Search

Tourism is one of the major drivers of socio-economic growth. For tourism organisations to remain competitive, they must be able to adapt to the current dynamic scenario where the sector operates. Organisational learning strategies can provide the sector with the knowledge required to transform tourism research and intellectual property into capabilities for the industry and stimulate tourism models with a minimal effect on the environment. Knowledge management involves managing tacit and explicit information in a way that ensures it is available where and when needed. From a knowledge management perspective, environmental learning refers to the processes of acquiring, distributing and using knowledge of the natural environment, involving the processes of socialisation, externalisation, combination and internalisation of knowledge and its central aim is to improve performance. This article describes how knowledge management and organisational learning can help to achieve a sustainable tourism sector. Sustainability in this context is understood as efforts to progress simultaneously in environmental, societal and economic development. The article argues that the principles of sustainable tourism lead to both improved strategies and avenues for future research, provided they are informed and supported by learning and knowledge management; value co-creation; co-operation and trust-building; corporate social responsibility and pro-environmental behaviour. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to bring the attention of the intellectual capital (IC) research and practice communities to the value of IC in hotels' efforts to resolve or mitigate environmental problems over time. This research has been set to examine the relationships between key KM and IC concepts including environmental knowledge structures and exploitation and exploration of environmental knowledge (EK) as drivers of environmental organisational learning. The research has also examined the relevance of pro-environmental behavioural intention capital (PEBIC) as a component of structural capital and therefore an integral part of the intellectual capital of hotels. Design/methodology/approach: The data analysis technique used to test the proposed conceptual model is partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM). Sample received from 87 companies from the Spanish hospitality sector in a longitudinal study (six years). Findings: The results support that environmental knowledge structures (exploitation and exploration) has a positive impact on PEBIC over time. In other words, environmental organisational learning has the capability to create structural capital in hotel over time. Originality/value: The research has addressed the challenges of exploration and exploitation of EK and PEBIC from a perspective not previously covered in the extant literature, further improved by the longitudinal nature of this study. Our focus on the hospitality sector makes this research relevant for management structures at numerous of hotels, as well as to their supply chains around the world. In addition, this research highlights the value to create structural capital through EK and organisational learning in the context of take care of our natural resources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The dynamics of tourism as both an activity and an industry, combined with the growing concerns about the environment, call for continuous efforts in seeking new approaches, tools and perspectives for the acquisition of environmental knowledge by organisations in the hospitality sector. The purpose of this research is to examine the relationships between environmental knowledge, organisational learning and business performance in the context of the tourism industry. Emphasis is made on understanding the process of updating the environmental knowledge base of an organisation through appropriate learning processes within the business. Design/methodology/approach: Using a structural equation model, feedback received from 87 companies from the Spanish hospitality sector in a longitudinal study consisting of two distinct phases in 2008 and 2014 was studied. Findings: The results of the analysis indicate that environmental knowledge has a positive impact on business performance. Also, the study found that a review of the levels of awareness about environmental problems across the organisation is required at regular intervals (in this research, six years after the initial analysis). Practical implications: The focus on the hospitality sector makes this research relevant for a significant number of hotels and their supply chains around the world. Originality/value: The research has addressed the challenges of sustainability and environmental performance from a perspective not previously covered in the extant literature, an approach further improved by the longitudinal nature of this study, performed over a period of six years. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose This paper argues that the combination of factors that facilitate focal and peripheral vision represent two distinct types of knowledge corridors. While focal vision may help detect signals that relate to the current objectives of the firm, peripheral vision is directed to non-central issues that may provide signals that relate to emerging trends in the external environment. Ambidexterity vision refers to the tension between these two different business visions within the same organization. This paper aims to examine the significance of procedural memory to an organization’s ambidexterity vision, along with investigating the impact procedural memory has on organizational learning.Design/methodology/approach The research conducted in this study addresses the following two questions: Does the enhancement of procedural memory result in the development of superior ambidexterity vision? Does the simultaneous development of both focal and peripheral vision enhance organizational learning? These research questions are studied by conducting an empirical investigation involving data provided by 203 banking employees. These data are analysed using a structural equation modelling approach.Findings Analysis of the data provides support for the existence of a relationship between ambidexterity vision and organizational learning.Practical implications The findings suggest that the re-direction of managers’ perceptions to supporting and enhancing an ambidexterity vision is likely to result in an improvement in their ability to identify emerging trends, new and emerging customers and potential shifts in customer needs and tastes.Originality/value This work suggests that the re-direction of managers’ perceptions to supporting and enhancing an ambidexterity vision is likely to result in an improvement in their ability to identify emerging trends, new and emerging customers and potential shifts in customer needs and tastes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose The purpose of this special issue is to point out the possibilities of new information and communication technologies (ICTs) for knowledge management (KM) in organizations, offering different perspectives on and approaches for the role of new ICTs for KM, as well as measuring the impact and diffusion of new ICTs for KM within organizations.Design/methodology/approach The selection of the papers included in this special issue is largely based on the work of the conference “7th European Conference on Intellectual Capital - ECIC” (April 2015, Cartagena, Spain), where the special issue editors organized a track on “New ICTs for Knowledge Management in Organizations”. The conference gathered leading scholars in the fields of intellectual capital and KM, dealing with the acquisition, creation and sharing of collective intelligence and how to utilize increased academic knowledge and networking in promoting economic and organizational innovations and changes.Findings The collection of papers covered in this special issue identifies challenging problems on the role of new ICTs for KM and their role in the design and implementation of innovative products, services or processes in organizations.Research limitations/implications The special issue tries to offer some new relevant advances for the academic and practice communities in the growing body of research analyzing new ICTs for KM. However, the theoretical and empirical advances showed represent only a partial view, which corresponds to the impact of new ICTs for KM at the organizational level of analysis.Practical implications The nature of new ICTs, such as social networking tools, wikis, internal blogging and the way they are used, suggest that nowadays they may differ from traditional organizational systems in two critical ways: the voluntary (typically not mandatory) use and their lack of activity or process orientation.Originality/value The special issue explores the phenomena by integrating different perspectives and approaches, including qualitative and quantitative empirical. This integration overcomes some limitations about the understanding of the issues under investigation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – Over the past few years, social networking sites (SNSs) have become very useful for firms, allowing companies to manage the customer–brand relationships. In this context, SNSs can be considered as a learning tool because of the brand knowledge that customers develop from these relationships. Because of the fact that knowledge in organisations is embodied in the concept of the learning organisation, customers may create brand knowledge as a consequence of two learning facilitators: informational and instrumental value. Then, the purpose of this paper is to identify the role played by brand knowledge in the process of creating customer capital, in the context of SNSs. Design/methodology/approach – A total of 259 users of SNSs, who were followers or fans of brand pages, participated in this study. Data were collected through an online survey and they were analysed using structural equation modelling. Findings – The results of the study show that brand pages at SNS can perform brand knowledge by providing purposive gratifications to its customers. Moreover, they can also develop an indirect effect on customer capital, through the direct effect that brand knowledge has on it. Therefore, the results of the study will help managers design their learning strategies in relation to SNS and confirm the need of using SNS as a learning tool. Originality/value – Few, if any, studies have analysed whether gratifications, usually related to media, work as learning facilitators in the context of brand pages at SNS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – SMEs may be trapped in a suboptimal stable equilibrium, as many overloaded managers are cutting back on their resources and may be over-investing in the development of exploration and exploitation processes rather than investing in mechanisms to facilitate an unlearning context. This paper proposes an unlearning context to manage an appropriate balance between exploratory processes and exploitative processes. Design/methodology/approach – This paper examines the relationship between and significance of two key factors of organisational learning (the exploration and exploitation of knowledge) within an unlearning context, and their effects on the improvement of the performance of SMEs. These relationships are examined through an empirical investigation of 229 SMEs in the Spanish metal sector. Findings – The results indicate that the effects of exploration and exploitation of knowledge on organizational performance are mediated through an unlearning context. Originality/value – The findings provide interesting insights into the drivers of organizational performance for SMEs using an unlearning context. SMEs need to provide for and support changes of perspective, of individual habits and in the framework for consolidating emergent understandings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While the information technologies provide organizational members with explicit concepts, such as writing instruction manuals, the 'organizational memory' provides individuals with tacit knowledge, such as systematic sets, routines and shared visions. This means that individuals within an organization learn by using both the organizational memory and the information technologies. They interact to reduce organizational information needs contributing to improve organizational innovativeness. However, the utilization of the organization memory or the technology infrastructure does not guarantee that appropriate information is used in appropriate circumstances or that information is appropriately updated. In other words, previous memories reflect a world that is only partially understood and assimilated, which might lead individuals to doing the wrong things right or the right things wrong. This paper examines the relative importance and significance of the existence of unlearning to the presence and nature of 'organizational memory and technology'. We further examine the effect of the existence of organizational memory and information technology on conditions that promote organizational innovativeness. These relationships are examined through an empirical investigation of 291 large Spanish companies. Our analysis found that if the organization considers the establishment of an unlearning culture as a prior step in the utilization of organization memory or the technology infrastructure through organizational innovativeness, then organization memory and technology have a positive influence on the conditions that stimulate organizational innovativeness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is clear from the literature that in situations where organizations and their members face changing environments, it is necessary that mechanisms (learning) exist to capture the new knowledge which enables the firms to address those changes. This article examines the relative importance and significance of the existence of an 'open-mindedness context' to the existence and nature of 'organizational learning'. We include time as a variable in the analysis and focus on the need to unlearn at a moment (T) in order to learn more efficiently at a moment after (T+1). These relationships are examined through an empirical investigation of 107 Spanish small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) within the telecommunications industry. The results indicate that the effects of exploration and exploitation of knowledge at moment T+1 is conditioned by the existence of an 'open-mindedness culture' at moment T. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]