How has Japan become a major economic power, a world leader in the automotive and electronics industries? What is the secret of their success? The consensus has been that, though the Japanese are not particularly innovative, they are exceptionally skilful at imitation, at improving products that already exist. But now two leading Japanese business experts, Ikujiro Nonaka and Hiro Takeuchi, turn this conventional wisdom on its head: Japanese firms are successful, they contend, precisely because they are innovative, because they create new knowledge and use it to produce successful products and technologies. Examining case studies drawn from such firms as Honda, Canon, Matsushita, NEC, 3M, GE, and the U.S. Marines, this book reveals how Japanese companies translate tacit to explicit knowledge and use it to produce new processes, products, and services.

The knowledge-creating company : how Japanese companies create the dynamics of innovation

Purpose – Knowledge sharing adoption has been considered as a significant practice for organizations. However, there is a modest empirical confirmation to indicate how these organizations value the richness of their knowledge capabilities. The purpose of this paper is to investigate both transformational and transactional leadership styles that influence employees’ knowledge sharing practices, and the impact of the latter on job performance, and then on firm performance. Design/methodology/approach – Data collected from 179 employees at the higher council of youth in Jordan were empirically tested using structural equation modelling. Findings – The findings revealed that both transformational and transactional leadership styles have significant impact on job performance, and the latter on firm performance. Also, it was found that transactional leadership impacted knowledge sharing, whereas transformational leadership did not. Originality/value – This research proposes a new approach to understand knowledg...

A Jordanian empirical study of the associations among transformational leadership, transactional leadership, knowledge sharing, job performance, and firm performance: A structural equation modelling approach

The study aims to explore the differences in transformational leadership’s (TL’s) influences on each aspect of innovation capability, namely, product innovation and process innovation. It also deepens understanding of the pathways and conditions to improve specific aspects of innovation capability by assessing the mediating role of knowledge sharing (KS) and moderating mechanism of perceived organizational support (POS).,The paper utilized structural equation modeling and cross-sectional design to test hypotheses in the proposed research model based on using data collected from 394 participants at 88 Chinese firms.,The findings indicate that KS mediates TL’s effects on innovation capabilities. In addition, the influences of TL and KS on specific aspects of innovation capability are different and depend on the extent of employees’ POS.,Future studies should test mediating roles of knowledge management’s constituents and/or investigate the moderating roles of firm ownership form to increase the understanding of potential factors or key conditions that may have significant influences on a firm’s innovation capability.,The paper significantly contributes to increasing the understanding of the link between TL and specific aspects of innovation capability by highlighting the important role of stimulating KS and enhancing POS.,The paper provides useful information and valuable initiatives to increase leadership outcomes and firm’s capability for innovation.

Determinants of innovation capability: the roles of transformational leadership, knowledge sharing and perceived organizational support

Knowledge sharing mechanisms and techniques in project teams

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate factors affecting knowledge sharing among academic staff in universities. Utilizing the theory of reasoned action (TRA) as the underlying research framework, the main objective of this study was threefold. First, was to examine the relationship between attitude, subjective norm, and trust with knowledge sharing intention. Second, was to examine the relationship among factors, i.e., self-efficacy, social networks and extrinsic rewards with attitude toward knowledge sharing intention and the third objective was to find out the relationship between organizational support and subjective norm. Design/methodology/approach – A total of 200 questionnaires were distributed among academic staff at three social science faculties in one public university in Malaysia. Collectively, 117 usable responses were returned. Partial Least Square analysis was utilized to analyze the data. Findings – The results indicated that of the two components of the TRA, only attitude ...

Factors affecting knowledge sharing intention among academic staff

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore knowledge sharing in a Chinese context and to examine the impact of some key contextual factors that affect knowledge sharing within project teams in the Chinese construction sector.Design/methodology/approach – Self‐administered questionnaires were used in this study. Data were collected by surveying 222 managerial employees from different project teams in the construction sector in China. Regression analysis was then used to explore the relationship between different factors and the willingness to share knowledge. The potential influence of Chinese traditional cultures on this relationship was also explored.Findings – This paper shows that within the Chinese context, explicit knowledge promotes knowledge sharing while tacit knowledge creates barriers to knowledge sharing in project teams. Moreover, trust is positively related to knowledge sharing but justice, leadership style, and empowerment do not influence whether employees will share knowledge among ...

Knowledge sharing in Chinese construction project teams and its affecting factors

While it is well known that knowledge sharing is essential for organization to maintain competitive advantage. This study is to examine the impact of several key factors that may affect knowledge sharing within project teams in China. By surveying managerial employees from different project teams in the construction sector, this study shows that both intrinsically and extrinsically motivated individuals tend to share more knowledge with their team members. Individuals with high altruism are also more likely to share knowledge with others. Moreover, explicit knowledge facilitates knowledge sharing while tacit knowledge creates barriers to knowledge sharing. The implications to knowledge management research and practice are also considered in this study.

Keyi Wang

Papers

Knowledge sharing in Chinese construction project teams and its affecting factors

Antecedent Factors of Knowledge Sharing in Project Teams: Evidence from Chinese Construction Sector