Tacit knowledge sharing among library colleagues: a pilot study

A Study of Academic Library through the Prism of Knowledge Use and Problem Solving Networks

The article describes a social network approach to understanding the relationships between academic library employees: knowledge use network and problem solving network with the division into strong and weak ties. The author collected the data based on a semi-structured interview and a questionnaire on a selected population of library staff in a major academic library in Poland. Then, collected data was analyzed through the non-parametric network statistics tests (quadratic assignment procedure [QAP] and multiple regression quadratic assignment procedure [MRQAP]) to test dependencies occurring in social networks of librarians. The results show a relationship between knowledge use and problem solving based on strong and weak ties between librarians, with the beta for weak ties higher than for strong ties. The network methodology is becoming a critical research approach used to understand the informal structures and complexity of the academic library. Thus, it is a valuable tool in the hands of library directors.

Knowledge Sharing and the Improvement of Service Delivery in an Academic Library

Knowledge can play an important role in ascertaining an organization’s competitive edge if the knowledge of employees is nurtured and utilized as an asset with a potential to improve service delivery. The study focused on knowledge sharing at the Thomas Mofolo Library in Lesotho to determine if knowledge sharing was being used to improve service delivery at the Library. A case study design that triangulated interviews and questionnaires was used in this study. Quantitative data was processed using software packages. Data from the interviews was analyzed through content analysis based on the objectives of the study. This study established that staff recognized the need to share knowledge. However, knowledge sharing occurred on an ad hoc basis. There was a limited use of technology-based and human-based mechanisms of sharing knowledge. The study suggests practical knowledge-sharing practices that may contribute to improved service delivery in a library setup. As a case study, study may also contribute to the development of theory about the phenomenon.

The Influence Mechanism of Knowledge-Based Professionals' Core Value Identity on Creativity From the Perspective of the Knowledge Economy

In the era of the knowledge economy, tacit knowledge transfer is a key strategy for developing personal creativity, but it also is affected by core value agreement. Knowledge-based professionals have innate sensitivity with core value agreement. In the knowledge capital development system, tacit knowledge transfer is a key strategy to be discovered. This research investigates the core value identity mechanism of knowledge professionals from the perspective of the knowledge economy. The results revealed the intrinsic relationship between core values identity, tacit knowledge transferring, and personal creativity based on knowledge-based professionals' data and employing core values identity, tacit knowledge transferring, and personal creativity based on knowledge-based professionals' data and structural equation modeling. The results also represent the incentive path of tacit knowledge transferring in personal creativity under the core value agreement condition, which may provide a theoretical inspiration to foster knowledge-based talent creativity.

Trust and social network to boost tacit knowledge sharing with mediation of commitment: does culture moderate?

Purpose

This paper aims to investigate the tacit knowledge-sharing framework among Pakistani academicians. The objective is to study trust and social networks as antecedents to foster tacit knowledge sharing with the mediating role of commitment. Furthermore, the moderating role of organizational knowledge-sharing culture is also examined.

Design/methodology/approach

The study applied a survey-based quantitative research design to test the proposed model. The nature of data are cross-sectional and collected with stratified random sampling among public sector higher education professionals of Pakistan. The total sample size for the present research is 247 respondents. The variance-based structural equation modeling technique by using Smart_PLS software is used for analysis.

Findings

Data analysis and results reveal that trust and social networks are significant predictors of tacit knowledge sharing among Pakistani academicians while commitment positively mediated the relationships. While the moderating role of organizational knowledge-sharing culture is also established.

Research limitations/implications

The current research explains tacit knowledge sharing among academics with fewer antecedents i.e. social network and trust with limited sample size and specific population. There is still a great deal of work to be done in this area. Hence, the study provides direction for including knowledge-oriented leadership and knowledge governance in the current framework. Moreover, the framework can be tested in different work settings for better generalization.

Practical implications

The study gives an important lead to practitioners for enhancing tacit knowledge sharing at the workplace through a robust social network of employees, building trust and boosting employees’ commitment, as well as through supportive organizational knowledge sharing culture.

Originality/value

The research comprehends the tacit knowledge sharing framework with theoretical arrangements of trust, social networks, commitment and culture in higher education workplace settings under the umbrella of social capital theory.

Knowledge sharing practices among cataloguers in Nigeria's academic libraries

Purpose

The imperative role of cataloguing in libraries as the bedrock of information/knowledge organization, the need to manage and retain knowledge for strategic planning and better knowledge management (KM) frameworks, little or no information sharing in cataloguing units in federal university libraries in Nigeria, gave rise to this study. The purpose of this study is to identify knowledge sharing (KS) norms and factors that challenge KS practices among cataloguers to provide positive perspective and approach to KS in cataloguing sections of university libraries and improve KM frameworks for better service delivery.

Design/methodology/approach

Based on a qualitative survey design, this study examined KS norms, practices and challenges of cataloguers in five university libraries in south-west Nigeria. Data were collected through an open interview to gather in-depth information from 45 cataloguers. Given the small number of the cataloguing team in each library, an enlisting of all cataloguers (census survey) was pertinent for the study. Data collected were analyzed thematically, interviews transcribed and similar responses grouped to provide answers to research questions.

Findings

This study revealed KS norms to be somewhat inconsistent and informal than formal, though participants identified the crucial need for KS in their departments. Factors identified as challenges to KS: mood and pressure from work, participants seeing KS as a waste of time, the “know-it-all” attitude, tribal differences, lack of financial motivation, no formal training and mentoring programme, willingness to learn and copy cataloguing.

Originality/value

This study not only improves the dearth of literature on the issue of KS among cataloguers in Nigerian university libraries; but also provides definite perspective and approach to KS in university libraries' cataloguing section to improve KM frameworks for better service delivery.

Mentoring and skill development in e-Internships

Purpose

Many employers experiment with virtual working modes for project-based work. Virtual internships are one such mode that is gaining increasing popularity worldwide, particularly e-internships that require remote working with employers. However, little is known about the extent to which e-internships present learning opportunities to such e-interns.

Design/methodology/approach

The current study examined mentoring experiences among a cross-sectional sample of 158 e-interns working for different companies. Data were collected using an online survey in two data collection rounds.

Findings

The length of the e-internships did not increase mentoring satisfaction, but the likelihood of e-interns having a mentor was higher the longer the e-internships. Mentoring was offered irrespective of working hours per week. Mentoring increased reported skill development, particularly in relation to their communication skills and their ability to think strategically about problems. In addition, mentored e-interns were more likely to have opportunities to cooperate with and help others. They likewise had opportunities to share information, knowledge and experiences.

Research limitations/implications

The study recruited interns from various countries. Potentially relevant cultural differences were not explored as part of this study.

Practical implications

The results demonstrate that the benefits of mentoring observed in relation to traditional internships can be fostered in e-internships. E-internships represent an opportunity for managers and employees, regardless of company size, to become mentors. E-internships thus represent another work-integrated as well as work-applied learning and skill development opportunity that creates additional options for many interns and organisations alike.

Originality/value

The evidence suggests that mentoring is becoming a regularly available feature for virtual and temporary workers such as e-interns, many of which are hired for short-term projects. As remote working has become a standard practice, e-internships are on the rise – and worthy of further study in order to promote best practices.

The information literacy and continuous professional development practices of teachers at a Jewish Day School

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to investigate how in-service teachers within the context of an American Jewish day school perceive, practice and develop Information Literacy (IL) as a sociocultural practice and through Continuing Professional Development (CPD). A research gap exists in relation to empirical studies which examine sociocultural IL practices and the CPD learning experiences of in-service teachers within the professional environment of their work. Two emergent and compatible frameworks for investigating teachers’ IL practices and CPD in context are identified and discussed within that context: the sociocultural approach and the interactive CPD model.

Design/methodology/approach

The research adopted an interpretivist phenomenological perspective. Semi-structured in-depth interviews were conducted with six teachers to explore their IL experiences. Questions addressed the participants’ previous background, the working culture of the school, approaches to learning and developing new knowledge, sources and methods of obtaining work-related information, IL practices and the differences between IL and CPD practices.

Findings

Although teachers value the role of IL in their professional lives and they have confidence in their performance of it, they remain confounded by the IL terminology. Within the teachers’ everyday working environment, the primacy of social and embodied information and the centrality of information sharing demonstrated the social and experiential nature of learning and the significance of contextualisation to IL development. The study found IL, CPD and learning to be inseparable, as they intersected within a single, organic situated learning practice of becoming an expert in context.

Originality/value

This study makes valuable contributions to theory by supplying empirical evidence of sociocultural IL practices, linking the currently disparate scholarships on IL, CPD and learning and providing suggestions for future research. In addition, the study demonstrates alternative avenues for developing teachers’ IL and offers recommendations for supporting their CPD.