Knowledge is a broad and abstract notion that has defined epistemological debate in western philosophy since the classical Greek era. In the past few years, however, there has been a growing interest in treating knowledge as a significant organizational resource. Consistent with the interest in organizational knowledge and knowledge management (KM), IS researchers have begun promoting a class of information systems, referred to as knowledge management systems (KMS). The objective of KMS is to support creation, transfer, and application of knowledge in organizations. Knowledge and knowledge management are complex and multi-faceted concepts. Thus, effective development and implementation of KMS requires a foundation in several rich literatures.

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Review: Knowledge management and knowledge management systems: conceptual foundations and research issues

Power Aware Routing in Mobile Ad Hoc Networks

Determining which factors promote or impede the sharing of knowledge within groups and organizations constitutes an important area of research. This paper focuses on three such influences: “organizational commitment,” “organizational communication,” and the use of a specific instrument of communication – computer‐mediated communication (CMC). Two processes of knowledge sharing are distinguished: donating and collecting. A number of hypotheses are presented concerning the influence of commitment, climate and CMC on these processes. These hypotheses were tested in six case studies. The results suggest that commitment to the organization positively influences knowledge donating, and is in turn positively influenced by CMC use. Communication climate is found to be a key variable: a constructive communication climate was found to positively influence knowledge donating, knowledge collecting and affective commitment. Finally, a relationship was found that was not hypothesized: knowledge collecting influences knowledge donating in a positive sense – the more knowledge a person collects, the more he or she is willing to also donate knowledge to others. Based on these results, a number of theoretical and practical implications are discussed, and suggestions for further research are presented.

Knowledge sharing in context: The influence of organizational commitment, communication climate and CMC use on knowledge sharing

Numerous scholars and practitioners claim that motivational factors can facilitate successful knowledge sharing. However, little empirical research has been conducted examining the different kinds of motivation (extrinsic and intrinsic) used to explain employee knowledge sharing behaviors. By integrating a motivational perspective into the theory of reasoned action (TRA), this study examines the role of both extrinsic (expected organizational rewards and reciprocal benefits) and intrinsic (knowledge self-efficacy and enjoyment in helping others) motivators in explaining employee knowledge sharing intentions. Based on a survey of 172 employees from 50 large organizations in Taiwan, this study applies the structural equation modeling approach to investigate the research model. The results showed that motivational factors such as reciprocal benefits, knowledge self-efficacy, and enjoyment in helping others were significantly associated with employee knowledge sharing attitudes and intentions. However, expected organizational rewards did not significantly influence employee attitudes and behavior intentions regarding knowledge sharing. Implications for organizations are discussed.

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Effects of extrinsic and intrinsic motivation on employee knowledge sharing intentions

This paper draws on primary and secondary data to propose a taxonomy of strategies, or schools, for knowledge management. The primary purpose of this framework is to guide executives on choices to initiate knowledge management projects according to goals, organizational character, and technological, behavioral, or economic biases. It may also be useful to teachers in demonstrating the scope of knowledge management and to researchers in generating propositions for further study.

Knowledge Management Strategies: Toward a Taxonomy

The aim of this paper is to improve the understanding and inter‐relationship of both the people and technical aspects of knowledge management. Studies in knowledge management indicate that there can be an over‐emphasis on technology to the exclusion of adequate people/quality planning, or, strong people/quality programmes from a knowledge perspective, hindered by inadequate enabling technologies. Understanding of these issues in practice and academia is currently hindered by a paucity of systematic empirical research, addressing the relationship between the cultural and technological aspects of knowledge management. A survey questionnaire was constructed and tested via a pilot phase. The questionnaire was then distributed to over 1,000 organizations, across three industrial sectors. The findings indicate that a strong relationship exists between KM and other organizational factors, namely organizational culture and internal technical culture. Further analysis of these elements revealed that factors internal to the organization are impinged upon by macro‐environmental elements.

An empirical analysis of knowledge management applications

Geographic routing offers a radical departure from previous topology-dependent routing paradigms through its use of physical location in the routing process. Geographic routing protocols eliminate dependence on topology storage and the associated costs, which also makes them more suitable to handling dynamic behavior frequently found in wireless ad-hoc networks. Geographic routing protocols have been designed for a variety of applications ranging from mobility prediction and management through to anonymous routing and from energy efficiency to QoS. Geographic routing is also part of the larger area of context-awareness due to its usage of location data to make routing decisions and thus represents an important step in the journey towards ubiquitous computing. The focus of this paper, within the area of geographic routing is on wireless ad-hoc networks and how location information can benefit routing. This paper aims to provide both a comprehensive and methodical survey of existing literature in the area of geographic routing from its inception as well as acting as an introduction to the subject.

A Survey of Geographical Routing in Wireless Ad-Hoc Networks

Creating the Knowledge-Based Business

Increased understanding of knowledge transfer (KT) from universities to the wider regional knowledge ecosystem offers opportunities for increased regional innovation and commercialisation. The aim of this article is to improve the understanding of the KT phenomena in an open innovation context where multiple diverse quadruple helix stakeholders are interacting. An absorptive capacity-based conceptual framework is proposed, using a priori constructs which portrays the multidimensional process of KT between universities and its constituent stakeholders in pursuit of open innovation and commercialisation. Given the lack of overarching theory in the field, an exploratory, inductive theory building methodology was adopted using semi-structured interviews, document analysis and longitudinal observation data over a three-year period. The findings identify five factors, namely human centric factors, organisational factors, knowledge characteristics, power relationships and network characteristics, which mediate both the ability of stakeholders to engage in KT and the effectiveness of knowledge acquisition, assimilation, transformation and exploitation. This research has implications for policy makers and practitioners by identifying the need to implement interventions to overcome the barriers to KT effectiveness between regional quadruple helix stakeholders within an open innovation ecosystem.

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Sandra Moffett

Papers

An empirical analysis of knowledge management applications

A Survey of Geographical Routing in Wireless Ad-Hoc Networks

Creating the Knowledge-Based Business

Knowledge transfer in university quadruple helix ecosystems: an absorptive capacity perspective

Collaborative knowledge sharing in Composite New Product Development: An aerospace study