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Journal ArticleDOI

Knowing What We Know: Supporting Knowledge Creation and Sharing in Social Networks

01 Nov 2001-Organizational Dynamics (Elsevier Science)-Vol. 30, Iss: 2, pp 100-120
TL;DR: In this paper, the call came in late on Thursday afternoon and right away I wished I hadn’t answered the phone. We had received a last-second opportunity to bid on a sizable piece of work that the Partner on the other end of the line really wanted to pursue.
About: This article is published in Organizational Dynamics.The article was published on 2001-11-01. It has received 921 citations till now.
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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: A formal model of information seeking is proposed in which the probability of seeking information from another person is a function of knowing what that person knows; valuing what thatperson knows; being able to gain timely access to that person's thinking; and perceiving thatseeking information from that person would not be too costly.
Abstract: Research in organizational learning has demonstrated processes and occasionally performance implications of acquisition of declarative (know-what) and procedural (know-how) knowledge. However, considerably less attention has been paid to learned characteristics of relationships that affect the decision to seek information from other people. Based on a review of the social network, information processing, and organizational learning literatures, along with the results of a previous qualitative study, we propose a formal model of information seeking in which the probability of seeking information from another person is a function of (1) knowing what that person knows; (2) valuing what that person knows; (3) being able to gain timely access to that person's thinking; and (4) perceiving that seeking information from that person would not be too costly. We also hypothesize that the knowing, access, and cost variables mediate the relationship between physical proximity and information seeking. The model is tested using two separate research sites to provide replication. The results indicate strong support for the model and the mediation hypothesis (with the exception of the cost variable). Implications are drawn for the study of both transactive memory and organizational learning, as well as for management practice.

2,042 citations

01 Jan 2006
TL;DR: This research identifies a set of features that are key to the superior performance under the supervised learning setup, and shows that a small subset of features always plays a significant role in the link prediction job.
Abstract: Social network analysis has attracted much attention in recent years. Link prediction is a key research directions within this area. In this research, we study link prediction as a supervised learning task. Along the way, we identify a set of features that are key to the superior performance under the supervised learning setup. The identified features are very easy to compute, and at the same time surprisingly effective in solving the link prediction problem. We also explain the effectiveness of the features from their class density distribution. Then we compare different classes of supervised learning algorithms in terms of their prediction performance using various performance metrics, such as accuracy, precision-recall, F-values, squared error etc. with a 5-fold cross validation. Our results on two practical social network datasets shows that most of the well-known classification algorithms (decision tree, k-nn,multilayer perceptron, SVM, rbf network) can predict link with surpassing performances, but SVM defeats all of them with narrow margin in all different performance measures. Again, ranking of features with popular feature ranking algorithms shows that a small subset of features always plays a significant role in the link prediction job.

883 citations


Cites background from "Knowing What We Know: Supporting Kn..."

  • ...Again, ranking of features with popular feature ranking algorithms shows that a small subset of fea- tures always plays a significant role in link prediction....

    [...]

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: An extensive literature survey on knowledge management explores knowledge management with respect to its content, its definition and domain in theory and practice, its use and implications, and to point out some problems inherent in the concept.
Abstract: Over the past several years there have been intensive discussions about the importance of knowledge management within our society. The management of knowledge is promoted as an important and necessary factor for organisational survival and maintenance of competitive strength. To remain at the forefront organisations need a good capacity to retain, develop, organise, and utilise their employees’ capabilities. Knowledge and the management of knowledge appear to be regarded as increasingly important features for organisational survival. Explores knowledge management with respect to its content, its definition and domain in theory and practice, its use and implications, and to point out some problems inherent in the concept. The main contribution of this paper is an extensive literature survey on knowledge management.

593 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, a longitudinal study of 22 UK manufacturing companies and examine the relationship between such practices and product and technological innovation is presented, finding that training, induction, team working, appraisal and exploratory learning focus are all predictors of innovation.
Abstract: There is growing evidence available to suggest that HR practice is an important predictor of organisational performance. In this article, we argue that HR practices also have the potential to promote organisational innovation. We describe a longitudinal study of 22 UK manufacturing companies and examine the relationship between such practices and product and technological innovation. Results reveal that training, induction, team working, appraisal and exploratory learning focus are all predictors of innovation. Contingent reward, applied in conjunction with an exploratory learning focus, is positively associated with innovation in technical systems. Furthermore, training, appraisal and induction, combined with exploratory learning focus, explain variation between companies in product and technological innovation above and beyond the main effects observed. © 2006 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

472 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The findings indicate that, for a firm to reap long‐term strategic benefit from OKMS, it should adapt the broader socio‐technical view when developing, implementing and managing its OKMS.
Abstract: With the advent of knowledge management, intellectual capital is gaining increasing recognition as the only true strategic asset. This has led to a proliferation of organizational knowledge management systems (OKMS), for managing intellectual capital. This article addresses the question: “Are OKMS strategic assets within the context of the resource‐based view?” Two views of OKMS emerge – the technical and the socio‐technical view. An analysis of OKMS from each perspective is presented and their resultant implications on the competitive position of the firm explained. The findings indicate that, for a firm to reap long‐term strategic benefit from OKMS, it should adapt the broader socio‐technical view when developing, implementing and managing its OKMS. This suggests that firms need to consider not only the technology but also the organizational infrastructure, the organizational culture and the people who form the OKMS, and the knowledge that is to be processed by these OKMS.

389 citations

References
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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, it is argued that the degree of overlap of two individuals' friendship networks varies directly with the strength of their tie to one another, and the impact of this principle on diffusion of influence and information, mobility opportunity, and community organization is explored.
Abstract: Analysis of social networks is suggested as a tool for linking micro and macro levels of sociological theory. The procedure is illustrated by elaboration of the macro implications of one aspect of small-scale interaction: the strength of dyadic ties. It is argued that the degree of overlap of two individuals' friendship networks varies directly with the strength of their tie to one another. The impact of this principle on diffusion of influence and information, mobility opportunity, and community organization is explored. Stress is laid on the cohesive power of weak ties. Most network models deal, implicitly, with strong ties, thus confining their applicability to small, well-defined groups. Emphasis on weak ties lends itself to discussion of relations between groups and to analysis of segments of social structure not easily defined in terms of primary groups.

37,560 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors describe what firms are actually doing to manage knowledge, what else they think they could be or should be doing, and what they feel are the greatest barriers they face in their efforts.
Abstract: To a growing number of companies, knowledge management is more than just a buzzword or a sales pitch, it is an approach to adding or creating value by more actively leveraging the know-how, experience, and judgement resident within and, in many cases, outside of an organization. Based primarily upon the results of a study of 431 U.S. and European organizations, this article describes what firms are actually doing to manage knowledge, what else they think they could be or should be doing, and what they feel are the greatest barriers they face in their efforts.

1,363 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
01 Jan 1999

503 citations

01 Jan 2001

39 citations