusses various methods and tools to assess knowledge management and makes an exploratory evaluation of these elements. Most of them show some weaknesses concerning, firstly the fact that different groups of interest must be taken into account, and secondly the fact that tacit knowledge that belongs to individuals is difficult to assess. Our work examines how to take into account these elements. Assessing knowledge management can be argued along six dimensions:
1- the « what » refers to methods and tools;
2- the « how » refers to the implementation process;
3- the «where» corresponds to the level where the assessment is conducted;
4- the «when» concerns the moment or the period the assessment should be conducted;
5- the «who» refers to the person or group to be considered for assessing personal knowledge;
6- and the result refers to the improvement of business performance.
This paper highlights the fact that a framework based on stakeholder approach may help to overcome the problems related to assess knowledge management.

  Assessing Knowledge Management Initiatives: A Framework Based On Stakeholder Approach (623.6 KiB, 1,626 hits)

In recent years, interest in “Communities of practice” (CoPs) as a tool for knowledge management and employee participation has increased in international management literature. However, their potentialities for small and medium-sized enterprises remain largely unexplored.

This research makes a contribution in this respect analyzing the implementation of “Communities of practice” in nine Spanish small-scale organizations. The information collected for the analysis comes from a questionnaire administered to participants in the learning communities at two different points (the beginning and official end of the project) and from semi-structured in-depth interviews with the coordinators and consultants intervening in the experience.

Small and Medium Enterprises can also successfully implement CoPs. Specific advantages are on their side, although they need to overcome significant barriers.

  Factors Facilitating and Hindering the Implementation of Communities of Practice in Smes: An Exploratory Study (763.9 KiB, 2,358 hits)

This research addresses the question of explaining the organizational effectiveness of the company through the knowledge management capacity, entrepreneurial orientation, social capital and innovation. Researchers still do not adequately understand the relationship between these phenomena and the nature of their effects on organizational effectiveness. This research uses data obtained from a sample of 150 Tunisian companies to test a complex model of knowledge management capacity and entrepreneurial orientation, assuming that the level of social capital plays a moderating role on the effects of entrepreneurial orientation and the knowledge management capacity on organizational effectiveness. Using structural equations, the proposed model is tested and data analysis reveals that there is a significant relationship between independent variables and organizational effectiveness.

  Effects of Capacity Knowledge Management and Entrepreneurial Orientation on Organizational Effectiveness in the Best Tunisian Companies: Moderating Role of Social Capital (787.2 KiB, 3,387 hits)

Organizations worldwide are showing increasing interest in knowledge management practices to address the contemporary challenges of today’s digital age. Knowledge is becoming a critical core asset to sustain competitive advantage and as a vehicle for continuous improvement and innovation. However, most of the developments in the knowledge management field are driven by international organizations or private commercial companies. Considering the impact of knowledge management practices, government organizations have the potential for significant improvements in performance, transformation, and the development of a more responsive citizen-centric government.
This article has two objectives: The first is to provide an overview of knowledge management and highlight the importance of this field of practice, and the second is to provide a case study of the successful implementation of knowledge management in a federal government organization in the United Arab Emirates. This article outlines the adopted approach and framework and elaborates on each of the implemented components. The presented case study and lessons learned are benchmarks for best practices and contribute to the existing experimental cases. This, in turn, should help organizations and researchers to better understand how public sector government organizations perceive and practicing knowledge management, which should enable them to reflect and propose improvements.

  Fusing Knowledge Management into the Public Sector: A Review of the Field and the Case of the Emirates Identity Authority (3.8 MiB, 3,950 hits)

Knowledge management is a relatively young topic to other older strategic tools, and it has been attracting the attention of researchers and academics over the past decade or so. In this regard globalization is already in many countries including Malaysia like many other developing countries, Malaysia is also striving to fulfil its vision of becoming a developed nation. It is a fast growing country in terms of both economy and technology.

However, obstacles for successful knowledge management initiatives will be there for this country, as well. Thus, exploration of the potential barriers is essential before any Malaysian company embarks on a knowledge management journey.

This research has shed light to some of the important issues and challenges with reference to knowledge management in Malaysia by providing a more thorough and clear picture of the knowledge management status amongst Malaysian organizations. This could in turn help top managers and decision makers to develop a more insightful agenda to ensure success for their respective knowledge management initiatives.

  Knowledge Management Issues in Malaysian Organizations: the Perceptions of Leaders (230.4 KiB, 9,497 hits)

Organizational behaviour is often dependent on the strategic movement of internal knowledge for success. Organizational knowledge management methodologies require the involvement of stakeholders. In large organizations, involved stakeholders shall be selected by the entire membership. Key involvement roles and considerations should be offered to/involve the ‘least likely to participate’. Suck stakeholders often possess the most influential power to move the stakeholders; if not, they demonstrate a true commitment to involve all in the movement of knowledge. The purpose of this article is to discuss organizational involvement strategies for the optimal movement or organizational knowledge management.

  Organizational Knowledge Management Movement Strategies (570.7 KiB, 3,425 hits)

Purpose – The present paper aims to generate and validate a measurement scale of the distributor knowledge sharing competency (DKSC). Design/methodology/approach:

• A pool of 50 items were generated on the basis of in-depth interviews with managers and was analysed using the “Sphinx” software.
• Exploratory Factor Analysis is performed in order to purify the scale measurement (09 items are retained).
• Confirmatory Factor Analysis is performed in order to assess the reliability and validity of measure (07 items are retained).

Findings – A pool of 07 items is proposed for the eventual measurement of the DKSC.
Practical implications a valid and reliable measure of DKSC has been developed illustrating a knowledge-based innovation capability measurement. The measurement scale was found to be unidirectional that confirm an interconnection between the two facets of the construct; the firm’s capability and distributors’ competency. It proposes an integrative comprehension of various notions that provide a more holistic picture of Knowledge-based capability. The proposed DKSC scale is believed to provide managers with the opportunity to regularly monitor their distributor’s relationship and its innovative capability.

  Distributors’ Knowledge Sharing Competency (DKSC): Scale Generation and Development Process (1.2 MiB, 4,270 hits)

Organizations make large investment on their employees concerning the training, developing, maintaining and the efforts to retaining them. Employee turnover is one of the most important issues to organizations, and one that needs special attention. This problem is even more relevant when business processes are less depending from machinery and heavily rely on human relationships, being real estate business one such good example. With the globalization phenomena, greater competition and economic crises, real estate organizations must provide and constantly innovate services which are based on strategies created by employees. Knowledge must be retained, in a way that it can be stored and disseminated through the organization. This paper examines the impact of employee turnover, and proposes a conceptual model based on a knowledge management approach supported by information and communication technologies on how to minimize the impact of employee turnover in organizations. The research used Grounded Theory to inform the model.

  Employee Turnover Impact in Organizational Knowledge Management: The Portuguese Real Estate Case (1.2 MiB, 16,476 hits)

As service organizations become increasingly aware that knowledge is among their most valuable strategic assets, they will try to develop and maintain the knowledge transfer through the organization and to make the employees understand the importance of knowledge and communication.

The paper highlights that advanced information and communication technologies, a dedicated knowledge sharing culture and a strong leadership based on continuous improvement and excellence models such is Lean Six Sigma are essential factors in facilitating knowledge transfer.

The Lean Six Sigma approach is necessary because service organizations and their employees need a methodology and a leadership approach for improving and resolving problems, which arise from organizational culture and knowledge transfer.

  Knowledge Transfer - The Key To Drive Innovation For Service Organizations Excellence (855.0 KiB, 4,914 hits)

Although the essential theoretical knowledge of marketing concepts is not enough for a person involved in the management and marketing planning. To be competitive in the labor market in the area of marketing interest must possess specific information analysis tools in order to capture those aspects of the marketing environment necessary for development decision making. Using the analytical capabilities resulting from technological boom of the last decades, especially those pertaining to information technology is vital for the competitiveness of the marketing activities of a modern organization.

  Analysis and processing - introduction to knowledge management (58.6 KiB, 3,152 hits)

Knowledge Management (KM) comprises a range of strategies and practices used in an organization to identify, create, represent, distribute, and enable adoption of insights and experiences. Such insights and experiences comprise knowledge, either embodied in individuals or embedded in organizational processes or practice. Though literature on information and knowledge management is vast, there is much confusion concerning the meaning of these terms. According to the literature review, technology-oriented information management includes data management, information technology management and strategic information technology management. The reading of the literature on knowledge management reveals that this term is either used synonymously for information management or for the management of work practices with the goal of improving the generation of new knowledge and the sharing of existing knowledge.

  Dimensions and perspectives for knowledge management and information (253.6 KiB, 9,458 hits)

Creation and exploitation of knowledge management (KM) has become key resource in the new economy. All advanced economies are technologically knowledge based economy.

  Knowledge Management - The Key Resource For Become Competitive (227.7 KiB, 5,911 hits)