Powerful public sector knowledge management: a school district example

Challenges of knowledge management in the public sector: evidence from the King Abdullah Award for Excellence in Jordan

Purpose

The aim of this paper is to undertake an exploration of the challenges related to knowledge management (KM) within public sector organisations in Jordan.

Design/methodology/approach

There was the adoption of a qualitative method to achieve the objective of the study, with content analysis undertaken on ten assessment reports, so the results of the content analysis could be validated. A total of 20 semi-structured interviews were conducted within the sample organisations. The sample was made up of ten public sector organisations that had participated at least twice within the King Abdullah Excellence Award with acknowledgement within their reports of failure to achieve results that were satisfactory for KM.

Findings

KM challenges identified reflect various aspects of different factors, such as organisational structure, culture, KM processes and the evaluation of KM. In practical terms, the main KM-related challenges for the Jordanian public sector are considered to be a lack of a culture of teamwork to support sharing and exchange of knowledge, lack of required documentation for the building of organisational memory needed for processes of KM, lack of training for KM, lack of clear vision and strategy for KM and lack of proper methodologies for the management of internal knowledge and weaknesses in the integration of information and data.

Originality/value

The study puts forward a conceptual model that can be used in assessing the challenges that managers face when they seek to implement KM in organisations within the public sector. The challenges of KM within the public sector have been studied widely, in general; however there is an importance to gaining better understanding of how to overcome those challenges. Compared with most of the existent studies, this particular research has offered detailed, specific insights into challenges for KM within the public sector, along with provision of a conceptual model that other researchers could use in the future.

Improving school performance and student academic orientation: the role of safety-oriented knowledge management and diversity

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to examine the influence of the implementation of safety-oriented knowledge management (KM) processes and student diversity acceptance in schools and the interaction effect of safety-oriented KM processes and student diversity acceptance over school performance and student academic orientation.

Design/methodology/approach

Responses of 977 American schools available in the database of the National Center for Education Statistics were analyzed using hierarchical regression analyses.

Findings

Results show that implementation of safety-oriented KM processes and diversity acceptance in schools have varying effects on school performance and student academic orientation. The impact of knowledge acquisition from parents on the academic achievement of students is positive and stronger in schools that are low in student diversity acceptance than schools that are high in student diversity acceptance.

Originality/value

This study adds value to the KM literature by exploring how KM processes are executed in American schools to improve their performance and students’ academic orientation and how diversity among students alters the strength of the relationships.

Knowledge management in local governments in developing countries: a systematic literature review

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to examine the state of research into knowledge management within local government in developing countries, to identify themes that have been studied and to identify important gaps in the literature that can inform a research agenda going forward.

Design/methodology/approach

A structured literature review method was used in this study. The authors reviewed academic literature published between 2009 and 2019. A total of 15 articles were identified and reviewed.

Findings

The findings reveal that, few authors have contributed to knowledge management within local government in developing countries and there is little international collaboration between authors. The authors found limited methodological and theoretical diversity and rigor in the reviewed work. The review identified themes that have been researched but evidenced a lack of guidelines and frameworks developed to promote knowledge management initiatives within local governments in developing countries. Overall, it was evident that this area was still little explored. As a result, there are many possibilities for future research.

Originality/value

This study provides a comprehensive systematic literature review of papers published on knowledge management in local governments in developing countries, identifying themes that have been studied and gaps for further research.

Knowledge Management and the Political–Pedagogical Project in Brazilian Schools

Knowledge Management as a strategy to improve the quality of the institutional environment can be related to the coordination of activities that create, store and share knowledge. School Management has to deal with different tasks, such as planning, organization, leadership, guidance, monitoring and evaluation of all the processes necessary to ensure the promotion of students’ learning and training. In this context, the Political–Pedagogical Project assists School Management, since it is an important document for the school organization, containing the school’s identity as well as the plan to achieve the best teaching and learning process for the school community. In this sense, the objective of this research was to demonstrate how the Political–Pedagogical Project can promote Knowledge Management at the school level. The methodology used was exploratory and bibliographic research. The results obtained in this paper show that the Political–Pedagogical Project strengthens School Management when it is supported by Knowledge Management, considering that there is an improvement in the promotion of the quality of the organizational environment, as well as the elucidation of effective learning for teachers and students through democratic management.

Digital Transformation and Knowledge Management in the Public Sector

Digitizing public services is, at the moment, an essential necessity for numerous governments around the world. An improved government through digitization will not only have a growing effect on businesses, but it will also be able to intensify citizen engagement and push for economic growth. During the last 10 years more countries have progressively begun to provide digital services to their citizens. Therefore, in order to address this development, the purpose of this paper is to analyze the evolution of the digital government literature in order to describe the aspects of digital transformation in the public sector and how it is related to knowledge management. In this study the methodology is quantitative and it is based on a review and a survey made with the main goal being the estimation from several collected data on how the digital transformation process in the Public Administration takes place and what its relationship is with knowledge management. The review study is based on articles found on Scopus database and it addresses the role that digital government research plays in the theory and practice of knowledge management. In the survey study, 54 employees working for the services of the two governmental areas of the Portuguese Ministry of the Environment were surveyed. The results show that the research on the theme is still at an exploratory stage due to the lack of studies relating digital government to knowledge management effectiveness in the public sector. The results also show that the success of digital government seems to be related with the quality of the organizations’ knowledge management, complementing each other for significant improvements in the public sector. In terms of originality, this study aims to contribute and stimulate data-driven discussions regarding the impacts of the digital transformation in the public sector and their relation with the implementation of knowledge management practices. The results offer insights into future research needs.

Knowledge Management and the Sustainable Development of Social Work

The growing shortage of skilled social workers, accompanied by an ageing population and the increasing number of fragile, elderly individuals that require social services, poses a serious challenge for our society. The magnitude of this problem is seen in the various predictions hypothesizing that, globally, there is likely to be a shortfall of millions of social workers for the successful provision of social services. To make matters worse, there are not enough social work students to fill that void, whereas the existing employee turnover is another serious concern for the social work field. Policy makers in many countries do not yet understand the pattern of growing needs and have no tool to forecast the future increase in educational requirements for creating a pool of adequately skilled social workers. In addition to this, understanding the patterns of workforce entrance and exit for social workers and the dynamics of transition becomes important for national policy and decision makers. In our paper, we build on current research about knowledge management in social work settings to demonstrate that knowledge management can have a positive impact in helping to fulfil the important role of social work in any ageing society. With our research, we contribute to the underdeveloped literature about knowledge management in the public sector and especially in social work settings and to the knowledge-based view of the organization. We present a multiple decrement model of social workers’ entrance and transition from social work student and social worker trainee to fully productive social worker, to their exit, whether by changed profession, retirement or death. We argue that the availability of social workers in a national economy depends on the development and operationalization of appropriate policies, where knowledge management can be influential. Our model allows measuring the quality of the national policy system related to the social work profession, something which has not been achieved yet, and shows how knowledge management solutions can positively influence the whole field of social work. We apply an objective measuring tool, grounded in an already developed actuarial–mathematical method. Our case relies on the collection and analysis of relevant data found in publicly available statistical reports for Slovenia. Existing data enables us to provide assumptions on how to better forecast the transition of social workers.

Knowledge management practices and systems in county governments in developing countries

Purpose

While several studies have indicated the critical role played by the ability of countries to exploit knowledge as an economic resource, it would appear that there have been very few studies conducted on understanding the practices adopted by governments in relation to exploring knowledge, particularly in Africa. The purpose of this study is to investigate the prevailing knowledge management practices and technological solutions used by governments to support knowledge management.

Design/methodology/approach

To address the research objective of this study, semi-structured interviews and document analysis were used. The interviews were conducted with both senior and junior county officials from five counties in Kenya, with a total of 31 county officials participating. Further, various county documents were analysed both to seek convergence and corroborate the interview findings.

Findings

The study findings revealed that no systematic knowledge management practices existed in the county governments in Kenya, which were investigated. On the few occasions that the study did find evidence of knowledge management practices, these practices were isolated, informal, uncoordinated and rarely documented and/or communicated. Furthermore, the study found that there were inadequate policy frameworks in place to support knowledge management practices. The study also revealed a scarcity of relevant technological solutions tailored to support knowledge management practices.

Research limitations/implications

It was, thus, hoped that this research would promote an understanding of the prevailing local circumstances that hinder the effective utilisation of knowledge management practices and systems. The study recommends that county governments develop the capabilities required for creating and sustaining an enabling knowledge management environment through frameworks and policies that foster knowledge management practices and systems. The findings have practical implications for the way in which county governments in Kenya and other developing countries may improve their knowledge management practices and adopt appropriate technological solutions to support such practices.

Originality/value

Much of the existing literature on knowledge management is focussed on exploring such practices in large businesses. Studies centred specifically on the analysis of knowledge management practices in county governments in Africa, and how technological solutions may be used to build such practices are conspicuously lacking in the relevant literature.

Building practitioner networks to support dissemination and implementation of evidence-based programs in community settings

Insufficient capacity to use evidence-based programs (EBPs) limits the impact of community-based organizations (CBOs) to improve population health and address health disparities. PLANET MassCONECT was a community-based participatory research (CBPR) project conducted in three Massachusetts communities. Researchers and practitioners co-created an intervention to build capacity among CBO staff members to systematically find, adapt, and evaluate EBPs. The project supported development of trainee social networks and this cross-sectional study examines the association between network engagement and EBP usage, an important goal of the capacity-building program. Trainee cohorts were enrolled from June 2010 to April 2012 and we collected community-specific network data in late 2013. The relationship of interest was communication among network members regarding the systematic approach to program planning presented in the intervention. For Communities A, B, and C, 39/59, 36/61, and 50/59 trainees responded to our survey, respectively. We conducted the full network analysis in Community C. The average degree, or number of connections with other trainees, is a useful marker of engagement; respondents averaged 6.6 reported connections. Degree was associated with recent use of EBPs, in a linear regression, adjusting for important covariates. The results call for further attention to practitioner networks that support the use of research evidence in community settings. Consideration of key contextual factors, including resource levels, turnover rates, and community complexity will be vital for success.

Strategic knowledge management and evolving local government

Purpose

The characteristics of new public management and new public governance are well known, but their impact on managerial knowledge needs and the implementation of knowledge management in local government remains unclear. The purpose of this paper is to elaborate the key elements of a public organization’s knowledge strategy and shows how knowledge management can support public management.

Design/methodology/approach

A case study on the application of an action research process was conducted to study how the City of Tampere in Finland aimed to overcome challenges in utilizing performance information by applying the ideas of knowledge management.

Findings

The study suggests that a holistic knowledge management strategy promotes the use of performance information by providing a systematic management framework for gathering and utilizing the information.

Practical implications

Four factors appear critical for strategic knowledge management in local government. First, it should be driven by the city’s strategy. Second, it should be carefully integrated into the general management system. Third, clear processes and responsibilities for refining the data are needed. Fourth, the quality of the data must be guaranteed. The results also emphasize the roles of management culture and continuous performance dialogue.

Originality/value

This paper makes two contributions. First, it extends the analysis of a knowledge management strategy to public management, and second, it provides a practical illustration of the development process, where knowledge was put into prime focus in developing public management.

Non-profit organizations’ use of tools and technologies for knowledge management: a comparative study

Purpose

This paper aims to present findings from a study conducted with non-profit organizations (NPOs) in Canada and Australia, focusing on the use of tools and technologies for knowledge management (KM). NPOs of different sizes and operating in different sectors were studied in two large-scale national surveys. The paper is useful to both practitioners in NPOs for understanding tool use for KM activities and to scholars to further develop the KM-NPO domain.

Design/methodology/approach

Two nation-wide surveys were conducted with Canadian and Australian NPOs of different sizes (i.e. very small to large-sized organizations) and operating in different sectors (e.g. animal welfare, education and research, culture and arts). An analysis of responses explores the use of tools and technologies by NPOs. Respondents identified the tools and technologies they used from nine pre-determined themes (quantitative data) plus an additional category of “other tools” (qualitative data), which allowed for free text responses. The quantitative data were analyzed using both descriptive and inferential statistical techniques and the qualitative data were analyzed using a thematic analysis approach.

Findings

Quantitative data analysis provides key findings including the popularity of physical, print documents across all NPO sizes and sectors. Statistical tests revealed, for example, there is no significant difference for the same-sized organizations in Canadian and Australian NPOs in the use of tools and technologies for KM activities. However, there were differences in the use of tools and technologies across different sizes of NPOs. The qualitative analysis revealed a number of additional tools and technologies and also provided contextual details about the nature of tool use. The paper provides specific examples of the types of tools and technologies NPOs use.

Originality/value

The paper has both practical and academic contributions, including areas for future research. The findings on the use of KM tools and technologies by NPOs contribute to the growing body of literature in the KM domain in general and also build the literature base for the understudied KM-NPO domain. NPOs will also find the paper useful in better understanding tools and technological implementation for KM activities. The study is unique not only in the content focus on KM for NPOs but also for the comparative study of activities in two countries.

Knowledge sharing through inter-organizational knowledge sharing systems

Purpose

Inter-organizational knowledge sharing systems (IOKSS) are crucial for scientific, social and economic development especially in knowledge-intensive sectors. Knowledge sharing processes and systems will not only be challenged by individual and organizational factors but also by social, technical and political inter-organizational factors. This paper aims to investigate the impact of knowledge worker, peer, IOKSS, organization and sector factors on knowledge workers’ intention to share knowledge through IOKSS. Knowledge workers are the key stakeholders that enable the survival of IOKSS.

Design/methodology/approach

Data were collected, through a questionnaire, from knowledge workers in the education and the health sectors.

Findings

This study found that the human factors (related to knowledge workers and their peers) have significant direct impact on intention to share knowledge through IOKSS. Other factors, such as IOKSS system, organization and sector factors showed indirect impacts on knowledge workers’ intention to share knowledge through IOKSS. Such investigation can be very valuable for developing countries as technological innovations such as IOKSS can be crucial for training and building human resources, and national knowledge management.

Originality/value

Little is empirically known about the enablers of sharing knowledge in systems that connect organizations in horizontal linkage in a specific sector or industry. The study also adds value to under investigated region.

The study of knowledge management capability and organizational effectiveness in Taiwanese public utility: the mediator role of organizational commitment

Many studies on the significance of knowledge management (KM) in the business world have been performed in recent years. Public sector KM is a research area of growing importance. Findings show that few authors specialize in the field and there are several obstacles to developing a cohesive body of literature. In order to examine their effect of the knowledge management capability [which consists of knowledge infrastructure capability (KIC) and knowledge process capability (KPC)] and organizational effectiveness (OE), this study conducted structural equation modeling to test the hypotheses with 302 questionnaires of Taipei Water Department staffs in Taiwan. In exploring the model developed in this study, the findings show that there exists a significant relationship between KPC and OE, while KIC and OE are insignificant. These results are different from earlier findings in the literature. Furthermore, this research proposed organizational commitment (OC) as the mediator role. The findings suggest that only OC has significant mediating effects between KPC and OE, whereas this is not the case for KIC and OE. It is noteworthy that the above findings inspired managers, in addition to construct the knowledge infrastructure more than focus on social media tools on the Internet, which engage knowledge workers in "peer-to-peer" knowledge sharing across organizational and company boundaries. The results are likely to help organizations (particularly public utilities) sharpen their knowledge management strategies. Academic and practical implications were drawn based on the findings.

Public sector knowledge management: a structured literature review

Purpose

– This paper aims to review and critique the public sector knowledge management (KM) literature, offers an overview of the state of public sector KM research and outlines a future research agenda.

Design/methodology/approach

– Articles published in KM journals are analyzed using a structured literature review methodology. The paper analyzes 180 papers published within ten journals specializing in the field of KM.

Findings

– Public sector KM is a research area of growing importance. Findings show that few authors specialize in the field and there are several obstacles to developing a cohesive body of literature. Low levels of international cooperation among authors and international comparisons mean that the literature is fragmented. Some research topics and some geographical areas within the public sector theme are over-analyzed, while others are under-investigated. Additionally, academic researchers should re-think their methodological approach if they wish to make significant contributions to the literature and work toward developing research which impacts practice in conjunction with practitioners.

Originality/value

– The paper presents a comprehensive structured literature review of the articles published in KM journals. The paper’s findings can offer insights into future research needs.

Improving Municipal Information and Knowledge Management Capabilities: Case Study

This study aims to better understand the process of knowledge management capabilities (KMC) development at the municipal context to assess its impact on organisational performance. This process is a part of the organisational learning school that promotes organisational learning processes and knowledge accumulation that could be spread over time and in different levels of maturity. Thus, using the KMC maturity model (KMCMM) which has five levels of maturity, this study helps to better understand the phenomenon of KMC in the municipal context.

Informal training in staff networks to support dissemination of health promotion programs

PURPOSE

To study informal skill transfer via staff networks as a complement to formal training among afterschool childcare providers implementing a health promotion program.

DESIGN

Cross-sectional, sociometric network analysis.

SETTING

Boston Young Men's Christian Association (YMCA) afterschool programs implementing the iPLAY program.

PARTICIPANTS

All 91 staff members at 20 sites were eligible; 80 completed the survey (88% response rate).

MEASURES

At the network level, network density measured system-level connectedness. At the staff level, the independent variable was out degree, the number of individuals to whom respondents noted a program-related connection. The dependent variable was skill gains, the number of key implementation skills gained from the network.

ANALYSIS

We mapped the staff program-related social network. We utilized multiple linear regression to estimate the relationship between out degree and skill gains, and we adjusted for clustering of staff in sites.

RESULTS

Most staff (77%) reported gaining at least one skill from the network, but only 2% of potential network connections were established. The regression model showed that out degree (i.e., number of program-related contacts) was significantly associated with skill gains (beta = .48, p < .01) independent of other variables.

CONCLUSION

Informal skill transfer in staff networks may be a useful complement to formal training for implementation of health promotion programs, but informal skill transfer was likely underutilized in this network. Future research employing longitudinal and/or multisite data should examine these findings in greater detail.

Knowledge management: implications for human service organizations

Knowledge management has recently taken a more prominent role in the management of organizations as worker knowledge and intellectual capital are recognized as critical to organizational success. This analysis explores the literature of knowledge management including the individual level of tacit and explicit knowledge, the networks and social interactions utilized by workers to create and share new knowledge, and the multiple organizational and managerial factors associated with effective knowledge management systems. Based on the role of organizational culture, structure, leadership, and reward systems, six strategies are identified to assist human service organizations with implementing new knowledge management systems.

Strategies for transforming human service organizations into learning organizations: knowledge management and the transfer of learning

This analysis describes the nature of a learning organization, defines the boundaries of evidence-informed practice, identifies the elements of knowledge management, and specifies the elements of the transfer of learning. A set of principles are presented to guide managers in transforming human service organizations into learning organizations along with a set of implementation strategies that can inform participants of the values and benefits of knowledge management. This analysis features concepts and principles adapted and synthesized from research in diverse fields, such as evidence-based health care and the for-profit sector related to learning organizations, knowledge management, and the transfer of learning.