The impact of knowledge management practices on organizational performance

Exploring the contextual factors affecting financial shared service implementation and firm performance

Purpose

Although the financial shared service (FSS) mode has become a well-established organizational arrangement, current information system (IS) research remains limited and mixed. The purpose of this study is to narrow research gaps in the literature on shared services from an FSS practice perspective. The following research questions guide this study: (1) what are the important antecedents of FSS implementation? (2) what is the impact of FSS implementation on firm performance?

Design/methodology/approach

Drawing on the technology–organization–environment (TOE) framework and previous innovation studies, this study explores the impact of FSS implementation on firm performance. A questionnaire survey was conducted on Chinese firms using partial least squares (PLS) for data analysis.

Findings

The authors find technological, organizational and environmental factors affect the extent and depth of FSS implementation. The empirical results show that relative advantage, compatibility, top management support, managerial obstacles and competitive pressure significantly affect FSS implementation, but bandwagon pressure does not have a direct impact on it. Top management support is the most important factor, and managerial obstacles and compatibility are controllable and manageable factors for firms. The study confirms that FSS improves the financial and non-financial performance of firms significantly, and the degree of improvement in non-financial is greater than that in financial performance.

Practical implications

A comprehension of the key factors influencing FSS implementation will help companies predict weaknesses in their implementation plan and design suitable strategies to handle deployment to achieve these benefits. Managers can make a comprehensive decision regarding the long-term development of combining FSS and the suitability of companies.

Originality/value

The findings contribute to the shared services implementation theory by identifying a set of theoretical factors that shape a firm's shared service implementation. This study provides empirical support to gauge the impact of FSS implementation on firm performance and provides new evidence for a shared-service payoff study. Moreover, the study extends the applicability of the TOE framework and the balanced scorecard (BSC) viewpoint to the FSS implementation field.

Implementation of a Knowledge Management System in Mental Health and Addictions: Mixed Methods Case Study

BACKGROUND

Mental health and addictions (MHA) care is complex and individualized and requires coordination across providers and areas of care. Knowledge management is an essential facilitator and common challenge in MHA services.

OBJECTIVE

This paper aimed to describe the development of a knowledge management system (KMS) and the associated processes in 1 MHA program. We also aimed to examine the uptake and use, satisfaction, and feedback on implementation among a group of pilot testers.

METHODS

This project was conducted as a continuous quality-improvement initiative. Integrated stakeholder engagement was used to scope the content and design the information architecture to be implemented using a commercially available knowledge management platform. A group of 30 clinical and administrative staff were trained and tested with the KMS over a period of 10 weeks. Feedback was collected via surveys and focus groups. System analytics were used to characterize engagement. The content, design, and full-scale implementation planning of the KMS were refined based on the results.

RESULTS

Satisfaction with accessing the content increased from baseline to after the pilot. Most testers indicated that they would recommend the KMS to a colleague, and satisfaction with KMS functionalities was high. A median of 7 testers was active each week, and testers were active for a median of 4 days over the course of the pilot. Focus group themes included the following: the KMS was a solution to problems for staff members, functionality of the KMS was important, quality content matters, training was helpful and could be improved, and KMS access was required to be easy and barrier free.

CONCLUSIONS

Knowledge management is an ongoing need in MHA services, and KMSs hold promise in addressing this need. Testers in 1 MHA program found a KMS that is easy to use and would recommend it to colleagues. Opportunities to improve implementation and increase uptake were identified. Future research is needed to understand the impact of KMSs on quality of care and organizational efficiency.

Evaluating the adoption of cybersecurity and its influence on organizational performance

Cyberattacks negatively impact the performance of enterprises all around the globe. While organizations invest more in cybersecurity to avoid cyberattacks, studies on the factors affecting their overall cybersecurity adoption and awareness are sparse. In this paper, by integrating the diffusion of innovation theory (DOI), technology acceptance model (TAM), and technology-organization-environment (TOE) with the balanced scorecard approach, we propose a comprehensive set of factors that influence cybersecurity adoption and assess the effects of these factors on organizational performance. Data are collected through a survey of IT experts in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the United Kingdom, with 147 valid responses. Structural equation modeling based on a statistical package for the social sciences (SPSS) was used to assess the model. The findings identify and confirm the importance of eight factors affecting SMEs' cybersecurity adoption. Moreover, cybersecurity technology adoption is found to positively impacts organizational performance. The proposed framework depicts variables influencing cybersecurity technology adoption and assesses their importance. The outcomes of this study provide a basis for future research and can be adopted by IT and cybersecurity managers to identify the most appropriate cybersecurity technologies that positively impact their company's performance.

Adapting and validating global knowledge branding scales in the education services sector

Purpose

The education services sector faces ever-changing global market dynamics with creative disruptions. Building knowledge brands can push the higher education sector beyond its geographical boundaries into the global arena. This study aims to identify key constructs, their theoretical background and dimensions that aid in building a global knowledge brand. The authors' research focuses on adapting and validating scales for global knowledge and education services brands from well-established academic literature.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors have adopted a mixed methodology approach and a systematic literature review. Authors interviewed 18 subject matter experts as part of content and face validity to arrive at select constructs, dimensions and items. Quantitative methods with random sampling were adopted as the primary methodology. Initially, the survey was administered to 390 students to test preliminary results. The survey was also administered to 5,112 students at a later part of this study. Valid responses stood at 3,244 with a 63% response rate. Further, the authors conducted confirmatory factor analysis, exploratory factor analysis and structural equation modeling to test the reliability and validity of scales. This study analyzed composite reliability, convergent validity and discriminant validity to finalize items for scales. The authors also validated the hypotheses based on the discriminant validity assessment scores.

Findings

Authors' key research findings are that academic stimulus, campus infrastructure and student intent play a significant role in campus culture and events design and experience at campus. Authors were able to bring out 16 key constructs and 55 critical dimensions vital to global education services brand building. This study also adapted and validated 99 items that meet construct validity and composite reliability criteria. This study also highlights that constructs such as student intent, academic stimulus, campus infrastructure scalability, selection mechanism, pedagogical content knowledge, brand identity, events experience and campus culture play a vital role in global brand recognition.

Research limitations/implications

The authors' work is fairly generalizable to education services and the higher education sector. However, this study must be extrapolated and empirically validated in other industry sectors. The research implications of this study are that it aided the authors in building theoretical background for student brand loyalty theory, student expectation theory and study loyalty theory. This study adds to the body of knowledge by contributing to theoretical concepts on students, knowledge culture, events, infrastructure and branding. Researchers can adopt the scales proposed in this study to build research models in higher education branding. This study acts as a catalyst for building theories in education services areas. Researchers can delve deep into proposed research aspects of campus infrastructure, knowledge infrastructure, campus knowledge culture, events design and events experience.

Practical implications

This study aids educators and brand managers to develop global education services and optimize their effort and budget. Administrators in the education services sector must focus on practical aspects of student perception, campus infrastructure, culture and events experience. Practically administrators can reorient their efforts based on this study to achieve global brand recognition.

Social implications

This study highlights that students are not customers but are co-creators of value in the education sector. This study provides scales and dimensions needed to build co-creation frameworks and models.

Originality/value

Most research in higher education branding has not covered wider aspects of global brand building. Existing theories proposed in higher education and education services articles cover only narrower aspects of campus infrastructure, culture, events design and branding. This study presents a comprehensive list of critical factors that play a vital role in global knowledge brand building. This study highlights the constructs and scales integral to building a global education services brand.

An Investigation into the Effect of Knowledge Management on Employee Retention in the Telecom Sector

Employees in the telecom sector are knowledge workers and, thus, managers, HR professionals, and policymakers in the industry need to retain them through knowledge management policies. It is against this premise that this study investigated the effect of knowledge management on employee retention in the telecom sector. Research design employed in this study is a cross-sectional survey with an accessible population of thirty telecom companies in the southeastern region of Nigeria using a simple random sampling technique. The sample size was determined with the Krejcie and Morgan sample size determination table. A questionnaire was used as an instrument for data collection. Respondents’ profiles were analysed with frequency distribution while the formulated hypotheses were analysed with linear regression. The study found that knowledge management dimensions have a significant effect on the measures of employee retention. The study concludes that knowledge management measured in terms of knowledge acquisition, knowledge storage, and knowledge sharing predicted employee retention that is measured by supervisor support, coworkers support, and flexible working arrangements. One of the implications of this study is that managers of telecom companies should liaise with their board of directors to make funds available that would be used to train employees to acquire relevant knowledge that is needed in the telecom industry.

Predicting Innovation Capability through Knowledge Management in the Banking Sector

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of knowledge management on innovation capability in the banking sector. Research methodology: Cross-sectional research design was employed in this study as it supports the use of questionnaire for data collection. Fifteen deposit money banks constitute the accessible population. Questionnaire was used as an instrument for data collection. A sample size of 272 was drawn from the overall population of 920. Overall, 259 staff participated in the study. Demographic characteristics of participants were analysed with frequency distribution while linear regression was used to analyse formulated hypotheses with the aid SPSS. Findings: This study found that knowledge management has significant positive effects on innovation capability. Research limitations: The research limitation is associated with cross-sectional survey and geographical scope. Future studies should employ longitudinal survey that support data collection for a year. Secondly, future studies should be carried out in other countries other than Africa. Practical implications: The implication of the finding is that managers and directors of banks should encourage knowledge management practices in their workplaces as this has proven by this study to improve innovation capability in terms of marketing innovation capability, product innovation capability and process innovation capability. Originality/Value: There is no research that has investigated the effects of knowledge management on innovation capability. Thus, this study provides new insight on promoting innovation capability through knowledge management.

Relationship between human resources strategies and organizational performance based on the balanced scorecard in a public hospital in Iran: a cross-sectional study

BACKGROUND

Today, due to the complex environment and rapidly changing of health industry, hospitals should optimize their organizational performance to achieve a competitive advantage. One of the important factors for achieving a competitive advantage is effective human resource management through the application of appropriate human resources strategies. This study investigated the relationship between human resources strategies and organizational performance based on balanced scorecard.

METHODS

A cross-sectional study was conducted among clinical and administrative staff in a public hospital in Isfahan province, Iran. All eligible staff entered the study (n=200). Data were collected using two self-reported questionnaires during July 2018. The main questionnaire contained 32 items that investigated human resources strategies (including seven types of strategies) and organizational performance based on the balanced scorecard approach. Data were analyzed via Pearson correlation coefficient and multivariate regression using SPSS/21 software (P<0.05).

RESULTS

In this study, 154 questionnaires were completed and returned (return rate=77%). Human resources strategies and organizational performance were evaluated at the intermediate level. There was a significant positive correlation between human resources strategies and organizational performance (r=0.73, p=0.001). The organizational performance in learning & growth perspective had the highest correlation (r=0.669, p=0.001) with human resources strategies while the financial perspective had the lowest (r=0.455, p=0.001). Multivariate regression analysis showed that all human resources strategies were effective on organizational performance (R=0.998, R2=0.997, ADJ.R2=0.997). Staff training and development strategy (Beta=0. 265, p=0.000), staff compensation & reward strategy (Beta =0.212, p= 0.000) and recruitment strategy (Beta = 0.208, B, P=0.000) had the greatest impact on organizational performance, respectively.

CONCLUSIONS

To improve hospital performance (especially in non financial perspectives), the development of human resources strategies (especially staff training and development strategy, staff compensation & reward strategy, and compensation strategy) can be considered by hospital managers. The findings of this study can be used for developing hospital performance in a similar context.

Key Performance Indicators Selection through an Analytic Network Process Model for Tooling and Die Industry

In the last few decades, the fast technological development has caused high competitiveness among companies, encouraging a pursuit for strategies that allow them to gain competitive advantage, such as the monitoring of performance by using key performance indicators (KPIs). However, its selection process is complex since there are several KPIs available to evaluate performance and different relationships between them. To overcome this challenge, the use of a multiple criteria decision-making model (MCDM) was proposed, namely the analytic network process (ANP) through which a reduced number of them are prioritized. To identify which KPIs are suitable for the press cast and die manufacturing industry, a literature review was made, and 58 unique KPIs were identified. Thus, to validate the proposed methodology, a case study was carried out in an automotive press molding industry. With the implementation of the proposed ANP model it was possible to identify 9 KPIs that ensure the correct molding process monitoring, while being aligned with the Balanced Scorecard criteria. The results show that the proposed model is suitable for selecting KPIs for the molding industry.

A model of service supply chain sustainability assessment using fuzzy methods and factor analysis in oil and gas industry

Purpose

The main objective of this study is to present a conceptual model of sustainable product service supply chain (SPSSC) performance assessment in the oil and gas industry.

Design/methodology/approach

Based on an in-depth study of the previous literature, the indicators related to PSSC performance assessment were determined. Then, exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis were applied to identify and confirm the sub-criteria and criteria pertaining to the proposed model.

Findings

The obtained results identify ten criteria related to the proposed model as follows: “Environmental performance”, “Customer performance”, “financial performance”, “Information technology Performance”, “Social Performance”, “Risk performance”, “Logistics performance”, “Operational performance”, “Organizational performance” and “performance of innovation and growth”.

Research limitations/implications

As the present research was conducted in the Iranian context, caution should be taken regarding the generalizability of the obtained results.

Originality/value

Based on a set of the identified criteria, this study proposes a conceptual model of the PSSC performance assessment in the oil and gas industry which hopefully could be useful for other organizations in this industry and other organizations in other parts of the world.

Identification and prioritization of critical success factors of knowledge management implementation using a novel hybrid group decision-making model

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to identify and prioritize the critical success factors (CSFs) of knowledge management (KM) implementation through a novel hybrid model, namely, Fuzzy Delphi method (FDM), interpretive structural modeling (ISM) and revised Simos, which is one of group decision-making (GDM) approaches.

Design/methodology/approach

The CSFs of KM implementation were identified through a systematic literature review. FDM was adopted to determine the CSFs in the Iranian oil industry. Then, a novel hybrid model consisting of ISM and revised Simos techniques were used to classify and prioritize the CSFs.

Findings

The obtained results suggest that there are 13 CSFs of KM implementation. The result of ISM shows that the CSFs of KM implementation were classified into five levels. The result of revised Simos reveals that the “human resources management” obtained the highest priority and “leadership commitment and support” and “intellectual capital” ranked second and third, respectively.

Research limitations/implications

As this research was performed in the Iranian oil industry, caution should be taken regarding the generalizability of the obtained results.

Practical implications

The top managers of the surveyed companies could get acquainted with CSFs of KM implementation in their organization and use a GDM technique that has various advantages to solve the relevant problems.

Originality/value

This paper provides a twofold contribution to expand KM and GDM literature and to the best knowledge of the authors, it is a novel hybrid GDM model of its kind.

Sustainability Performance of Organization: Mediating Role of Knowledge Management

Research about sustainable performance and its impact on the organization’s economic, social, and environmental development has attracted the attention of many scholars. However, the research investigating the relationship between sustainable performance from traditional organizations based on local culture is still underdeveloped. This study aimed to examine the relationship among organizational culture and leadership styles with knowledge management and sustainable performance. Moreover, this study investigates knowledge management’s role as a mediating variable in the relationship between organizational culture, leadership style, and sustainable performance. This study adopted a quantitative approach using the purposive sampling method with a questionnaire distributed to 99 respondents in Bali Province, Indonesia. The analysis technique was SEM-PLS. The results revealed that organizational culture and transformational leadership have significant effects on knowledge management. This study also proves that knowledge management mediates the relationship between organizational culture and sustainable performance, as well as the relationship between leadership style and sustainable performance. Theoretically, this study confirms the knowledge-based theory about knowledge management practices and sustainability performance. The present study also highlights the characteristics of organizational culture in traditional organizations and the effectiveness of transformational leadership to achieve sustainable organizational performance. Practically, the results provide insights to aid governments and regulators in continuously implementing knowledge management to achieve sustainable performance.

Knowledge Management and Sustainable Balanced Scorecard: Practical Application to a Service SME

Many works highlight the importance and added value of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in companies, as well as the role of Knowledge Management (KM) for their revitalization, but even more important is to ensure that all efforts and resources are aligned with the organization’s strategic objectives (Balanced Scorecard, BSC). The aim of this work is to integrate BSC, CSR and KM based on the results of two previous researches: one on BSC–CSR and the other on KM, both of a projective nature (description-action-contrast). The research carried out has made it possible to identify 45 KM indicators, 102 CSR indicators and their corresponding correlations with the strategic objectives and perspectives of the BSC. In addition, an Excel tool was designed and developed for SMEs that is customizable, intuitive and useful for decision-making, which allowed us to contrast the obtained results.

A hierarchal model of coding knowledge towards facilitating knowledge transfer in organizations

Purpose

This paper aims to present a hierarchal and operational model of coding knowledge towards facilitating the transformation of knowledge in organizations.

Design/methodology/approach

The methodology used, is based on collaborative participation in knowledge coding that is widely used in large settings such as Wikipedia.

Findings

Knowledge coding means the transfer of knowledge into a model which can be stored and shared. According to this definition, Knowledge can be accepted as a set of facts and the relationships among them. Through the suggested hierarchical model, primarily facts and initial entities are determined and knowledge record begins with the start of recording routines. In general, each routine is made up of simpler routines and facts. Thus the final model, which is a set of compound and complicated routines, can encode different levels of knowledge with different complexities. The suggested model in the explained processes is a conceptual model and a descriptive model in explaining facts.

Research limitations/implications

Due to high-level programming expertise, in this paper, only the method of implementation of the proposed operational model has been explained. The proposed method maintains various advantages such as applicability, comprehensibility by different people in an organization, the possibility of knowledge coding at different levels, supporting abstract concepts besides operational ones and finally the possibility of implementing it by existing tools.

Practical implications

The suggested model can be used for a variety of needs. For instance, in this paper, the first modelling example referred to a software concept, while the other referred to the implementation of an organizational process. Due to a hierarchy in describing knowledge, the suggested model can be used by any user with any level of knowledge (either user or registrar).

Social implications

This method can create a change in social media and make it possible for anyone in any society with any level of information to share their knowledge at their own level and use the knowledge of others at the same level.

Originality/value

The strength of the proposed model stems from its hierarchical nature which is considered for knowledge coding at different levels and includes advantages such as comprehensibility for different people in an organization, the possibility of knowledge coding at different levels and supporting abstract concepts in addition to operational ones.

A DEA-Based Decision Support Framework for Organizations' Performance Evaluation considering TQM and Knowledge Management

Total quality management (TQM) and knowledge management (KM) play a significant role in improving the situation of the organization and creating and maintaining competitive advantage (CA). Therefore, harmonizing TQM and KM with the organizational goals and performance leads to the organization's greater capabilities. The current paper presents a decision support framework to evaluate the performance of organizations based on the success factors (SFs) of TQM and KM using the BCC model of data envelopment analysis (DEA). The SFs of KM are considered as input and the SFs of TQM are considered as output of the BCC model, and the efficiency scores of five pharmaceutical companies in Esfahan, Iran, are obtained. The results show that, among the aforementioned companies, three companies were recognized as efficient, while two of them were introduced as inefficient companies. Furthermore, in order to provide more recommendations for the managers of these companies, two area charts according to SFs of TQM and KM were drawn, and the results were analyzed and discussed.

Factors Affecting Knowledge Management and Its Effect on Organizational Performance: Mediating the Role of Human Capital

This study aims to investigate and identify the factors affecting the empowerment and implementation of knowledge management in organizations as well as the impact of knowledge management on organizational performance. This study also examines the mediating role of human capital in the relationship between knowledge management and performance of Kabul Steel Plant, which is the largest steel plant in Afghanistan. The research model was developed through the literature review. The initial data were collected through a questionnaire containing 48 questions. Participants were 108 managers and administrative staff of the company. The collected data were analyzed by using the SPSS and SmartPLS software. The hypotheses regarding the impact of strategy and technology on knowledge management were rejected by using correlation analysis and t-test statistic. Finally, the findings showed the positive effects of variables of structure, culture, leadership, and trust on knowledge management in an organization. Also, knowledge management influences the organizational performance, both directly and through the mediating variable of human capital. This research encourages the managers and employees of organizations to use the available organizational resources to implement knowledge management in organizations and improve knowledge management practices and human resources that are the most valuable resources of any organization in order to remain competitive in the markets.

Environmentally responsible freight transport service providers' assessment under data-driven information uncertainty

Purpose

Freight transportation practices accounted for a significant share of environmental degradation and climate change over the years. Therefore, environmentally responsible transport practices (ERTPs) become a serious concern of freight shippers and transport service providers. Past studies generally ignored the assessment of ERTPs of freight transport companies during a transport service contract. To bridge the above literature gap, this paper proposed a hierarchical framework for evaluating freight transport companies based on ERTPs.

Design/methodology/approach

In a data-driven decision-making environment, transport firm selection is affected by multiple expert inputs, lack of information availability, decision-making ambiguity and background of experts. The evaluation of such decisions requires a multi-criteria decision-making method under a group decision-making approach. This paper used a data-driven method based on the intuitionistic fuzzy-set-based analytic hierarchy process (IF-AHP) and VIseKriterijumska Kompromisno Rangiranje (IF-VIKOR) method. The applicability of the proposed framework is validated with the Indian freight transport industry.

Findings

The result analysis shows that environmental knowledge sharing among freight transport actors, quality of organizations human resource, collaborative green awareness training programs, promoting environmental awareness program for employees and compliance of government transport emission law and practice have been ranked top five ERTPs which significantly contribute to the environmental sustainability of freight transport industry. The proposed framework also ranked freight transport companies based on ERTPs.

Research limitations/implications

This research is expected to provide a reference to develop ERTPs in the emerging economies freight transport industry and contribute to the development of a sustainable freight transport system.

Originality/value

This study assesses the environmental responsibility of the freight transportation industry. The emerging economies logistics planners can use proposed framework for assessing the performance of freight transportation companies based on ERTPs.

The relationship between knowledge management and leadership: mapping the field and providing future research avenues

Purpose

Effectively handling knowledge is crucial for any organization to survive and prosper in the turbulent environments of the modern era. Leadership is a central element for knowledge creation, acquisition, utilization and integration processes. Based on these considerations, this study aims to offer an overview of the evolution of the literature regarding the knowledge management-leadership relationship published over the past 20 years.

Design/methodology/approach

A bibliometric analysis coupled with a systematic literature review were performed over a data set of 488 peer-reviewed articles published from 1990 to 2018.

Findings

The authors discovered the existence of four well-polarized clusters with the following thematic focusses: human and relational aspects, systematic and performance aspects, contextual and contingent aspects and cultural and learning aspects. The authors then investigated each thematic cluster by reviewing the most relevant contributions within them.

Research limitations/implications

Based on the bibliometric analysis and the systematic literature review, the authors developed an interpretative framework aimed at uncovering several promising and little explored research areas, thus suggesting an agenda for future knowledge management-leadership research. Some steps of the paper selection process may have been biased by the interpretation of the researcher. The authors addressed this concern by performing a multiple human subject reading process whose reliability was confirmed by a Krippendorf’s alpha coefficient value >0.80.

Originality/value

To the best knowledge, this is the first study to map, systematize and discuss the literature concerned to the topic of the knowledge management-leadership relationship.

How Knowledge Management Influences Performance?

Prior research studies on knowledge management (KM) offer inconsistent support that it enhances firm performance. A majority of them discuss KM without incorporating the valuation of KM efforts. This article proposes a conceptual model comprised of six KM and two performance constructs. Performance is classified as financial and non-financial. Survey data from 313 Indian respondents is used to examine the influence of KM on firm performance. The results show that there is a strong, positive and significant link between the six KM constructs and organizational performance. Further, it is found that the influence of KM constructs on financial performance is indirect, that is, their influence is accomplished through the mediating variable organizational performance. The study provides evidence, firstly, through identifying important KM constructs and secondly by examining its influence on performance. It contributes to managerial practice by proposing an empirically validated KM model, which can guide KM practitioners in developing capabilities for enhancing organizational performance.

How do Knowledge Management Practices Affect Sustainable Balanced Performance? Mediating Role of Innovation Practices

The main purpose of this study is to investigate the mediating role of innovation practices (IP) amidst relations of knowledge management practices (KMP) and sustainable balanced performance (SBP). Furthermore, this research illustrates a comprehensive empirical study in the Iranian knowledge-based industrial companies that are the manufacturers of advanced machineries and equipment. First- and second-order exploratory factor analysis (EFA) was done to confirm constructs validity. Then, relations among variables were studied by applying the partial least squares (PLS) technique to collected data from 104 industrial knowledge-based companies. The results obtained from the analysis supported all the research hypotheses. KPM significantly and strongly affects IP and SBP. Also, IP mediates the relations between KPM and SBP in industrial knowledge-based firms.

KNOWLEDGE SHARING AND JOB PERFORMANCE FROM PSYCHO-SOCIAL PERSPECTIVES: A CONCEPTUAL STUDY ON AL AIN MUNICIPALITY IN UAE

Purpose of the study: The purpose of this paper is to assess the knowledge sharing and job performance from psycho-social perspectives on Al Ain Municipality in UAE. Methodology: Since this is a conceptual study, so this paper only focuses on the literature survey and logical explanation based on the facts discussed. Results: The results of this study show that loss of knowledge can result in duplication of work, unreasonable searches for expertise and knowledge, and employees not learning from the experienced. Not all knowledge in the organisations is of critical value, and therefore need not be captured and retained, but the critical knowledge that is at risk of loss should be captured. Implications: The awareness of knowledge loss through staff attrition may motivate companies to institutionalise specific processes to capture the tacit knowledge of their employees as much as possible.  It is advisable for firms to have strategies in place on how to capture and retain their workforce’s knowledge. Novelty: This research contributes significantly on the knowledge management from psycho-social perspectives and from the vantage point of United Arab Emirates. Upon the analysis of the data collected, the research may provide recommendations for the policy makers, academicians, practitioners as well as decision-makers and other stakeholders.

Does CSR matter in the pharmaceutical distribution industry?

Purpose

Given the important role of corporate social responsibility (CSR) in today’s business world, this study aims to investigate how it affects the performance of pharmaceutical distribution companies by using the balanced scorecard (BSC).

Design/methodology/approach

Drawing upon the existing literature, a questionnaire consisting of 32 questions was prepared and distributed to examine ongoing practices and to probe uninvestigated domains related to CSR. To confirm the efficiency of the research model and the accuracy of the measurement model – which was utilized to examine the correlation between different variables – variable scores were acquired from a national study and were entered into a structural equation model.

Findings

Analysis of 933 completed questionnaires revealed the existence of large correlation between subsets of the considered dimensions. The questionnaire contained five underlying dimensions: employee relations, corporate governance, societal concern, economic and financial concern and environmental concerns. All CSR variables can be condensed into these five dimensions, which are the main features of the CSR model proposed for the Iranian pharmaceutical distribution companies. Not only did the results support the research model but also indicated that CSR’s impact on BSC and its four components – financial perspective, customer perspective, internal process perspective and learning and growth perspective – was both positive and significant.

Practical implications

This paper identifies five dimensions through which CSR practices can effect positive changes in an organization’s performance in relation to the four BSC perspectives. Thus, in focusing on these dimensions, a company increases its likelihood of enhancing its performance and, consequently, realizing significant gains. In addition, as managers play the most significant role in CSR implementation, they should support all associated practices to achieve their strategic goals.

Originality/value

Pharmaceutical distribution companies tend to apply CSR – which is commonly described as informal and voluntary humanitarian activities – to different domains, including the workplace, marketplace, community and environment. This study contributes to the existing literature by shedding light on various domains in which CSR practices are applied to enhance organizational success in pharmaceutical distribution companies.

Modeling the Pathways of Knowledge Management Towards Social and Economic Outcomes of Health Organizations

Despite the increasing emphasis placed on knowledge management (KM) by the business sector and the common belief that creating, acquiring, sharing, and the use of knowledge enable individuals, teams, and communities to achieve superior performance, within the healthcare context, there is still room from improvements from both the theoretical and empirical perspectives. The purpose of this paper is to outline the contribution of KM process to the social- and economic-related outcomes in the context of health organizations. Given the theoretical approach on the considered concepts and their relationships, a conceptual model and seven research hypotheses were proposed. The empirical data were provided by a cross-sectional investigation including 459 medical and nonmedical employees of Romanian heath organizations, selected by a mixed method sampling procedure. A partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) approach was selected to provide information on the relevance and significance of the first- and second-order constructs, test the hypotheses, and conduct an importance performance matrix analysis. The PLS-SEM estimation showed positive and significant relationships between KM process and quality of healthcare, and organizational-level social and economic outcomes. Moreover, the research results provided evidences for the complex complementary mediation of the quality of healthcare and social-related outcomes on the relationships between KM process and social and economic outcomes. The theoretical and managerial implications are discussed and suggestions for future research are provided at the end of the paper.

Elucidating the determinants of business intelligence adoption and organizational performance

This research is one of the first few to investigate the adoption and usage of business intelligence among SMEs in the context of developing countries, in this case Thailand. Based on the three-pronged approach it proposes a comprehensive model that integrates the technology-organization-environment framework and the balance scorecard approach in order to better understand the degree of influence that each factor has on the adoption of business intelligence as well as the organizational performance among SMEs in Thailand. The results of the structural equation modeling show that compatibility, technology readiness, top management support and competitive pressure posited a positive relationship towards business intelligence adoption. The adoption of business intelligence had a positive effect on internal process and learning and growth in terms of organizational performance. A multi-group analysis was also performed focusing on firm maturity and sectors to understand the behavior towards business intelligence as well as organizational performance. Discussions and conclusions including theoretical and practical implications are also presented.

The effects of knowledge creation process on organizational performance using the BSC approach: the mediating role of intellectual capital

Purpose

Knowledge is a key success factor in achieving competitive advantage in the current fast-paced and uncertain economic environment. Several studies in the literature have analyzed the relationship between knowledge creation (KC) and organizational success; however, the mechanisms by which KC leads to accumulation of intellectual capital (IC) and thereby affects various dimensions of organizational performance are understudied. The purpose of this paper is to examine how KC and IC and their relationship influence key dimensions of organizational performance.

Design/methodology/approach

A research model was developed and tested based on the literature in the areas of KC, IC and organizational performance. This study uses a survey sent to companies in an intensive knowledge-based industry. The balanced scorecard (BSC) approach was used to measure the key dimensions of organizational performance.

Findings

The results from structural equation modeling (SEM) on 470 completed questionnaires received from the pharmaceutical companies in Iran reveal that KC activities lead to the accumulation of organizational IC and IC has a crucial and positive impact on the BSC. Furthermore, the results from the path analysis indicate that IC mediates the effects of KC on the BSC.

Practical implications

The findings of this study contribute to the extant literature on the relationship between knowledge and organizational performance by demonstrating that knowledge and KC lead to performance when organizations utilize KC activities and leverage them to accumulate IC. Once used effectively, IC will result in a better performance in the knowledge-intensive environments.

Originality/value

This is the first study that investigates how KC contributes to firm performance by incorporating the mediating impact of IC on the BSC. The proposed model and results will help organizations to identify the mechanisms through which KC initiatives improve organizational performance.

Gauging the impact of knowledge management practices on organizational performance – a balanced scorecard perspective

Purpose

This paper aims to explore knowledge management (KM) literature to understand the relationships among different KM practices and organizational performance (OP) in terms of the four balanced scorecard (BSC) outcomes, i.e. learning and growth, internal process, customer satisfaction and financial performance, as a measure of OP.

Design/methodology/approach

A systematic review of peer-reviewed journal articles has been carried out of theoretical and empirical articles to understand the linkages between KM practices and OP, accessed mainly through sources, such as ProQuest, EBSCO host, Google Scholar and other e-databases. Measures of OP have also been extracted from the literature and grouped under the four BSC outcomes to gauge the gravity of the effect. An integrated conceptual framework helps to explore the relationship between the said variables.

Findings

This study provides a conceptual model of the effect of various KM practices on different aspects of OP measured through BSC. It contributes to organizations by helping them understand the importance of integration of the KM efforts to obtain desirable results. It will, for the first time, put the entire organization in perspective and help managers draw a bigger picture to understand the overall effect of KM practices.

Research limitations/implications

First, the KM practices shortlisted for this research are extensive but the list may not be exhaustive. Second, the model is not empirically proved. Findings of the study would help in creating a roadmap to enhance performance by a successful implementation of KM practices.

Originality/value

This paper contributes to KM literature by adding the fact that KM practices not only affect learning and growth perspective of an organization but also have far-reaching effects on OP in terms of customer service perspective, internal process perspective and financial perspective.

KCEBSA

Purpose

From the academic perspective, there are challenges to develop an appropriate evaluation model that is linked to both theoretical and professional viewpoints for online knowledge community evaluation (KCE). These challenges are mainly the evaluation principles, the method used to derive the evaluation items, and the techniques used to determine the importance of evaluation items to formulate the evaluation model. The purpose of this paper is to propose and develop an online KCE model by considering the Delphi method, analytic hierarchy process (AHP) technique, and balanced scorecard (BSC) approach that contains facets of member, strategy, learning and growth, and internal process.

Design/methodology/approach

The qualitative study was used to develop the KCE model. The BSC approach was used to construct the facets of evaluation model. The Delphi method and AHP technique were utilized to derive structural measure items and to determine item weight in the development process, respectively. An illustrated practical case was used to demonstrate the proposed KCE model.

Findings

The member facet is perceived the most important facet while the internal process the least, implying that the invited participants perceive that community members, as represented by member satisfaction and loyalty, are the most important factors. In the knowledge management process sub-facet, knowledge creation obtains the highest weight compared with knowledge acquisition, dissemination, and utilization. Data analysis results based on 822 survey samples for the demonstrated Yahoo!Kimo Knowledge+ case are obtained. Findings and implications are also addressed.

Originality/value

Unlike the exclusively quantitative approach, the proposed KCE model balances both qualitative and quantitative approaches. First, it performed a face-to-face collaboration based on the Delphi method to deal with the unstructured cognition, opinions, and comments of the invited participants. Second, it developed an evaluation model based on the consensus of the invited participants by using the AHP technique in which the perceived importance of measure item to their immediate super item (qualitative variable) is transformed into number (quantitative variable).

Investigating the moderating effects of organizational culture and leadership style on IT-adoption and knowledge-sharing intention

Purpose

In light of the important roles of organizational culture and leadership style in IT-adoption intention and knowledge-sharing intention, the purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationships among IT involvement, IT-adoption intention, and knowledge-sharing intention, as well as the moderating effects of organizational culture and leadership style on IT-adoption intention and knowledge-sharing intention.

Design/methodology/approach

This study begins with a literature review followed by the use of a questionnaire method and statistical analytical techniques (hierarchical regression analysis) to investigate the relationships among IT involvement, IT-adoption intention, knowledge-sharing intention, organizational culture, and leadership style.

Findings

The result showed that IT involvement has a significant and positive influence on IT-adoption intention, which further affects the knowledge-sharing intention. Moreover, organizational culture and leadership style have moderating effects on the IT adoption and knowledge-sharing intention.

Research limitations/implications

This research applied a purposive sampling method and obtained a slightly inadequate number of respondents. Therefore, it is suggested that future research should apply random sampling method to collect more responses and increase the generalizability of the findings.

Practical implications

This research suggests that organizations which adopt servant leadership or charismatic leadership, as well as organizations with clan or hierarchy cultures should work on enhancing staff’s knowledge-sharing intention by first raising their IT-adoption intention.

Originality/value

If an enterprise would like to encourage its staff to be more proactive at adopting IT and more willing to share knowledge, then it should first examine its current leadership style and organizational culture in order to propose concrete and effective methods to achieve this, and at the same time, this can help stimulate organizational learning and generate new ideas and knowledge.

Coordination and responsiveness issues in SME supply chains: a review

Purpose

Globalization and liberalization of the world economy have leveled the field for all competitors across the globe. To face global competition successfully, SMEs have to break their isolation in the value chain. To overcome the dynamic challenges of the market, supply chain management can be an important tool for SMEs. The purpose of this paper is to synthesize different issues related to the coordination and responsiveness of supply chain management in SMEs, through a review of the literature.

Design/methodology/approach

In all, 116 research papers, mainly from referred international journals, are reviewed to identify the thrust areas of research. On the basis of the review, gaps are identified and a research agenda is proposed.

Findings

It is observed from the review that SMEs have not been very proactive in implementing supply chain management. These organizations face a lot of problems in coordinating their operations with other members of the supply chain. They are localized in functioning. On export fronts SMEs face many constraints due to lack of resources and poor innovative capabilities. To face the challenges of open global market, SMEs have to manage their problems and supply chain risks effectively. Research gaps are identified in different areas of the supply chain such as coordination and responsiveness issues, service quality issues, and performance benchmarking for future directions of research.

Originality/value

This paper explores the major areas for research on coordination and responsiveness of SME supply chains. The findings of the paper will be highly useful for the researchers to decide the direction of their research.

TQM and organizational performance using the balanced scorecard approach

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between the implementation of total quality management (TQM) and organizational performance, using the balanced scorecard (BSC) approach.

Design/methodology/approach

In order to investigate the relationship between TQM and BSC, a questionnaire was developed and distributed to 30 largest pharmaceutical distribution companies in Iran. Structural equation modeling was used to evaluate the measurement model and to test the research hypotheses using the data from 933 completed questionnaires.

Findings

The results supported the research model and revealed that TQM implementation can positively and significantly influence the BSC and its four perspectives.

Practical implications

Considering the strong association between TQM and all four perspectives of organizational performance (BSC), managers should strongly leverage the implementation of TQM practices in order to reach their strategic objectives.

Originality/value

This study is the first empirical study conducted on the association of TQM and BSC in the pharmaceutical industry. The findings of this study provide strong evidence supporting the implementation of TQM in the pharmaceutical context.