John Israilidis, Evangelia Siachou and Stephen Kelly
This paper explores critical failure factors (CFFs) in the context of knowledge sharing. It provides further insights into what can cause knowledge- sharing failures, inflexible…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper explores critical failure factors (CFFs) in the context of knowledge sharing. It provides further insights into what can cause knowledge- sharing failures, inflexible knowledge-sharing strategies and ineffective knowledge- sharing mechanisms. It also examines how practitioners can reduce or even mitigate such dysfunctions.
Design/methodology/approach
A case-based inductive approach was conducted. Data were collected from two studies applying mixed methods. The first data set included nine in-depth, semi-structured interviews with highly skilled personnel from an aerospace and defense organization. The second data source included 375 successfully completed questionnaires from participants employed at the same organization.
Findings
The paper identifies six CFFs with an impact on knowledge sharing. It also reveals that managing organizational ignorance can play a key role in generating new knowledge and averting failure. Study findings provide insights into the importance of identifying these failures when sharing knowledge and propose relevant mitigation strategies.
Originality/value
This paper identifies a range of empirically validated CFFs that complement the extant work on the complexity of knowledge sharing and have hitherto not been seen in the literature. It also provides a more nuanced understanding of why both organizations and their people often fail to share knowledge by exploring the role of organizational ignorance.
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Stephen Kelly, Donna Marshall, Helen Walker and John Israilidis
This paper aims to explore the supplier perspective on competitive tendering processes and build on an increasing and developing interest in supplier satisfaction with public…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to explore the supplier perspective on competitive tendering processes and build on an increasing and developing interest in supplier satisfaction with public sector procurement activities.
Design/methodology/approach
Qualitative data was collected from 20 interviews with a variety of suppliers to the UK public sector, which was then analysed using Nvivo and a series of empirically supported propositions developed.
Findings
The findings are combined into an integrated supplier satisfaction model, which explains how a multi-layered set of expectations (past and ideal) and quality dimensions (fairness, ambiguity, unnecessary information, tender focus, relationship irrelevance, unresponsiveness, outcome success) lead to dissatisfaction. This paper also establishes the implications of these judgments (non-response, poor quality and relationship impact) and that they are impacted by comparison to alternatives.
Practical implications
Supplier dissatisfaction can have serious ramifications for public sector buying organisations by reducing the pool of applicants, creating relationship barriers and a disconnect between the tender and the eventual services provided. This paper gives empirically derived advice to managers and policymakers on how to avoid these issues.
Social implications
Ensuring that as wide a pool of possible suppliers can respond to tender requests, means that the services that are provided by the public sector can make the most effective and efficient use of available resources. In addition, small to medium-sized enterprises may be encouraged to overcome their feelings of dissatisfaction and respond more frequently and readily to tender requests.
Originality/value
This paper contributes to the field of public sector procurement and in particular that which looks at increasing supplier satisfaction, by developing a supplier satisfaction model based on supplier generated data, which uses disconfirmation theory to explain the dynamics of how individuals make judgments by comparing perceptions of performance with a multi-layered set of expectations. This paper identifies service quality dimensions that influence satisfaction judgments and the implications of these judgments.
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John Israilidis, Evangelia Siachou, Louise Cooke and Russell Lock
The purpose of this paper is to identify individual variables with an impact on knowledge sharing and explore the under-discussed construct of employees’ ignorance. This can…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to identify individual variables with an impact on knowledge sharing and explore the under-discussed construct of employees’ ignorance. This can enhance the knowledge-sharing process and facilitate the development of greater intellectual capital.
Design/methodology/approach
Eighty-four dependent variables affecting knowledge sharing are analyzed and classified into 11 categories. In addition, the direct effect of employees’ ignorance on knowledge sharing is introduced and empirically investigated in a case study of a multinational organization operating within the aerospace and defense industry.
Findings
The findings suggest that employees’ ignorance may negatively affect their intention to share knowledge, thus leading to poor decision-making and communication in organizations. Employees’ ignorance could also limit the organizational ability to repel external threats, implement innovation and manage future risks.
Originality/value
A classification scheme based on different categories of employees’ ignorance is developed, providing tailor-made recommendations for practitioners facing different types of ill-informed organizational scenarios. Further, the need to shift the emphasis away from the management of knowledge to the management of ignorance is also an important contribution of this paper.
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This study aims to explore the existence of knowledge sabotage in the contemporary organization from the perspective of the target.
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to explore the existence of knowledge sabotage in the contemporary organization from the perspective of the target.
Design/methodology/approach
This study collected and analyzed 172 critical incidents reported by 109 employees who were targets of knowledge sabotage in their organizations.
Findings
Over 50 per cent of employees experienced at least one knowledge sabotage incident. Knowledge sabotage is driven by three factors, namely, gratification, retaliation against other employees and one’s malevolent personality. Knowledge saboteurs are more likely to provide intangible than tangible knowledge. Knowledge sabotage results in extremely negative consequences for individuals, organizations and third parties. Organizations often indirectly facilitate knowledge sabotage among their employees. Both knowledge saboteurs and their targets believe in their innocence – saboteurs are certain that their action was a necessary response to targets’ inappropriate workplace behavior, whereas targets insist on their innocence and hold saboteurs solely responsible.
Practical implications
Organizations should recruit employees with compatible personalities and working styles, introduce inter-employee conflict prevention and resolution procedures, develop anti-knowledge sabotage policies, clearly articulate the individual and organizational consequences of knowledge sabotage and eliminate zero-sum game-based incentives and rewards.
Originality/value
This is the first study documenting knowledge sabotage from the target’s perspective.
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Leander Luiz Klein, Fernando Naranjo, Jacqueline Ann Douglas, Patricia Inês Schwantz and Gabriel Adolfo Garcia
The purpose of this article was to evaluate the causal influence of Lean management practices on knowledge waste within the context of higher education institutions (HEIs). The…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this article was to evaluate the causal influence of Lean management practices on knowledge waste within the context of higher education institutions (HEIs). The peculiarities of knowledge impress upon organizations the need to think about reducing knowledge waste as a crucial practice. The Lean philosophy and practices therefore stand out as an appropriate management perspective, particularly given Lean's focus on waste elimination. However, little is known about the influence of Lean practices on reducing knowledge waste.
Design/methodology/approach
A quantitative research instrument was distributed to professors and technical and administrative staff across three types of HEI in the State of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. The validated and pretested survey was circulated to the target population via an online method to explore eight constructs and 38 items concerning Lean and knowledge and waste.
Findings
The results of the survey indicated that all hypotheses were supported. The sum total of 837 responses showed that the Lean relationships (internal organizational paths) were more obvious where leadership support proved to have a positive effect on continuous improvement, training, and customer involvement. Moreover, the significant and negative effects of the Lean practices studied on knowledge waste was also supported, including for example, the interaction between HEIs and its client base.
Originality/value
HEIs are knowledge generators. Therefore, the necessity of avoiding and reducing knowledge waste is even greater. This study also differentiates itself from the “traditional” knowledge loss studies by investigating knowledge while the employees are still part of an organization and not after they have left taking the knowledge away with them.
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Jana Matošková, Ottó Bartók and Lucie Tomancová
Knowledge sharing becomes crucial in today’s competitive world to foster organizational performance. This paper aims to explore which employee characteristics facilitate knowledge…
Abstract
Purpose
Knowledge sharing becomes crucial in today’s competitive world to foster organizational performance. This paper aims to explore which employee characteristics facilitate knowledge sharing in the organizations and to examine the dimensions of these characteristics.
Design/methodology/approach
Opinion-based questionnaires among employees in Czech companies were applied. The research design in this study was cross-sectional. The hypotheses were tested by Pearson’s correlations and regression analyses.
Findings
The findings support the idea that specific individual employee characteristics increase knowledge sharing in the organization. Four categories of potentially appropriate employee individual characteristics were suggested: social and communication skills; positive work feelings; competences for problem-solving; and employee’s self-efficacy. However, only employee’s positive work feelings and self-efficacy significantly predicted the extent of knowledge sharing in the organization.
Practical implications
The findings offer a basis for future research. The results of the study can be used in recruiting new employees and managerial decision-making. The recruitment methods and the selection methods deployed should enable the firm to attract those whose values are in harmony with the organization’s values. Managers should build a work environment that promotes greater and more trusting ties among employees via organizing social activities for employees, a supervisor’s acceptance of an employee’s autonomy and responsibility and increasing employees’ confidence in their abilities.
Originality/value
This is one of the first studies to investigate dimensions of employee knowledge-oriented characteristics. It supports the idea that some individual employee characteristics boost spontaneous knowledge sharing behaviour.
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Daniel Jung Yue Chun, Wahid Abdul Nabsiah and Cheng Ling Tan
This paper aims to discover why such a public partnership project had been successful with a non-profit third-party alliance such as a smart city consortium (SCC) promoting smart…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to discover why such a public partnership project had been successful with a non-profit third-party alliance such as a smart city consortium (SCC) promoting smart city development.
Design/methodology/approach
This descriptive case study is primarily based on analysing data collected from various texts, public statements, media interviews and three semi-structured interviews with key members involved in the Covid-19 dashboard project.
Findings
The data and analysis reviews that both interpersonal and interorganisational trust, dedication and proactiveness of the leaders at SCC were major contributing factors to why SCC was able to partner with the Hong Kong Government in the Covid-19 dashboard in the first place and that the success was also a direct outcome of effective mass collaborative knowledge management activities.
Research limitations/implications
The research in leadership attributes and activities in the non-profit alliance has been few and this collaborative partnership between the alliance and the government is an example of the importance of further research in smart city leadership.
Practical implications
In deploying projects for mass collaboration and knowledge sharing in smart city development (which is multi-disciplinary in nature). there are still many new and evolving organisational practices and leadership matters that many business leaders and city managers can learn from.
Social implications
Smart city development projects involve the notion of sharing data in an open environment enabled by software and mediating tools. Successful projects such as this Hong Kong Covid-19 dashboard which serves a diverse audience can further promote the importance of an open data policy regime for the benefit of the public.
Originality/value
This case study covers a highly original and unique case study with the leaders at the SCC and representatives from the Hong Kong Government.
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Alexander Serenko and A. Mohammed Abubakar
This study aims to propose and test a model explicating the antecedents and consequences of knowledge sabotage.
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to propose and test a model explicating the antecedents and consequences of knowledge sabotage.
Design/methodology/approach
Data obtained from 330 employees working in the Turkish retail and telecommunication sectors were analyzed by means of the Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling technique.
Findings
Co-worker knowledge sabotage is the key factor driving knowledge sabotage behavior of individual employees, followed by co-worker incivility. Interactional justice suppresses individual knowledge sabotage, while supervisor incivility does not affect it. Co-worker knowledge sabotage reduces job satisfaction of other employees, which, in turn, triggers their voluntary turnover intention. Contrary to a popular belief that perpetrators generally benefit from their organizational misbehavior, the findings indicate that knowledge saboteurs suffer from the consequences of their action because they find it mentally difficult to stay in their current organization. Employees understate their own knowledge sabotage engagement and/or overstate that of others.
Practical implications
Managers should realize that interactional justice is an important mechanism that can thwart knowledge sabotage behavior, promote a civil organizational culture, develop proactive approaches to reduce co-worker incivility and strive towards a zero rate of knowledge sabotage incidents in their organizations. Co-worker incivility and co-worker knowledge sabotage in the workplace are possible inhibitors of intraorganizational knowledge flows and are starting points for job dissatisfaction, which may increase workers’ turnover intention.
Originality/value
This study is among the first to further our knowledge on the cognitive mechanisms linking interactional justice and uncivil organizational behavior with knowledge sabotage and employee outcomes.
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Alexander Serenko and Nick Bontis
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of exchange modes – negotiated, reciprocal, generalized, and productive – on inter-employee knowledge sharing.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of exchange modes – negotiated, reciprocal, generalized, and productive – on inter-employee knowledge sharing.
Design/methodology/approach
Based on the affect theory of social exchange, a theoretical model was developed and empirically tested using a survey of 691 employees from 15 North American credit unions.
Findings
The negotiated mode of knowledge exchange, i.e. when a knowledge contributor explicitly establishes reciprocation conditions with a recipient, develops negative knowledge sharing attitude. The reciprocal mode, i.e. when a knowledge donor assumes that a receiver will reciprocate, has no effect on knowledge sharing attitude. The generalized exchange form, i.e. when a knowledge contributor believes that other organizational members may reciprocate, is weakly related to knowledge sharing attitude. The productive exchange mode, i.e. when a knowledge provider assumes he or she is a responsible citizen within a cooperative enterprise, strongly facilitates the development of knowledge sharing attitude, which, in turn, leads to knowledge sharing intentions.
Practical implications
To facilitate inter-employee knowledge sharing, managers should focus on the development of positive knowledge sharing culture when all employees believe they contribute to a common good instead of expecting reciprocal benefits.
Originality/value
This is one of the first studies to apply the affect theory of social exchange to study knowledge sharing.
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Yanghao Zhu, Yunpeng Xu and Yannan Zhang
The relationship between perceived overqualification and knowledge sharing has always been a hot topic, but scholars have come to different conclusions on this issue. The purpose…
Abstract
Purpose
The relationship between perceived overqualification and knowledge sharing has always been a hot topic, but scholars have come to different conclusions on this issue. The purpose of this study is to integrate conflicting conclusions by considering the moderating role of rewards for knowledge sharing and the mediating role of intrinsic motivation in the relationship between perceived overqualification and knowledge sharing based on self-determination theory.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors collected three-wave survey data from 246 research and development employees in four companies in China.
Findings
The results showed that when rewards for knowledge sharing was higher, employees with perceived overqualification would have higher intrinsic motivation, which could promote their knowledge-sharing behavior. However, when rewards for knowledge sharing was lower, employees with perceived overqualification would have lower intrinsic motivation, thus inhibiting their knowledge-sharing behavior. This result supported the informational function rather than the controlling function of rewards for knowledge sharing.
Originality/value
By considering the important boundary condition of rewards for knowledge sharing, this study reconciles the contradictory conclusions on the relationship between perceived overqualification and knowledge-sharing behavior. At the same time, the authors tell organizations that they can increase the knowledge-sharing behavior of overqualified employees through rewards for knowledge sharing.