Mohsen Sadeghi Dastaki, Abbas Afrazeh and Masoud Mahootchi
Over the past years, many studies have explored the role of knowledge management (KM) in companies. KM is concerned with the measurement of knowledge to manage knowledge…
Abstract
Purpose
Over the past years, many studies have explored the role of knowledge management (KM) in companies. KM is concerned with the measurement of knowledge to manage knowledge efficiently. On the other hand, the intangible nature of knowledge makes its measurement challenging. Furthermore, there is no standardized method to measure knowledge, and it is chiefly measured based on the subjective judgment of researchers. Moreover, New Product Development (NPD) departments in many companies strive to assess their knowledge in terms of company products and knowledge workers. Hence, this study aims to propose a product-based two-phase technique that measures the company knowledge inventory.
Design/methodology/approach
In the first phase, the value of knowledge is quantified relative to products, knowledge workers and the entire company using two concepts of knowledge width and depth. Then, a three-dimensional knowledge asset map (knowledge, products and knowledge worker dimensions) is designed to assess and audit knowledge workers. Finally, this technique recruits an integer linear programming model with a cost minimization objective function to optimize the supply of NPD knowledge requirements in the second phase.
Findings
This model enables managers to determine what type of knowledge can be supplied by existing knowledge workers, whether within the company or by other external sources.
Originality/value
Among existing knowledge measurement methods, only a few use a product-based measuring technique. However, they fail to offer suitable scenarios for managers' decision-making process and consider cost structures in measurement techniques. Hence, this paper attempts to overcome these drawbacks.
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Mohsen Sadeghi-Dastaki and Abbas Afrazeh
Human resources are one of the most important and effective elements for companies. In other words, employees are a competitive advantage. This issue is more vital in the supply…
Abstract
Purpose
Human resources are one of the most important and effective elements for companies. In other words, employees are a competitive advantage. This issue is more vital in the supply chains and production systems, because of high need for manpower in the different specification. Therefore, manpower planning is an important, essential and complex task. The purpose of this paper is to present a manpower planning model for production departments. The authors consider workforce with individual and hierarchical skills with skill substitution in the planning. Assuming workforce demand as a factor of uncertainty, a two-stage stochastic model is proposed.
Design/methodology/approach
To solve the proposed mixed-integer model in the real-world cases and large-scale problems, a Benders’ decomposition algorithm is introduced. Some test instances are solved, with scenarios generated by Monte Carlo method. For some test instances, to find the number of suitable scenarios, the authors use the sample average approximation method and to generate scenarios, the authors use Latin hypercube sampling method.
Findings
The results show a reasonable performance in terms of both quality and solution time. Finally, the paper concludes with some analysis of the results and suggestions for further research.
Originality/value
Researchers have attracted to other uncertainty factors such as costs and products demand in the literature, and have little attention to workforce demand as an uncertainty factor. Furthermore, most of the time, researchers assume that there is no difference between the education level and skill, while they are not necessarily equivalent. Hence, this paper enters these elements into decision making.
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Osveh Esmaeelinezhad and Abbas Afrazeh
Inspired by the theory of planned behavior, the purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of the big five personality (BFP) traits (openness, conscientiousness, extraversion…
Abstract
Purpose
Inspired by the theory of planned behavior, the purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of the big five personality (BFP) traits (openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism) on four aspects of individuals’ knowledge management (KM) behaviors: knowledge acquisition, knowledge storage, knowledge sharing, and knowledge application.
Design/methodology/approach
A survey-based approach was used to collect data from 221 employees from five knowledge-intensive firms.
Findings
The partial least square analyses confirmed a positive effect of two personality traits, openness and conscientiousness, on knowledge acquisition as well as knowledge application behavior. In addition, the positive effects of extraversion and conscientiousness traits on knowledge storage behavior were confirmed. The findings also revealed that agreeableness and openness traits positively relate to knowledge sharing behavior. Finally, neuroticism had a negative effect on knowledge acquisition and application behavior.
Practical implications
This study suggests that organizations need to incorporate employees’ personality into the design and implementation of their KM systems. The findings provide managers with insight into the course of personnel selection and retention to facilitate KM behaviors in organizations.
Originality/value
Little is known about the relationship between the BFP traits and four aspects of KM behaviors at the individual level. The present study has contributed to the existing body of literature through clarifying how personality traits relate to four dimensions of individuals’ KM behaviors.
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Amir Zakery, Abbas Afrazeh and John Dumay
The purpose of this paper is to shed light on improving value creation from intellectual capital (IC) through reducing causal ambiguity and finding effective IC interventions.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to shed light on improving value creation from intellectual capital (IC) through reducing causal ambiguity and finding effective IC interventions.
Design/methodology/approach
First, several guiding rules demonstrating the contribution of system dynamics (SD) to the field of IC management are introduced. Second, evidence for modelling resource dynamics is provided across a knowledge-based industry, insurance. Third, a management problem of an insurance company is modelled and then simulated using SD tools to monitor and improve the alignment of key resources with the firm’s market growth strategy.
Findings
The modelling and further simulation practice demonstrated the advantages of applying SD for analysing resource management problems to identify the critical IC components, intervention points and decision rules that may stimulate value-creating loops. Specifically for the case of an insurance company’s failure in market growth, it led to recognising the critical role of agency sales productivity as a key component of company’s relational capital and the intellectual liabilities that can lead to value destruction.
Originality/value
Reducing causal ambiguity in IC value creation through modelling and simulating firm resource dynamics is the main contribution of this paper. It enables finding the best intervention points for developing IC-based initiatives to stimulate value-creation mechanisms, as well identifying possible points of value destruction.
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Jalil Heidary Dahooie, Abbas Afrazeh and Seyed Mohammad Moathar Hosseini
This study attempts to identify the different types of activities that comprise a worker's job, and provide a framework for quantitative definition and segmentation of knowledge…
Abstract
Purpose
This study attempts to identify the different types of activities that comprise a worker's job, and provide a framework for quantitative definition and segmentation of knowledge works (KWs).
Design/methodology/approach
Every KW has two main parts: working with knowledge and establishing communication. Thus, in order to provide an exact definition for the KW it is necessary to calculate the knowledge intensity score of a job (JKIS) and communication intensity score of a job (JCIS). For determining these two parameters precisely, jobs were broken hierarchically to tasks and then activities. To identify these activities, an initial list of activities mentioned in the literature was created and then completed with generalized work activities of O*NET. A six‐step framework for calculating of JKIS and JCIS was proposed and finally, different groups of knowledge workers (KWrs) with respect to JKIS and JCIS were identified by using a clustering method.
Findings
This article shows how KW can be defined and segmented based on two dimensions (i.e. knowledge intensity score of a job (JKIS) and communication intensity score of a job (JCIS)). The proposed framework was used to analyze 133 jobs in 11 organizations. Practicality and validity of framework were examined based on this empirical study.
Research limitations/implications
This study is a base for the identification of appropriate managerial frameworks corresponding to each discovered group of KWrs. Using more data can improve the results obtained in this study.
Practical implications
This work emphasizes the importance of defining and clustering KW and proposes a practical method for this aim.
Originality/value
A new framework for the quantification of KW is proposed. This framework is supported by five principles inferred from the literature.
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Intangible resources are the most distinctive firms’ assets in competitive environments especially in service businesses. Insurance firms seeking more efficient performance than…
Abstract
Purpose
Intangible resources are the most distinctive firms’ assets in competitive environments especially in service businesses. Insurance firms seeking more efficient performance than competitors should improve their intellectual capital (IC) strategies in both aspects of IC creation and utilization. The purpose of this paper is to investigate and improves IC participation in insurance firms’ efficiency.
Design/methodology/approach
A two-phase framework: “explaining IC role in efficiency” and “measuring efficiencies of IC creation and application” is developed in order to find IC strategies increasing firms’ efficiency and though competitiveness. Efficiency is measured using data envelopment analysis and the generalized estimating equations is used as the regression method in order to explain efficiency with IC measures.
Findings
Empirical results in Iran insurance sector (during a seven-year period for 17 Iranian insurers) show some IC components influence firms’ efficiency and could be intervention points for performance improvement. Then the firms are categorized into four zones in terms of IC efficiency and strategies are recognized for each category.
Research limitations/implications
Although the research is initiated by the need to embed intangible resources in performance improvement in insurance sector, the research framework could be strongly applied in other knowledge-based industries.
Originality/value
This paper embeds an innovative link between classic efficiency and IC which aligns resource management with competitiveness strategies.
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Mingjun Yang, Tuan Trong Luu and Dan Wang
Internal knowledge transfer is crucial for firms to improve their employees’ abilities and improve their work performance. However, there is still a gap in the knowledge…
Abstract
Purpose
Internal knowledge transfer is crucial for firms to improve their employees’ abilities and improve their work performance. However, there is still a gap in the knowledge management field regarding whether internal knowledge transfer can leverage employee personality traits and service performance in service-oriented organizations. To address this gap, this study aims to validate a multilevel model of the mediating (i.e. internal knowledge transfer as a mediator) and moderating (i.e. task interdependence as a moderator) mechanisms underlying personality traits and employee service performance.
Design/methodology/approach
Multilevel structural equation modeling was applied for model validation using an original data set from 45 team leaders and 333 employees working in Chinese hotels.
Findings
Internal knowledge transfer mediated the link between extraversion and employee service performance and the link between openness to experience and employee service performance. Task interdependence played a moderating role that strengthened both the impacts of extraversion and openness to experience on internal knowledge transfer.
Originality/value
Through the use of an original data set, this study advances the knowledge management discipline by investigating the mediating impact of internal knowledge transfer between personality traits and employee service performance and revealing the moderating impact of task interdependence that underlies the links between personality traits and internal knowledge transfer.
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Abbas Monavvarian and Zahra Khamda
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relations between people development management (PDM) as independent variable and knowledge management (KM) as dependent variable…
Abstract
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relations between people development management (PDM) as independent variable and knowledge management (KM) as dependent variable, in some Iranian healthcare centers. Design/methodology/approach – Applying the structural equation model (SEM) approach. Investigating causal relations of the variables through Lisrel software. Findings – Findings show that in the researched organizations there is a significant positive relation between PDM and its components, and KM. PDM have direct significant effect (0.85) on KM. The relation between the factor titled as “learning needs analysis and induction”, and KM is fairly more important than the other factors. Research limitations/implications – More research needs to be done in the same areas to judge about the effect of human assets strategies on KM. In case of the surveyed organization, it seems there is a vital need to review the PDM and KM strategies and develop some procedures to improve and keep the business up. Practical implications – Although the proposed model has proved no causal relation between PDM components and KM, except in the case of “learning needs analysis and induction”, it does not mean that no correction action is needed in other dimensions. In other words, it is necessary to expand a well‐developed people development management project to meet a successful knowledge management. Originality/value – Our conceptual model of research has two dimensions. In one side we chose Newman's model of knowledge management, On the other side we consider a comprehensive pattern of people development management, named People Developer Standard. Through this model an appropriate framework to manage and develop the human assets and a series of developer activities will be formed to achieve people excellence.
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Adnan Alghail, Liu Yao, Mohammed Abbas and Yahia Baashar
The reasons behind the project management failure of higher education institutions (HEIs) have been researched for the past few years. One of the reasons is the lack of tools to…
Abstract
Purpose
The reasons behind the project management failure of higher education institutions (HEIs) have been researched for the past few years. One of the reasons is the lack of tools to integrate their knowledge process capabilities (KPC) with their project management (PM) to measure maturity by assessing these capabilities. Various project management maturity (PMM) models exist. Yet, there is a limited number of empirical studies that support the four integrations of KPC and PMM. Therefore, this study aims to propose a new heretical model, namely, KPC-knowledge management (KM) and evaluates a research model that includes the four KPC as an antecedent to PMM.
Design/methodology/approach
The suggested research model is assessed by using partial least squares structural equation modeling. Furthermore, the study's hypotheses were examined based on a sample of 352 respondents from the project management departments in 10 public universities in Yemen.
Findings
Analysis revealed that the derived PMM status could be benchmarked with the project management maturity model. Also, the study found that integrating the KPC into PM enables the institutions to perform critical tasks and value chain activities and enhance the PM maturity level as well. In contrast, if one of the capabilities does not positively impact PMM, it affects the maturity level of the entire project.
Research limitations/implications
The findings are obtained concerning data collected from public universities and represent the Yemeni context, limiting the generalization on a different geographical area. Also, this proposed model can be evaluated in a practical way like conducting a focus group, a set of interviews with specialists, a case study or action research. The qualitative research will help academics to validate our proposal for future research purposes.
Practical implications
The proposed approach may be adapted to the characteristics of organizations involved in projects as external performers (project-based organizations) and not just the HEIs projects. This study provides managers and policymakers with insights into assessing PMM and improving their organizational effectiveness when deciding which KPCs to focus on in the future.
Social implications
This study contributes to the current PM awareness in Yemen and facilitates its success using the knowledge processes capabilities in Yemen's HEIs. It encourages organizations to take this opportunity to revive the projects and achieve a maximum level of maturity.
Originality/value
This study provides new insights into two domains through the link between knowledge management and PM. To the best of the authors' knowledge, this paper is among the first to empirically study the impact of the four KPC toward PMM. It enriches the theoretical perspective of PM. Also, it contributes to the literature on the success factor of KPC, which can be considered to improve organizational performance.
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This study aims to examine the impact of intellectual capital on the underwriting risk of insurance companies in Pakistan.
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to examine the impact of intellectual capital on the underwriting risk of insurance companies in Pakistan.
Design/methodology/approach
The study used a quantitative research approach and a longitudinal research design, gathering data from 23 insurance companies listed on the Pakistan stock exchange from 2010 to 2022. The value-added intellectual coefficient (VAIC) was used to measure intellectual capital (IC), and unbalanced panel data were analyzed using static and dynamic regression analyses.
Findings
The findings demonstrate a significant association between intellectual capital and underwriting risk in insurance companies in Pakistan. Specific components of intellectual capital, such as human capital efficiency (HCE), structural capital efficiency (SCE) and capital employed efficiency (CEE), have a strong negative impact on underwriting risk. Control variables like return on assets, insurer size and leverage also showed significant relationships with underwriting risk.
Originality/value
This research provides new insights into the theoretical understanding of the insurance industry by establishing a direct link between intellectual capital and underwriting risk in the context of Pakistan. It suggests that by improving aspects of intellectual capital, specifically HCE, SCE and CEE, policymakers and managers can reduce underwriting risk.