Knowledge management orientation, innovativeness, and competitive intensity: evidence from Polish SMEs

Knowledge management in SMEs: a follow-up literature review

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to structure existing research on knowledge management (KM) in small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to offer a comprehensive overview of research strands and topics in KM in SMEs to determine their evolution over time.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper, which is considered a follow-up literature review, is based on a systematic literature review that covers 180 scientific papers that were published since the review paper by Durst and Edvardsson in 2012 that covered 36 papers.

Findings

The findings of this review and those of the aforementioned review are brought together in the form of an overview that structures research on KM in SMEs based on themes that, in turn, allow the derivation of promising research directions and research questions aimed at structuring future research on KM in SMEs.

Originality/value

By combining the findings of this review with the findings from the review published in this journal in 2012, this paper offers, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, the most comprehensive literature review on KM in SMEs produced to date.

Gender Differences in the Relationship between Interpersonal Trust and Innovative Behavior: The Mediating Effects of Affective Organizational Commitment and Knowledge-Sharing

The innovative behavior of employees is the micro-foundation of enterprise innovation. The objective of this study was to assess the role of gender differences in the effect of interpersonal trust on employee innovation and the mediating roles of organizational commitment and knowledge-sharing. This study tested research hypotheses with a multi-group structural equation model, using data collected from 688 participants in Shanghai, China. The results showed that interpersonal trust had significant impacts on affective organizational commitment, knowledge-sharing and innovation behavior. Affective organizational commitment and knowledge-sharing mediated the effect of interpersonal trust on employee innovation. Furthermore, the direct impact of interpersonal trust on innovative behavior was significantly higher for women than for men, whereas males’ affective organizational commitment increased their knowledge-sharing behaviors. In addition, there were no significant gender differences in the effect of interpersonal trust on organizational commitment and in the effect of knowledge-sharing on innovative behavior. These results confirmed that interpersonal trust was more important for female knowledge-sharing and innovative behavior, and affective organizational commitment was more important for male knowledge-sharing.

Knowledge Management Process, Entrepreneurial Orientation, and Performance in SMEs: Evidence from an Emerging Economy

Knowledge management (KM), a process of acquiring, converting, applying, and protecting knowledge assets, is crucial for value creation. The purpose of this research is to empirically test the relationship between KM processes (knowledge acquisition, knowledge conversion, knowledge application, and knowledge protection), entrepreneurial orientation (EO), and firm performance. Data were collected from 159 small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Malaysia using a cross-sectional survey. This research uses partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) and WarpPLS version 7.0 to test the model. The results show that three of four KM dimensions: knowledge acquisition, knowledge conversion, and knowledge protection are positively related to performance. Moreover, EO has been found to moderate the relationship between knowledge application and performance positively.

Knowledge-withholding behaviours among IT specialists: the roles of job insecurity, work overload and supervisor support

The purpose of this paper is to explore factors that have an impact on information technology (IT) specialists' concealment of knowledge from their supervisors. A survey questionnaire was used to collect data from 118 IT specialists from a large Polish software company. The data analyses were conducted using partial least-squares path modelling. The results revealed that perceived work overload (PWO) is positively related to perceived job insecurity (PJI), and that PJI is positively related to vertical knowledge withholding (VKW). Contrary to expectations, no significant relation was found between PWO and VKW. Moreover, there is a negative relationship between supervisor support (SS) and VKW. This study introduces the concept of VKW and places it in the context of the relationship between subordinates and superiors. Managers can use the results to limit knowledge withholding among IT specialists. To confirm achieved results, future research can use larger samples and be conducted in different sectors.

Risk Management Practices and Firm Performance with a Mediating Role of Business Model Innovation. Observations from Jordan

This study focused on scrutinizing the influence of Enterprises Risk Management (ERM) on firm performance with a mediating role of Business Model Innovation (BMI). For the purpose, data from 228 Jordanian firms was collected and analyzed. The results indicated that the ERM practices have a significant influence on BMI and financial firm’s performance. The BMI significantly contributed to the financial and nonfinancial performance, whereas it displayed insignificant effects regarding environmental performance. The BMI fully mediated the relationship between ERM practices and financial performance, where a partial mediating effect was observed for the path between ERM practices and nonfinancial performance, while showed no mediating role between the ERM practices and environmental performance. Economies of countries like Jordan are hereby urged to implement the formal ERM practices and to financially educate their top management teams to apply the BMI to gain first-rate performance. This study also encourages the researchers from other countries to extend this model to their economies to unleash useful insights.

SMEs strategic networks and innovative performance: a relational design and methodology for knowledge sharing

Purpose

In the context of resource scarcity, the affiliation of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to strategic networks has emerged as a fruitful path towards knowledge sharing as a reaction to fierce competition and with a view to enhance their innovative performance. In this framework, this paper aims to investigate the influence exerted by a specific relational design (i.e. types of strategic networks) and methodology (i.e. channels and content) of knowledge sharing on SMEs innovative performance.

Design/methodology/approach

A questionnaire-based survey with 102 top managers of European SMEs in the industrial field was conducted from June to August 2019 and a partial least squares structural equation modelling technique was used. The database was initially filtered to ensure the adequacy of the sample and data was analysed using the statistics software package SmartPLS 3.0.

Findings

The results concluded that the structural model explains 38.5% of the variance in SMEs innovative performance, indicating the positive effects exerted by offline and online and by competitive knowledge sharing on the dependent variable.

Research implications

The study has both theoretical and practical implications in that it sets out a reference point for the key performance indicators for strategic networks structure, formation and development and, implicitly, for the selection of the most efficient relational design and methodology.

Originality/value

The pivotal originality elements reside in the advancement of a more comprehensive conceptual and structural model combining a two-fold operationalization of SMEs strategic networks (founded on business abilities or on the personality of the partner) and in the investigation of knowledge transfer processes at the inter-organizational levels within a context-centric approach.