Big Data draws both praise and criticism, seen as both villain and hero. The release of megabytes of data by Wikileaks is accorded praise as information transparency by some…
Abstract
Big Data draws both praise and criticism, seen as both villain and hero. The release of megabytes of data by Wikileaks is accorded praise as information transparency by some, whilst others find the massive collection of information by Amazon or Google, often freely given, immoral and to be feared. The paper examines three cases embracing the velocity, volume and variety aspects of Big Data – digital platforms, driverless cars and the Banking Royal Commission – and uses René Girard’s theories of mimesis and scapegoating to show that the identification of a scapegoat, or villain, is a common feature in them and that concerns over Big Data are linked to fear of ‘the other’, thus helping to show how Big Data can be both loved and hated and how both practitioners and theorists might comprehend public reaction to big data and its ethical dimensions.
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Epaminondas Epaminonda, Johnny Chaanine, Demetris Vrontis, Alkis Thrassou and Michael Christofi
The paper aims to identify, analyze and discuss the links between information and communications technology (ICT) and knowledge management (KM), on the one hand, and job…
Abstract
Purpose
The paper aims to identify, analyze and discuss the links between information and communications technology (ICT) and knowledge management (KM), on the one hand, and job satisfaction (JS) and customer satisfaction (CSAT), on the other hand, in hospitals in Lebanon.
Design/methodology/approach
A mixed-methods approach has been adopted that utilizes both quantitative and qualitative primary data, along with supportive and peripheral secondary ones. Specifically, a survey measuring variables was conducted among health-care professionals, with whom interviews were also conducted for greater depth and to refine the findings and relationships under study.
Findings
The results of the quantitative study find no statistically significant relationships between the variables. The qualitative study suggests that this is likely because of the subjectivity of the evaluations and/or their mutual canceling. This is further partly explained not only through technical/functional deficiencies of the system but also through the impact of implicit and peripheral forces, adjacent to contextual aspects.
Originality/value
The research adds significant and focused knowledge on the subject of the linkage of ICT and KM with JS and CSAT, in the context of emerging economies.
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The purpose of this study is to conduct a structured literature review of scientometric research of the knowledge management (KM) discipline for the 2012–2019 time period.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to conduct a structured literature review of scientometric research of the knowledge management (KM) discipline for the 2012–2019 time period.
Design/methodology/approach
A total of 175 scientometric studies of the KM discipline were identified and analyzed.
Findings
Scientometric KM research has entered the maturity stage: its volume has been growing, reaching six publications per month in 2019. Scientometric KM research has become highly specialized, which explains many inconsistent findings, and the interests of scientometric KM researchers and their preferred inquiry methods have changed over time. There is a dangerous trend toward a monopoly of the scholarly publishing market which affects researchers’ behavior. To create a list of keywords for database searches, scientometric KM scholars should rely on the formal KM keyword classification schemes, and KM-centric peer-reviewed journals should continue welcoming manuscripts on scientometric topics.
Practical implications
Stakeholders should realize that the KM discipline may successfully exist as a cluster of divergent schools of thought under an overarching KM umbrella and that the notion of intradisciplinary cohesion and consistency should be abandoned. Journal of Knowledge Management is unanimously recognized as a leading KM journal, but KM researchers should not limit their focus to the body of knowledge documented in the KM-centric publication forums. The top six most productive countries are the USA, the UK, Taiwan, Canada, Australia and China. There is a need for knowledge brokers that may deliver the KM academic body of knowledge to practitioners.
Originality/value
This is the most comprehensive, up-to-date analysis of the KM discipline.
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Z. REN, G.J. ANUMBA and O.O. UGWU
Disputes are now considered endemic in the construction industry. They often arise from the poor resolution of claims in the course of construction projects. Efforts have been…
Abstract
Disputes are now considered endemic in the construction industry. They often arise from the poor resolution of claims in the course of construction projects. Efforts have been geared towards reducing the incidence of claims. These efforts are of two kinds: those that seek answers from basic principles and legal issues at the pre‐construction phase and those that attempt to solve the problems through claims management procedures at the construction phase. This paper reviews the developments in claims management and highlights the deficiencies in current claims management approaches. It focuses on the need for improvement of the efficiency of claims negotiation and suggests the use of multiagent systems as an approach to achieve it. The potential benefits of the suggested approach are discussed in the concluding section of the paper.
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Victor Yawo Atiase, David Sarpong, Senyo Agbanyo and Johnson Kwesi Ameh
Organisational resilience is a strategic resource within the contingencies of organising in Small and Micro businesses (SMEs). In this regard, the notion of resilient human…
Abstract
Organisational resilience is a strategic resource within the contingencies of organising in Small and Micro businesses (SMEs). In this regard, the notion of resilient human capital in propelling a resilient organisation has come to dominate the contemporary discourse on the performance of SMEs. Drawing on human capital theory as a meta-theoretical lens, we examine the cumulative effect of managerial training on managers’ performance in the context of relatively underdeveloped institutions and markets. Employing a quantitative research methodology, data for our empirical inquiry comes from a survey of 506 Ghanaian SMEs operating in diverse sectors of the economy. Following SMEs being at the convergence point of resource constraint, we show why some firm managers are more likely to exhibit managerial resilience than those in other firms. Our data evidence suggests that targeted managerial training, in practice, has the potential to strengthen organisational resilience. Nevertheless, the content, efficiency and frequency of the training received, we argue, accounts for the differential performance of managers within the contingencies of everyday organising. We conclude by delineating some relevant implications of our study for the theory and practice of managerial resilience nurturing in organising.
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Ratnesh Kumar, K. Chandrashekhar Iyer and Surya Prakash Singh
In construction management, risks and claims are treated separately, but several studies tacitly acknowledge a strong link between the two. In this context, this research intends…
Abstract
Purpose
In construction management, risks and claims are treated separately, but several studies tacitly acknowledge a strong link between the two. In this context, this research intends to investigate whether risks and claims have a causal relationship? Based on this causal relationship, a claim-based risk assessment model (C-RAM) is developed to quantify occurrences and cost implications of risks using project data.
Design/methodology/approach
First, the causal relationship between risks and claims is established through a conceptual framework for content analysis of the literature on risk management (RM) and claim management (CM). Then, a C-RAM is developed based on the content analysis of 234 claims from 24 settled arbitration awards.
Findings
Risks and claims are found to be two stages in the same chain of uncertain events that affect projects, subsequently revealing a causal relationship between risks and claims. Due to this causal relationship, claim documents become a potential source of risk information from past projects. Proposed C-RAM quantifies occurrences of risks with three parameters: number of projects in which a risk occurs, number of ways in which a risk occurs, and number of claims a risk causes if it occurs. Also, cost implications of risks are quantified as percentage of contract sums for interpretation as tangible values.
Research limitations/implications
Though C-RAM is applicable to all types of claims, the results in this paper are based on impacts of risks in past projects that caused claims and reached to arbitration stage.
Practical implications
The causal relationship between risks and claims will encourage integration of knowledge on RM and CM which is currently treated separately. Practitioners can now visualize claims as cost implications of risks that occurred in projects. Further, C-RAM makes risk assessment (RA) more objective by quantifying the cost implications of risks as percentage of contract sums which can be readily used for contingency estimation.
Originality/value
The relationship between risks and claims, and the potential of claim documents as a source of project risk information, can initiate a new paradigm in RM research based on project data.
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In The Invisible Substrate of Information Science, a landmark article about the discipline of information science, Marcia J. Bates wrote that “…we are always looking for the red…
Abstract
Purpose
In The Invisible Substrate of Information Science, a landmark article about the discipline of information science, Marcia J. Bates wrote that “…we are always looking for the red thread of information in the social texture of people's lives” (1999a, p. 1048). To sharpen our understanding of information science and to elaborate Bates' idea, the work at hand answers the question: Just what does the red thread of information entail?
Design/methodology/approach
Through a close reading of Bates' oeuvre and by applying concepts from the reference literature of information science, nine composite entities that qualify as the red thread of information are identified, elaborated, and related to existing concepts in the information science literature. In the spirit of a scientist–poet (White, 1999), several playful metaphors related to the color red are employed.
Findings
Bates' red thread of information entails: terms, genres, literatures, classification systems, scholarly communication, information retrieval, information experience, information institutions, and information policy. This same constellation of phenomena can be found in resonant visions of information science, namely, domain analysis (Hjørland, 2002), ethnography of infrastructure (Star, 1999), and social epistemology (Shera, 1968).
Research limitations/implications
With the vital vermilion filament in clear view, newcomers can more easily engage the material, conceptual, and social machinery of information science, and specialists are reminded of what constitutes information science as a whole. Future researchers and scientist–poets may wish to supplement the nine composite entities with additional, emergent information phenomena.
Originality/value
Though the explication of information science that follows is relatively orthodox and time-bound, the paper offers an imaginative, accessible, yet technically precise way of understanding the field.
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Mohammed Almalki and Minwir Al-Shammari
Organizations sustain competitiveness by improving product or service quality, performing efficiently or innovating. This paper aims to investigate the relationship between…
Abstract
Purpose
Organizations sustain competitiveness by improving product or service quality, performing efficiently or innovating. This paper aims to investigate the relationship between knowledge management (KM) and sustainable competitive advantage (SCA) in business organizations in the Kingdom of Bahrain. The KM initiatives are categorized into knowledge creation, knowledge storage, knowledge transfer and knowledge application. Employees’ attitudes toward workplace knowledge resources are derived from their perceptions of their importance, usefulness and ease of use.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper adopts a cross-sectional survey design. Data is collected via an electronic questionnaire developed using Google Forms. Purposive sampling used a list of 122 business organizations. Ninety responses were received and taken into consideration for data analysis.
Findings
Spearman correlation analysis and partial least square structural equation modeling revealed a positive association between KM and SCA. This study reflected a positive association between employees’ attitudes toward knowledge resources and sustaining organizations’ competitive advantages.
Originality/value
In Bahrain, empirical studies still need to be developed to explore KM in business organizations and investigate its association with SCA. This study aims to fill this gap by examining the relationship between KM and the sustainability of quality, efficiency and innovation-based competitive advantages in business organizations in an emerging economy context.
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Xuerui Cai, Naseer Abbas Khan and Olga Egorova
The purpose of this study is to investigate the predictive influence of transactional leadership on employee green creative behaviour (GCB) and the mediating role of workplace…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to investigate the predictive influence of transactional leadership on employee green creative behaviour (GCB) and the mediating role of workplace learning and green knowledge management (GKM) in this relationship. Based on the leader–member exchange (LMX) theory. This study also uses moderated mediation analysis to investigate social networking sites (SNS) use as a moderator to better understand the indirect relationship between transactional leadership and employee GCB.
Design/methodology/approach
The data for this quantitative study were collected using a time-lag technique, with two time waves apart by two months. The final sample for the study included 294 employee–supervisor dyads from small and medium-sized tourism enterprises in the north eastern part of China.
Findings
Findings supported the study's proposed hypotheses, indicating that transactional leadership has a significant impact on workplace learning and GKM, as well as a significant role of mediators (workplace learning and GKM) in the relationship between transactional leadership and employee GCB. Furthermore, SNS use significantly moderated the impact of both mediators in establishing a link between transactional leadership and employee GCB.
Originality/value
This study offers new perspectives and insights for entrepreneurs, decision-makers, academics and tourism sector experts by identifying and putting into practise the predictive role of transactional leadership in innovative behaviours. This study also suggests that small and mid-sized travel agencies should focus on workplace learning, GKM and SNS use to promote environment-friendly creative employee behaviour.
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Monalisa Mahapatra and Dianne P. Ford
This study aims to examine a common failure in knowledge sharing, called disengagement from knowledge sharing (DKS), and investigates how technostress may contribute to this…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to examine a common failure in knowledge sharing, called disengagement from knowledge sharing (DKS), and investigates how technostress may contribute to this unintentional withholding of knowledge for knowledge workers. The authors apply the Job Demands-Resources (JD-R) model to explain the dual path of technostress creators and inhibitors on DKS via burnout and job engagement. The authors also examine how the pandemic and the changes in remote work and information and communication technology (ICT)-related stress may have impacted DKS.
Design/methodology/approach
Using a time-lag survey, two independent samples of knowledge workers who use information and communication technologies for their jobs were surveyed during early 2020 and mid-2021. Analyses were completed with partial least squares-structural equation modelling.
Findings
Technostress (via the JD-R model) explained DKS. Technostress creators were positively associated with burnout, which was in turn positively related to DKS. Technostress inhibitors were positively associated with job engagement, which in turn was also positively related to disengagement to knowledge sharing. Technostress inhibitors were negatively associated with burnout. Results from the multigroup analysis indicated that technostress inhibitors had a stronger relationship with engagement pre-pandemic than mid-pandemic.
Originality/value
This research addresses a more common source of knowledge sharing failures and illustrates how ICTs may impact this DKS via burnout and job engagement. In addition, this research captures a change in relationships associated with the pandemic.