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From employees' varied interpretations of software efficacy to consumers' diverse beliefs about data privacy, technology frames refer to cognitive interpretations, assumptions and expectations that people use to comprehend the essence of information technology within a particular context. These frames differ across groups with different values, interests, experiences and expertise, having critical implications for researchers, managers and organizations. Despite theoretical enthusiasm to understand technology frames, limited methodological insights exist on how to systematically explore and compare technology frames. This gap impedes researchers from exploring novel questions related to technology frames, their variations and how they can be managed effectively. This paper proposes a cognitive method for comparing and elaborating on technology frames. Building on causal mapping and empirical studies, the method formulates steps to plan, elicit, compare and elaborate on the relationships that underlie framing differences. The method offers detailed recommendations and templates for effectively organizing and communicating diverse manifestations of framing differences and their implications. The paper concludes by highlighting the method's practical implications and encouraging research to advance extant knowledge of technology frames in the rapidly changing digital world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper contributes to the on‐going debate on men's overrepresentation in executive positions. Drawing on semi‐structured interviews with male senior managers in two Australian organizations, this paper aims to problematize men's privilege in senior positions by uncovering the different forms of hegemonic masculinity that legitimize men as the ideal candidates for executive positions. Using Joan Acker's concept of the 'ideal worker' as a starting point, this paper aggregates these criteria to develop a new concept of the 'ideal executive'. The model of the 'ideal executive' reveals how decision‐makers (mostly male) control executive position allocation, construct the barriers to entry and define the criteria for an ideal candidate for such a position. Candidates who desire to be considered for an executive position need to conform to this 'ideal', which has been influenced and shaped by male executives. Patriarchal power structures, particularly careerism and entrepreneurialism, are investigated with a focus on the ways in which they contribute to the construction of the ideal executive and consequently inhibit women's career progression into senior positions. We conclude that masculinities are now more sophisticated and encompass newer forms that account for changes in societal norms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports on an ongoing, multiphase, project-based action Learning and research project. In particular, it summarizes some aspects of the learning climate and outcomes for a case-study company in the software industry. Using a participatory action research approach, the learning company framework developed by Pedler et al. (1997) is used to initiate critical reflection in the company at three levels: managing director, senior management team and technical and professional staff. As such, this is one of the first systematic attempts to apply this framework to the entire organization and to a company in the knowledge-based learning economy. Two sets of issues are of general concern to the company: internal issues surrounding the company's reward and recognition policies and practices and the provision of accounting and control information in a business-relevant way to all levels of staff; and external issues concerning the extent to which the company and its members actively learn from other companies and effectively capture, disseminate and use information accessed by staff in boundary-spanning roles. The paper concludes with some illustrations of changes being introduced by the company as a result of the feedback on and discussion of these issues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper provides evidence on the emergence and diffusion of the discourse of knowledge management. A literature review of the knowledge management and learning organization literatures demonstrates the lack of learning from one discourse to another and major differences in the concerns and issues that they address. At the same time, evidence on the level of interest in each discourse shows a tendency towards a normal curve distribution. Analytically, these findings suggest that the widespread diffusion of knowledge management might be explained in terms of the management fashion model. However, further consideration of the professionally-differentiated appropriation of knowledge management concepts by the information systems and human resource communities suggests that the fashion model provides only a partial explanation for the observed diffusion of knowledge management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper considers the adoption of intranet technology as a vehicle for encouraging organization-wide knowledge sharing within a large, global bank. Ironically, the outcome of intranet adoption was that, rather than integrate individuals across this particular organization, the intranet actually helped to reinforce the existing functional and national boundaries with ‘electronic fences’. This could be partly explained by the historical emphasis on decentralization within the bank, which shaped and limited the use of the intranet as a centralizing, organization-wide tool. This is possible because the intranet can be described as an interactive and decentred technology, which therefore has the potential for multiple interpretations and effects. Thus, while the intranet is often promoted as a technology that enables processes of communication, collaboration and social coordination it also has the potential to disable such processes. Moreover, it is argued that to develop an intranet for knowledge-sharing requires a focus on three distinctive facets of development. These different facets may require very different, sometimes contradictory, sets of strategies for blending the technology and the organization, thus making it extremely difficult for a project team to work effectively on all three facets simultaneously. This was evidenced by the fact that none of the independent intranet-implementation projects considered actually managed to encourage knowledge-sharing as intended, even within the relatively homogeneous group for which it was designed. Broader knowledge-sharing across the wider organizational context simply did not occur even among those who were working on what were defined as ‘knowledge management’ projects. A paradox is that knowledge-sharing via intranet technologies may be most difficult to achieve in contexts where knowledge management is the key objective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The growing trend towards information technology (IT) outsourcing is analysed within the UK public sector. The paper first details the research findings on factors influencing the degree of success experienced in a range of IT outsourcing deals. These factors are then utilized as a framework for analysing and discussing two case histories — of selective and large-scale IT outsourcing — drawn from different parts of the public sector. Both demonstrate how distinctive public-sector contexts influence the direction and degree of outsourcing. At the same time they highlight a range of managerial and organizational issues raised by moves towards contractual, core competence forms of organizing. Selective outsourcing is revealed as effective provided key decisions and actions are taken. The large-scale outsourcing case raises a number of critical issues not just for how it can be conduced in public-sector contexts, but also about the efficacy of such arrangements in terms of cost savings, possible over-dependence on a few suppliers, and ability to respond flexibly to changing political requirements and legislation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With big data analytics growing rapidly in popularity, academics and practitioners have been considering the means through which they can incorporate the shifts these technologies bring into their competitive strategies. Drawing on the resource‐based view, the dynamic capabilities view, and on recent literature on big data analytics, this study examines the indirect relationship between a big data analytics capability (BDAC) and two types of innovation capabilities: incremental and radical. The study extends existing research by proposing that BDACs enable firms to generate insight that can help strengthen their dynamic capabilities, which in turn positively impact incremental and radical innovation capabilities. To test their proposed research model, the authors used survey data from 175 chief information officers and IT managers working in Greek firms. By means of partial least squares structural equation modelling, the results confirm the authors' assumptions regarding the indirect effect that BDACs have on innovation capabilities. Specifically, they find that dynamic capabilities fully mediate the effect on both incremental and radical innovation capabilities. In addition, under conditions of high environmental heterogeneity, the impact of BDACs on dynamic capabilities and, in sequence, incremental innovation capability is enhanced, while under conditions of high environmental dynamism the effect of dynamic capabilities on incremental innovation capabilities is amplified. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This study examines how the relationship between entrepreneurial orientation and firm growth is shaped by learning orientation in technologically sophisticated environments. We draw upon an information processing perspective that emphasizes alignment between information processing demands and support mechanisms. Using data from 116 small to medium‐sized enterprises in the Netherlands, we observe that the ability of entrepreneurial orientation to drive firm growth greatly depends on the joint consideration of technological sophistication and learning orientation. Our findings contribute to a better understanding of how configurations of strategic orientations and environmental considerations work in concert to influence the efficacy of organizational entrepreneurial efforts dramatically. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study uses data on 582 electronics and information technology firms in Taiwan for the period 1997-2005 to investigate the hypothesis that technological diversification increases the extent of organizational divisionalization under firm growth. This study applies competence-based theory to argue that firms spread the technological competence base to achieve firm growth. However, in the face of firm growth, managers of multi-technology firms often utilize a multi-division structure to manage their various technologies based on their operating characteristics or needs. Furthermore, the findings of this study indicate that complementary assets moderate the negative relationship between technological diversification and organizational divisionalization. For firms with specialized complementary assets, multi-technology firms may be observed to consolidate related-technology activities into fewer divisions, facilitating the utilization of these complementary assets in conjunction with other divisions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A project team, set up to design and implement a large-scope IT system, is essentially tasked with integrating distributed knowledge. This suggests that the social capital of members will be organizationally important. However, we suggest that in understanding the relationship between social capital and knowledge integration within a project team, it is necessary to distinguish between two forms of social capital – external bridging social capital and internal bonding social capital. We argue that for the effective mobilization of ‘weak’ social capital bridges for collective purposes, there is first a need to create ‘strong’ social capital bonds within the project team so that it becomes a cohesive social unit that will be able to effectively integrate knowledge that is acquired through members' bridging activity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]