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We examine how individual heterogeneity can be managed across geographically dispersed units of the multinational enterprise (MNE) to facilitate effective knowledge sourcing. To explore individual heterogeneity, we adopt the componential theory of creativity, which links heterogeneous features of individuals to creativity performance. We propose that these features shape individuals’ responses to unit-level practices, stimulating international knowledge sourcing and sharing. We further acknowledge that MNE units are subject to the pressures for global integration and local adaptation. Individuals’ responses to unit-level knowledge transfer practices may be inconsistent with one or both of these pressures. We explore, in a nuanced fashion, conditions that can lead to such inconsistencies, and investigate how they can be resolved at the unit level to ensure effective knowledge sourcing by the MNE. Ultimately, our model challenges the assumption that individual knowledge-related efforts automatically accrue to the MNE level. We argue that effective knowledge sourcing by the MNE is the result of successful unit-level processes in managing individual heterogeneity and ensuring consistency with global integration and local adaptation pressures. Our multi-level model contributes to both the MNE- and individual-level perspective on international knowledge sourcing, and the growing microfoundations research on the role of the individual in an MNE.

We advance understandings of knowledge transfer by showing the central role of symbolic action, taking the form of ritual, in contexts characterized by worldview differences. Using qualitative data from interactions between farming communities in rural Ghana and agriculture development specialists, we examine how rituals do relational work that enables informational work. We find that rituals (i.e., visits, value affirmations, gift-giving, prayer, performing, storytelling) do so by means of their functions–bracketing worldview differences, modeling collaboration between farmers and agriculture development specialists, and packaging new knowledge in displays of compatibility. Our work also expands scholarship on the role of rituals in organizations and on management practices in Africa. Overall, our paper offers a complex, comprehensive view of knowledge transfer as involving both relational and informational work and relying on both symbolic action and tangible elements.

This study explores the relevance of top management teams’ experience to support the headquarters parenting advantage in the context of Chinese multinationals. Specifically, it studies how the political and international experience of headquarters’ top management teams moderates the relationship between headquarters involvement in knowledge transfer processes – a key aspect of value creation in the parenting advantage logic – and the extent of reverse knowledge transfer from subsidiaries. Based on the data from two complementary surveys of senior managers in 99 Chinese multinationals and managers in their 177 subsidiaries, our analysis indicates a contrasting effect of top managers’ experience as their political experience weakens, but their international experience strengthens the positive effect of headquarters involvement in reverse knowledge transfer. This study contributes to the parenting advantage logic, by introducing the relevance of different top managers’ experiences, and to our understanding of top management teams in the context of both reverse knowledge transfer and Chinese multinationals, particularly by showing the important implications of top management teams’ experience for Chinese enterprises’ international strategies.

I argue that academic research in accounting has strayed from producing work that is useful to either practitioners or policy makers. I use three criteria to arrive at that assessment: (i) How many products and processes have accounting research produced in the last 50 years? (ii) How much overlap do we observe between issues that Chief Financial Officers (CFOs) and Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) worry about and our published research? (iii) Is the science or the knowhow in academe in a particular area ahead of that in practice? I conjecture that tuition-funded research drives this problem. I review several initiatives that have been tried at Columbia and elsewhere (i) to better integrate academic research and practice and (ii) to disseminate our findings to practitioners. I suggest that Management Science set up a forum to encourage submissions of papers that use rigorous methods to address pressing applied problems. This paper was accepted by David Simchi-Levi, Special Section of Management Science: 65th Anniversary.

We trace the evolution of research on organizational learning. As organizations acquire experience, their performance typically improves at a decreasing rate. Although this learning-curve pattern is found in many industries, organizations vary in the rate at which they learn. In order to understand this variation, we separate organizational learning into four processes: search, knowledge creation, knowledge retention, and knowledge transfer. Within each process, we present research on how dimensions of experience and of the organizational context affect learning processes and outcomes. Our goals are to describe major findings and to identify opportunities for future research. The article concludes with a discussion of research directions that are likely to be productive in the future. These directions include investigating how new technological and organizational developments are likely to affect organizational learning. This paper was accepted by David Simchi-Levi, Special Section of Management Science: 65th Anniversary.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to discuss how multinational enterprises have historically managed global patenting and to what extent the localization of patent management has supported the expansion of these enterprises. This study focuses on the electric appliance industry (one of the first industries to see the emergence of global companies) and consider the case of Siemens, a German multinational company, comparing it to General Electric (GE), an American company. Design/methodology/approach The work adopts a global business history approach. Taking GE’s global patent-management model, described by Nishimura (2004, 2009, 2016), as the benchmark, this study analyzed Siemens’ worldwide control of its intellectual property rights between 1890 and Second World War, using German, Japanese and American primary sources. Findings Patent management is a common means for firms to globalize and transfer technology internationally, but it can take various forms. While GE transferred patent management to its foreign subsidiaries (a process known as localization), Siemens kept worldwide patent management at its headquarters – except in Japan, where in time it transferred this activity to a joint venture. The transfer of production called for localization of patent management while focusing on exporting to other markets made it possible to keep patent management at headquarters. Originality/value Patents are usually a source for quantitative surveys. This paper uses them to discuss how multinational companies manage property rights globally. It is the first paper to address this issue by comparing two major actors in a similar industry.

PurposeThe study explores African partners' experiences regarding Chinese expatriates' knowledge control practices in 29 Sino-African joint ventures in 12 countries. It provides insights into power dynamics and knowledge transfer (KT) from African partners' perspective.Design/methodology/approachThe qualitative paper mobilized semi-structured interviews with Africans who worked with Chinese expatriates across Africa. The study focused on understanding the experiences of African partners when collaborating with their Chinese expatriate colleagues on assignments in joint ventures (JVs) in Africa.FindingsChinese expatriates employed five tactics, as described by African partners, to control knowledge based on power, behaviors and knowledge type. Particularly, through the lens of unofficial power, this study explains knowledge hiding tactics between knowledge-holding Chinese expatriates and host country knowledge-seeking locals. A new dimension of authority-based knowledge hiding is discovered.Originality/valueThe paper brings new insights into the analysis of power (official and unofficial) boundaries regarding knowledge control mechanisms in joint venture collaborations between employees from China and Africa. Unofficial power appeared as a major leverage for expatriates in monopolizing their strategic knowledge. The study recommends mobilizing African diaspora and repatriates from China to improve KT for Africa.

Influencers increasingly provide sources of information and innovation to followers. Grounded in balance, cognitive dissonance, and congruity theories, the current article highlights how a congruence psychological mechanism, leveraged in influencer marketing campaigns, can contribute to the success of this novel form of persuasive communication. To understand consumers’ behavioral intentions when they encounter product recommendations from fashion influencers on Instagram, this study addresses the congruence among the three inherent contributors to any influencer marketing campaign: the influencer, the consumer (or follower), and the sponsored brand. The study involves 372 followers of a famous fashion influencer. Results confirm that when influencer–consumer congruence is fixed and high, high (low) influencer–product congruence prompts high (low) consumer–product congruence. Strong congruence between the consumer and product then generates more favorable attitudes toward the product, as well as higher purchase and recommendation intentions, ensuring optimal returns on influencer marketing campaigns.

PurposeBesides diversity's positive effects, groups of “we” against “them” may form in accordance with social categorization theory, showing diversity's negative consequences. The authors aim to reconcile these results and examine their boundary conditions.Design/methodology/approachThe authors studied 584 working professionals from five contexts (transnational companies dealing with multicultural interactions) and analyzed data using moderated-mediation procedures.FindingsA leader-promoting diversity climate plays a crucial role in moderating the negative relationship between perceived dissimilarity and group identification, which is mediated by value dissimilarity.Originality/valueThis study mainly contributes by treating dissimilarity as a multicomponent construct, emphasizing the crucial differences embodied in various conceptualizations of dissimilarity – namely visible and value dissimilarity. For dissimilarity to result in group identification, the results highlight leaders' crucial role, beyond that of organizations and individuals, in stimulating a diversity-embracing climate in work units.

PurposeThis study aims to identify critical factors and examine their impact on alliance performance from an organizational learning point of view.Design/methodology/approachA modified total interpretive structural modeling (M-TISM) methodology was used in this study. The different paths/links in the developed M-TISM model were further validated by using the Mahindra-Ford alliance case study.FindingsIn this study, a total of seven critical factors were identified using an extensive literature review, and a hierarchical model was developed. Results show that prior alliance experience, inter-partner learning, knowledge transfer, absorptive capacity and knowledge internalization have a positive on the alliance productivity and performance. Furthermore, the findings indicate that prior alliance experience remains essential for alliance productivity and performance, while knowledge transfer and absorptive capacity can contribute to inter-partner learning and knowledge internalization in strategic alliances.Research limitations/implicationsThis study can help managers and policymakers to understand the identified critical factors from an organizational learning perspective and understand their impact on the alliance performance in a competitive environment. The managers should know that previous alliance experience, learning from partner firms, building an absorptive capacity, etc., are necessary to achieve superior alliance productivity and performance. For academicians, the M-TISM methodology used in this study can provide a mechanism to perform exploratory research and build a hierarchical model in different management research fields.Originality/valueThe study fills research gaps by identifying key factors, developing a hierarchical model, and examining their impact on the performance of strategic alliances in the Indian automotive industry.

Purpose There is an increasingly growing interest in treading beyond the traditional university goals of teaching and research to focus on their contribution to society through knowledge transfer (KT) performance activities. This paper aims to determine how performance management systems (PMSs) encourage lecturers to engage in the transfer of knowledge from higher education institutions (HEIs) to society. Design/methodology/approach This study is based on a sample of 3,812 Spanish university lecturers surveyed about different PMS tools – strategic plans, budgeting, meetings and reward systems – and different KT activities – research and development contracts, patents, extended patents, licenses, services and spin-offs – for the 2011–2016 period. A logit model was applied for the statistical analyzes. Findings As expected, enabling the use of these tools generally increases the probability of producing KT while only in some cases does coercive use reduce it. Moreover, combining enabling and coercive uses does not increase the likelihood of KT performance. Practical implications University policymakers and managers should reduce the gap between KT and research and teaching by, for example, examining the effects of their performance management practices on scholars’ perceptions and their subsequent behavior. Originality/value Despite previous literature states that coercive use decreases performance, the authors reveal that this is not the case for KT performance in HEIs. According to the findings, a specific record of KT, i.e. a coercive strategic plan tool, has a consistently positive effect on all four KT activities as follows: R&D contracts, patents, extended patents and licenses.

The article considers the main problems and challenges facing scientific libraries in the context of the rapid development of information technologies. The article presents the discussion of library specialists who support various positions, the analysis of trends, and possible scenarios for the future existence of scientific libraries.The relations of "letters" and "figures" changing against the background of general digitalization are shown, the possibilities and conditions of their effective interaction are analyzed. The conclusion is made about the expediency of combining the achievements of the past and the future in the knowledge transfer. It reflects the fundamental trends in the needs of users, changes in the services provided and the existing competencies of scientific libraries staff.Attention is drawn to objective and subjective reasons that hinder the innovative development of the library sphere. The information and communication potential and the possibilities of integrating librarians into the process of scientific research are shown on the example of SPSTL SB RAS. The authors have identified and summarized the basic recommendations for optimizing the situation, taking into account the best domestic and foreign experience, with an emphasis on key problems.

Knowledge transfer between younger and older employees can help to prevent organizational knowledge loss and contribute to business success. However, despite its potential benefits, knowledge transfer does not occur automatically. To better understand the challenges associated with age-diverse knowledge transfer, we develop a conceptual model outlining 10 propositions. Specifically, we adopt a temporal social comparison perspective suggesting that employees compare their current and future status (i.e., the prestige, respect, and esteem provided by others). Expected future status differences are meaningful among age-diverse employees because older employees may have a higher current status than their younger colleagues, whereas younger employees may gain a higher status in the future. In our conceptual model, we propose 2 opposing pathways through which temporal social comparison impacts knowledge transfer, namely age-specific motives (i.e., generativity and development striving) and discrete emotions (i.e., fear of losing status and fear of losing face). In addition, we introduce individual and organizational boundary conditions that can modify the downstream consequences of temporal social comparison on knowledge transfer between younger and older employees.

PurposeIntraorganizational knowledge and information sharing are important steps toward more-accessible organizational knowledge. The aim of this study is to qualitatively explore factors that contribute to employees' motivations for sustaining intraorganizational knowledge-sharing behaviors and to examine the impact of these factors in a quantitative study with the Austrian Federal Ministry of Defense. This ministry faces a retirement wave in the next 5–10 years. Intraorganizational knowledge sharing before, during, and following this wave will play a decisive role for the organization in the near future.Design/methodology/approachAn exploratory sequential mixed-methods study was conducted. The study design involved a qualitative study phase with expert interviews and stakeholder workshops (n = 9) and a quantitative study phase based on a cross-sectional online survey with an implicit association test on intraorganizational knowledge sharing (n = 59).FindingsIn the qualitative study phase, three main research topics regarding intraorganizational knowledge sharing were identified: employee attitude, organizational support, and specific relational aspects of knowledge transfer, such as reciprocal relationships among employees and opportunities for knowledge exchange. A hierarchical multiple regression analysis revealed that perceived organizational support was the only factor that was a significant predictor of motivation for engaging in knowledge sharing. We also analyzed the data for moderation effects and demonstrated that sociopsychological factors (e.g., the engagement or openness of colleagues to share their knowledge) further strengthened the positive relationship between employees' perceived support and personal willingness to share knowledge.Practical implicationsWe conclude that an organizational culture that supports knowledge sharing within the organization is highly relevant for motivating employees to share their knowledge. Practitioners will also benefit from the insights of the various dimensions of employees' willingness to engage in knowledge-sharing behaviors to better design further interventions in organizations.Originality/valueIn accordance with an exploratory sequential mixed-methods approach, we followed a transdisciplinary process in which scientific and practical experiences and knowledge were integrated. For this purpose, interviews and workshops with experts and stakeholders in the organization were conducted. The qualitative findings were incorporated into a quantitative survey and an implicit association test for the employees of the organization. This approach demonstrates a different and more holistic approach to analyzing a real-world problem in the context of a governmental agency in order to investigate the multidimensional and complex topic of intraorganizational knowledge sharing.

Background and objective: The lack of human and intellectual resources and capital has affected the survival of different industries and organizations in this globally competitive world. Universities have failed to provide necessary human resources to these organizations. The coordination between industries and universities is not optimal. Such challenges are being faced in the United Arab Emirates (UAE); therefore, there is a need to investigate the reasons behind these challenges to develop an ideal university-industry relationship in UAE. The present study aims to evaluate the missing links in the relationships between universities and industries of UAE. Methods: A quantitative research design has been used to recruit 100 department heads and senior professors from 20 public and private universities in the UAE. Descriptive statistics, regression analysis and factor analysis have been used to analyze the data collected through SPSS v.20. Results: The results have shown a significant and positive impact of intellectual property (IP) policies (p = 0.045) and scientific knowledge (p = 0.023) on knowledge transfer; IP policies (p = 0.067), shared governance (p = 0.018) and scientific knowledge (p = 0.017) on trust; IP policies (p = 0.069), shared governance (p = 0.034) and scientific knowledge (p = 0.018) on innovation performance. Conclusion: The findings have suggested that the role of interorganizational governance mechanisms is important in university industry collaborations to increase trust, innovation, and shared governance.

PurposeThe aim of this research is to analyze the knowledge transfer process in technological innovation clusters. The problem of the study addresses how organizations can act in a network to enhance experiences and gains, particularly in the aspect of knowledge management.Design/methodology/approachThe study is qualitative, applied through a case study, cross-sectional and multiple sources of evidence – semistructured interviews, nonparticipant observation and analysis of documents and secondary institutional data. The case analyzed was the Technology Park of São José dos Campos, in Brazil, involving private companies, governmental organizations, universities and research institutions.FindingsThe results reinforce the arguments that the transfer of knowledge is influenced by factors, facilitators or inhibitors such as: cooperation, relationship with institutions, workforce mobility and geographical proximity, influencing the competitiveness and performance of the organizations in the cluster.Research limitations/implicationsThis study advances the knowledge management literature in network environments, especially in technological innovation clusters, systematizing and highlighting the facilitating and inhibiting dimensions of knowledge transfer.Practical implicationsThe present work has a direct dialogue with the managers and actors involved in the governance of these organizational arrangements with regard to increasing the capacity for creation and the dissemination of knowledge among organizations, educational institutions, government and companies.Originality/valueThere is a presence of aspects indicating that knowledge goes beyond borders through dynamic and collaborative structures, reinforcing the premise that clusters must be perceived as an evolutionary system, whose result of interactions leads to a superior joint capacity.

Purpose This paper aims to review existing literature on the role of human resource management (HRM) practices in nurturing employee’s organisational commitment (OC), which subsequently promoting knowledge transfer (KT) within an organisation and propose a conceptual framework for future empirical research. Design/methodology/approach An extensive review of existing literature was undertaken in an attempt to build the conceptual model for KT. Findings The proposed conceptual framework illustrates the role of OC as a focal mediating mechanism in fostering KT. This paper identifies “high commitment” HRM (HCHRM) (e.g. staffing, job design, training and development, performance appraisal and reward system) as the factors influencing the development of OC, which subsequently affecting KT (i.e. knowledge sharing and application). Also, this paper integrates the potential moderating roles of leader-member exchange (LMX) between HCHRM practices-OC, as well as information and communication technology support in the OC-KT linkage into the proposed framework. Research limitations/implications This paper presents a comprehensive view of fostering KT. However, the major limitation of this paper is that it remains at a conceptual level. Further empirical investigations would be helpful to test propositions, hence validating the proposed conceptual framework. Practical implications The proposed conceptual framework could serve as practical guidance for managers and/or practitioners in developing policies that will facilitate KT in business organisations. Originality/value While KT is often viewed as a single phenomenon, this paper considers the KT into two components (i.e, sharing and application) in accordance with the practice-based perspective on knowledge and behavioural approach to KT. In addition, the adoption of the general workplace commitment model in conceptualising KT could further validate its applicability in knowledge management research. Also, the integration of LMX as a moderator in the proposed framework could contribute to the scant research on LMX-related moderation models upon validation.

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.

PurposeBusiness process management (BPM) has been discussed in much literature as a crucial approach to achieve firm-enterprise business performance, however in term of digital business transformation to face the current digital enterprise business era, there is still much to be explored. Drawing sociotechnical perspective of ETHICS theory, the study develops and conceptualize information technologies/systems (IT/IS) proactive capability and socialization-codification knowledge process that produce business transformation process in digital-based era.Design/methodology/approachOf the 173 company-enterprise respondents in Indonesia, the authors empirically test and validate the conceptual model using structural equation model tool-SmartPLS and SPSS statistical. The enterprise respondents were manufactures industry, construction services, hardware and software, plantation and agriculture, financial and insurance services, and other retail trade.FindingsThe authors found different findings of mediating effect and direct relationship effect. Socialization knowledge process has directly influence IT/IS proactive capability and enterprise digital business transformation. Codification knowledge process has successfully support IT/IS proactive capability, but unsupported correlation on enterprise digital business transformation. Also, IT/IS proactive capability positively influence enterprise digital business transformation. Enterprise business process suffers when the firm transform their business process into digital-based only using codification knowledge practices because documented knowledge (codification type) is not strong enough to help company in the way of enterprise digital business transformation. Mediating role show IT/IS proactive capability is crucial approach for enterprise business transformation to maximize codification knowledge practices. The findings present one fully supported results of mediation role through IT/IS proactive capability. A stronger support for enterprise IT/IS strategy in company, a high opportunity for codification knowledge practices to improve the digital ways to transform the enterprise business process. In short, the results can guide enterprise managers on how to manage their knowledge resources and maximizing emerging technologies to achieve enterprise digital business transformation.Research limitations/implicationsThe authors acknowledged that future studies would be worthwhile to create, develop and strengthen the model and its related foundation. Future research may try different concept/theory that applicable in enterprise digital business transformation. Also, an opportunity for future study is how enterprise digital business transformation in different context of industries with the current emerging technologies (e.g. IoT, big data, AI).Originality/valueThis study offers a theoretical and conceptual framework to the applicable digital-based within enterprise business transformation context. A knowledge/novel contribution of this study is the integration of a sociotechnical that highly relevant and drives enterprise digital business transformation. This study also is an effort to combine some areas such as business transformation strategy, knowledge-intensive business services, knowledge management and IT/IS.

This paper explores the territory between the evidence-based policymaking (EBPM) agenda and the research impact agenda. Although these two related agendas are typically considered in isolation, this paper provides an analysis dedicated to how they interact. It begins with a discussion outlining the origins of research impact and the use of evidence in policymaking. This is followed by an overview of the Australian policy context that shapes academic research and its impact. We argue that although the relationship between EBPM and research impact can be viewed as a symbiotic one, there are some tensions that arise in practice. Such difficulties can be further exacerbated when using research to inform policy in times of crisis, as illustrated by governing during the COVID-19 pandemic. The insights provided contribute to our understanding of impact and are of value to policymakers and academic researchers as they help clarify the changing context within which they operate.

PurposeIn the field of innovation, there is growing interest in exploring the factors that determine the extent to which firms can learn from external sources. However, most previous studies neglect the role of human factors. Little is known about which employee behaviors are desirable for boundary-spanning learning activities and which human resource management (HRM) practices are appropriate to respond to external knowledge transfer across boundaries. To fill this gap, the authors investigate the role of empowerment-focused HRM in interfirm learning and explore the integration of external inputs from the perspective of employees.Design/methodology/approachBased on empirical survey data collected from different countries, the authors test the proposed model with structural equation modeling.FindingsThe authors’ findings indicate that empowerment-focused HRM practices, including job enrichment, job autonomy, teamwork and cross-functional communication, are positively associated with relationship learning.Originality/valueIn this study, the authors present a theoretical explanation for how empowerment-focused HRM may influence firm's innovation through relationship learning process and provide empirical evidence regarding the specific HRM practices that can have different effects on the different phases of relationship learning.

The article considers the evolution, forms and current situation in the field of education based on information technologies (ITE). The authors investigate directions of changes in the educational sphere as a form of activity, as well as the system and process of knowledge transfer under information and communication technologies (ICT) influence. The paper defines the general properties of the forms of education, based on information technologies. The authors use as a tool of studying the impact of the information and communication technologies on educational institutions and on a learning process the idea of a value chain and employees routine loops reflection in it. The study highlights three areas in which information and communication technologies are changing educational organizations: pedagogics, infrastructure, and organization. The article shows how these changes are seen in the value chain. The paper considers a number of trends in the widely understood process of digitalization of education, the COVID-19 pandemic impact on the development of on-line education, evaluates the existing experience of such education and the limits of its applicability.

Purpose This paper attempts to evaluate the current collaborative model of disaster management initiated by the Indonesian Government at the regional level. The paper aims at providing recommendations for a more functional model of local communities' resilience by promoting the synergy of roles among the community, industry and local government. Design/methodology/approach To achieve the study objective, the authors conducted the qualitative approach. The study used The Hyogo Framework to Action (HFA) 2000–2015 disaster management approach. The HFA approach contains substances of disaster management guidelines on social, economic and environmental aspects, as well as the strategies for implementing the guidelines. Findings The study's findings have indicated that substandard institutions can hamper collaborative processes and lower the level of community resilience. A collaborative model can appropriately operate when the formal institution plays its role as the central coordinator and ensures that transparency, decision-making and representation are met. Furthermore, the community and formal educational institutions are essentials as the foundation of building community resilience. Practical implications This study was limited to a case study in an Indonesian popular tourist destination. Hence, it could be extended by conducting comparative studies with other destinations in developing countries to explore their disaster management and the government involvement in each respective countries. Social implications This study was limited to a case study in an Indonesian popular tourist destination. Hence, it could be extended by conducting comparative studies with other destinations in developing countries to explore their disaster management and government involvement in each respective country. Originality/value In this paper, the authors propose a novel approach to improve the current disaster management model. The proposed approach focuses on designing an institutional model for tourism destinations' disaster management, where the stakeholders are less-functional in working collaboratively. The study findings suggest that educational institutions and disaster communities must take the mediator role in bridging knowledge transfer among the government, the community and the tourism industry.

Purpose This paper aims to identify current challenges that hinder university–industry (U-I) collaboration in Pakistan and presents future opportunities for promoting such collaborations in developing countries. Design/methodology/approach This exploratory study presents new empirical evidence obtained from Pakistan via a questionnaire survey of 24 universities, 25 interviews with key stakeholders including industry managers and outputs from a high level workshop event. Findings Although there is limited evidence of U-I engagement in Pakistan, the findings show that a lack of coordination between government, universities and industrial firms has hindered knowledge transfer between universities and industry. Such steps as utilising intermediaries to help broker effective collaborations and building trust-based relationships can help in socialising these types of scientific activities. Research limitations/implications Any overall conclusions drawn from this exploratory study can only be tentative, as the findings represent a snapshot of current U-I collaboration initiatives in Pakistan. Practical implications Less stringent policy interventions from government entities, as well as more universities willing to invite industry input on their board of studies might enable co-development of some university curriculums with industry partners. U-I collaborations could also help to boost innovation efforts in developing country firms. Originality/value This paper also offers awareness into benefits of teaching activity collaboration with industry partners, which has been an under explored area of past U-I collaboration studies. The findings should be of interest for both innovation policy and higher education policy researchers.

PurposeThe purpose of this research is to better understand the human aspects of open innovation in small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) by exploring how intrinsic and extrinsic motivation influence enjoyment in helping others, knowledge sharing and knowledge hiding and consequently firms' open innovation.Design/methodology/approachWe collected data with a survey among CEOs in 140 SMEs and performed confirmatory factor analysis applying structural equation modeling in IBM SPSS AMOS (v. 26).FindingsResults reveal that intrinsic motivation is positively associated with helping behavior and knowledge sharing and negatively associated with knowledge hiding. We also confirm the positive relationship between extrinsic motivation and knowledge sharing. Moreover, we find that knowledge sharing increases and knowledge hiding decreases the firm-level open innovation. Especially in high-tech industry, knowledge sharing is a vital determinant of open innovation.Originality/valueResponding to the calls for a deeper understanding of the individual-level factors that determine organization-level open innovation, in this research we focus on the human aspect of open innovation in SMEs. Open innovation is a widely recognized and implemented concept among large corporations and facilitates better understanding of new technological and market developments both within and outside of organizations. However, understanding of the microfoundations of open innovation in smaller firms is still limited, but this steam of research is growing rapidly.

The industry has a relevant spatial and socioeconomic importance in most of the Spanish cities and nowadays is one of the main urban economic activities. However, in many situations, and despite recent advances in the past two decades, industrial heritage is a value that is still not sufficiently widespread in society. The factories, their activity, and their historical evolution are often disconnected and isolated from the daily life of the cities, being quite an unknown aspect for most of the citizens. This contribution presents the result of various experiences of knowledge transmission on the heritage value of industry, through the use of games and storytelling technique as an educational tool and the combination of different technologies (3D modelling, videomapping, virtual reality) as useful tools to spread the explanation of this phenomenon.

On 21 August 2019 the German Federal Cabinet stipulated its New Arctic Policy Guidelines. Science is an integral part of this political document according to which scientific findings shall be the starting point of the German activities in the Arctic. The present article argues that an independent “German” Arctic policy can only be successfully shaped by taking scientific knowledge into consideration. In order to investigate the role of science in German Arctic policy different governmental documents have been analyzed, notably the New German Arctic Policy Guidelines. First of all, the article discusses why Germany as a Non-Arctic riparian state is pursuing its own Arctic policy. For this purpose, it considers the main reasons which have caused Germany to exert an influence on the Arctic. These include strategic, economic, ecologic and especially research-oriented interests. Concerning the implementation of the goals of the New Arctic Policy Guidelines the knowledge transfer between science and politics is of special significance. The article describes how science contributes to political decisions by generating explanation models, different approaches to solutions or by issuing recommendations. In order to tackle the multi-layered and complex structured goals of the German Arctic Guidelines politics need to take into account research and science to remain capable of acting. Thus, science is indispensable for the realisation of the German Arctic Policy goals. Finally, the article points out that the traditional polar research system is shifting from a traditional natural scientific-based orientation to a more inclusive and broad-ranging orientation. It shows how diverse academic disciplines scientifically deal with questions regarding the Arctic. Here, the article argues that the traditional natural scientific-based orientation of polar science is outdated whereas a demand for interdisciplinary Arctic polar science has emerged. By looking at the project “Marine Conservation in the Arctic” the article illustrates how these different academic fields can successfully be merged.

The servitization domain consists of over three decades of multi-disciplinary research on service activities in industrial contexts. Servitization literature combines different research streams that share a set of critical concepts. Existing meta-analytical studies have organized information content of sub-streams, homogenized theoretical propositions, and concepts to discover shared patterns, and identified an implicit meta-narrative. This study reverses the meta-analysis direction to deconstruct the servitization body of knowledge using the dynamic topic modeling (DTM) methodology to analyze 550 research articles. DTM enables complex forms of content analysis that combine quantitative and qualitative analysis. The analysis demonstrates how these streams have informed the development of the servitization domain and shaped the collective construction of this body of knowledge. The contributions of this study are threefold. First, the study increases understanding of the conceptual dynamics and thematic trendswithin the servitization research domain and the nuances between the sub-streams. The study offers some strategies for the future development of the field, facilitating the renewal of the servitization-related research agenda. Second, it illustrates the role of DTM as an alternative tool for conducting a literature review. Finally, it supports the development of a common language for the servitization field, thereby reducing the entry barriers for new contributors and favoring the knowledge transfer to professionals.

The coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19) represents an unprecedented challenge for the survival of various organisations around the world. The resilience of an organisation depends predominantly on its ability to respond in a timely manner by leveraging optimal decisions, as supported by dynamic knowledge management in assessing rapidly evolving external uncertainties while evaluating real options. Such a capability can be enhanced by a risk-based approach through collaboration among organisations under public health policy directives to implement concerted control measures in a responsive manner. An integrative framework is developed to illustrate an underlying system that embraces dynamic knowledge management to mitigate limitations in the conventional approach based on a single organisation’s perspective. The case of Hong Kong, a highly populated city in Asia, is illustrated to explore the interinstitutional dynamics of knowledge transfer to external stakeholders in protecting public health under an exposed system. Implications for postpandemic management system development for institutional sustainability are articulated. © Operational Research Society 2021.

Family businesses (FB) are important in the most of national economies. We explored whether successors' innovativeness is positively associated with the transfer of the founders' innovativeness through knowledge transfer and creation processes in a form of the internal transfer of founders' tacit and experiential knowledge and skills and with the external transfer of knowledge, when potential successors attend educational programs, external training, or gain working experience in other companies. Our research reveals that when the actual forms of internal knowledge transfer are discussed, the positive correlations exist between innovativeness of successors and their early inclusion into FB, apprenticeship, inclusion of successors into meetings with business partners and strategic planning before they get involved in FB. Our survey partially confirmed that regarding external transfer of knowledge, working experiences of successors in other companies and participation in academic courses are positively associated with their innovativeness.

Transfer learning addresses the problem of how to leverage acquired knowledge from a source domain to improve the learning efficiency and accuracy of the target domain that has insufficient labeled data. Instead of one source domain, multiple domains could be the source domains that are available for knowledge transfer in practice. However, there are large differences between the source and target domains, how to extract the useful knowledge from these different source domains remains a problem. To solve this problem, we propose a source-target pairwise segment method for multi-source transfer regression (STPS-MTR). The STPS-MTR method adaptively segments the different source domains and the target domain into different similar parts, and it extracts the most similar part in different source domains as the transfer knowledge. The STPS-MTR method can effectively extract the transfer knowledge from different source domains even when the source domain and the target domain have relatively low similarity, and it can avoid the negative influence between different source domains to ensure the transfer performance. Experimental results using synthetic datasets and real-world datasets demonstrate that the proposed method has better performance than existing methods, particularly when there are significant differences between different source domains and the target domain.

PurposeThis study investigated the effectiveness of a professional development project on digital citizenship education (DCE) conducted by a team at the Education University of Hong Kong. The project aimed to promote digital citizenship education in local junior secondary schools in Hong Kong and support the professional development of in-service teachers.Design/methodology/approachThis study was based on a departmental knowledge transfer and curriculum development project that provided professional development training workshops to in-service teachers from seven partner schools. This paper analyses some findings from the quantitative research questionnaires, lesson observations and qualitative interviews.FindingsEleven of the 12 participants reported that they were satisfied with the training workshops in the end. We also conducted paired sample t-tests of inferential data. The results show that after the workshops, the teachers tended to teach their students more about aspects of digital law, digital commerce and digital safety and security when teaching digital citizenship. This selection helps us to better understand the priorities of teachers in teaching digital citizenship.Originality/valueThis paper is the product of an original knowledge transfer and curriculum development project supported by the Education University of Hong Kong in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (Hong Kong SAR) of China. The topic of digital citizenship education has also been under developed since citizenship education has always been about conventional citizenship in the physical world.

How local industrial clusters break through the lock-in status of low end of value chains and realize industrial upgrading in the development process of embedded global value chain is the central topic of current industrial development research. To explore how industrial clusters achieve the enhancement of their innovation capability and value chains when they are embedded in the global value chain, from the perspective of knowledge transfer and according to the differences in the knowledge levels of the local industrial clusters, three fuzzy game models of knowledge transfer paths were constructed, and the model of the realization mechanism of knowledge transfer and its stability condition was analyzed, which make clear the path of cluster growth under different embedding modes. Results show that although the mode of embedding and the path of knowledge transfer is different, the local industrial clusters can obtain external knowledge transfer by embedding in the global value chain; the knowledge transformation ability of local industrial clusters is the determining factor that the knowledge transfer can smoothly achieve and become stable. The conclusion also shows that the feasibility of the cross-sectional growth of industrial clusters by actively embed the global value chain and acquiring external knowledge transfer if the industrial clusters want to enhance their technology accumulation, their innovation ability, and their position in the global value chain.

This study sought to explore the role academic libraries can play in connecting industries to research outputs emanating from universities and research institutions in Ghana. This study adopted the explanatory sequential mixed methods design. Purposive and disproportionate stratified sampling were used to select a sample size of 196, which included researchers, academic librarians and industrialists. The response rate was 78%. Data was collected through a semi-structured interview guide and questionnaire. Narrative analysis of qualitative data was employed, while quantitative data from the questionnaire was analysed descriptively (frequencies, means, standard deviations) and inferentially (ANOVA) using SPSS version 21. The significant finding indicates that academic libraries can play a key role in the effective transmission of research outputs to industries, hence, the need for a stronger collaboration among researchers, academic libraries, and industries to ensure high productivity, leading to national development. The study recommended the use of the Academic Libraries Transfer of Research Outputs to Industry (ALTROI) Model to ensure effective collaboration among researchers, academic libraries and industries as far as the proper use of research outputs is concerned.

This paper explores issues relating to talent management in Vietnam’s emerging market economy, particularly knowledge transfer, skills application, and linkage effects within and across firms. The ...

Knowledge has become the most important factor of production with the emergence of the knowledge economy. We use the system GMM estimation method to analyze how cross-national knowledge transfer (C...

Sociocultural analysis of migratory behavior, socio-economic and political studies of the Diaspora and the study of social communications as the basis for building social networks of migrants form a holistic view of the content of the migration choice being made. Social communication research focuses on knowledge transfer and building sustainable trusting relationships. Based on the analysis of the level of education of migrants and interviews with Armenian migrants on the role of the network of family and friendly relations, conclusions are drawn about the importance of network interactions and communications based on trust, which are based on the motives for making a decision to migrate. In the context of the knowledge economy, the educational level of human capital plays a key role for the competitive advantages of business and the region, innovative economic growth requires building effective relationships, which, in the context of social isolation and the development of digital contacts, have received new tools for expansion. Global digital social communications make it possible to maintain a richness and intensity of contacts, including the exchange of information and the maintenance of an ethnic cultural identity, regardless of location.

The goal for a virtual reality (VR) training system is to enable trainees to acquire all the knowledge they need to perform effectively in a real environment. Such a system should provide an experience so authentic that no further real-world training is necessary, meaning that it is sufficient to train in VR. We evaluate the impact of a haptic thermal stimulus, which is of paramount importance to decision making, on trainees performance and knowledge acquisition. A thermal device was created to deliver the stimulus. As a proof of concept, a procedure from firefighter training is selected, in which sensing the temperature of a door with one's hand is essential. The sample consisted of 48 subjects divided among three experimental scenarios: one in which a virtual thermometer is used (visual stimulus), another in which the temperature is felt with the hand (thermal stimulus) and a third in which both methods are used (visual + thermal stimuli). For the performance evaluation, we measured the total time taken, the numbers of correctly executed procedures and identified neutral planes, the deviation from the target height, and the responses to a knowledge transfer questionnaire. Presence, cybersickness, and usability are measured to evaluate the impact of the haptic thermal stimulus. Considering the thermal stimulus condition as the baseline, we conclude that the significantly different results in the performance among the conditions indicate that the better performance in the visual-only condition is not representative of the real-life performance. Consequently, VR training applications need to deliver the correct stimuli for decision making.

Background Low and middle-income countries (LMICs) lack trained child mental health professionals. While teachers’ child development experience potentially positions them to fill the gap as lay mental health counselors, they have rarely delivered indicated child mental health care in LMICs. As part of assessing the feasibility of teachers serving as lay counselors, we explored teachers’ perceptions of serving as lay counselors and their mental health attitudes and knowledge. Methods In 2018, with training and supervision, 19 primary school teachers from five rural, low cost private schools in Darjeeling, India, served as lay counselors in their classrooms. Using mixed methods, we examined teacher perceptions of serving as lay counselor and mental health attitudes and knowledge through a survey (n = 15), a summative assessment (n = 14), and semi-structured interviews (n = 17). For the survey and summative assessment, pre-training, post-training, and post-intervention mean scores were compared using paired t tests. Post-intervention interviews were coded for teachers’ perceptions of serving as lay counselor and mental health attitudes and knowledge. Results Qualitatively, teachers expressed being willing to serve as lay counselor, having more inclusive mental health attitudes, and retaining mental health knowledge as applicable to use during instructional time or incorporation into the knowledge transfer process, their primary duty. By contrast, quantitatively, teachers’ attitudes appeared to become more inclusive on the study-specific survey pre versus post-training, but reverted to pre-training levels post-intervention. Teachers’ mental health knowledge on the summative assessment did not change pre-training versus post-training versus post-intervention. Conclusions Training, supervision, and serving as lay counselors led to teachers’ willingness to serve as lay counselors. Teachers served as lay counselors by utilizing therapeutic techniques during class time and incorporating them into their typical instruction, not through delivering traditional office-like care. Teacher practices may be pointing to the potential emergence of an “education as mental health therapy” system of care. Their changes in attitudes and knowledge reflected their emerging practices. Quantitative measures of knowledge and attitude changes did not capture these nuanced changes. Trial Registration The parent feasibility trial was registered on January 01, 2018 with Clinical Trials Registry – India (CTRI), reg. no. CTRI/2018/01/011471, ref. no. REF/2017/11/015895. http://ctri.nic.in/Clinicaltrials/pdf_generate.php?trialid=21129&EncHid=&modid=&compid=%27,%2721129det%27..

Project-based organizations (PBOs) are framed in a dynamic bi-directional interaction between the permanent organization and its temporary units (projects). The study of knowledge transfer in PBOs has focused exclusively on the knowledge transfer practices held at the realm of the temporary units; however, we still need to understand how the permanent organization can enable this knowledge transfer process. Using a deductive-inductive approach and exploring the case of a division managed as PBO in a provincial government agency in Canada, we analyzed how the practices led by the permanent organization enable the actual knowledge transfer across projects. We found that different practices conducted at the level of the permanent organization were enabling or disabling the performance of formal and informal knowledge transfer practices executed at the temporary units. In this work we show how by distorting the goal of the formal knowledge transfer practices the permanent organization pushed the project team members to the use of informal knowledge practices to overcome this flaw. We argue that a balanced deployment of formal and informal knowledge transfer practices not only can boost knowledge transfer but also can reinforce the temporary organizations’ embeddedness within the permanent organization.

International knowledge interactions constitute channels of knowledge transfer that finally promote technological catch-up. Accounting for the differences in knowledge dimensions and knowledge interactions, catching-up firms are provided with different types of learning opportunities. In the context of catch-up of emerging economy firms, the empirical evidence considering these differences is rather scarce. Using a cross-section of European patent data, we investigate the effects of different types of international knowledge interactions on the quality of knowledge captured by Chinese firms’ patent applications. We differentiate between lower vs. higher levels of learning and explore the technological learning process of Chinese firms over a period of 15 years. We find that international knowledge interactions are associated positively with knowledge quality. In the earlier phases of the catch-up process, knowledge interactions providing lower levels of learning are associated with a higher quality of the knowledge generated. Whereas knowledge interactions with the opportunity for higher levels of learning are correlated with a higher quality of the generated knowledge in later phases of the catch-up process.

Expatriate is one of the potential sources of knowledge for firms to increase their capability in creating innovation. Currently, Indonesia has a relatively small number of expatriates but the figure tends to increase overtime. This country has experienced a changing nature of expatriation that brings consequences to several conditions for the achievement of successful knowledge transfer (KT) from expatriates to local employee in Indonesian local firms. This paper proposes a new concept namely Knowledge Transfer Readiness (KTR) which is beneficial in helping the firms to deal with the changing nature. Combining grounded research and multiple case studies to apply this concept to the Indonesian local firms, it is argued that not all of the elements in KTR’s dimensions must be fulfilled in excellent conditions. Weak elements from the source’s side can be surmounted by fulfilling excellent condition of recipient’s side, and vice versa. Nevertheless, there are elements that must be fulfilled in excellent condition of both sides, or becomes absolute requirements solely for the expatriates. The fulfillment of KTR’s elements influences the relationship qualities between expatriates and local employees to achieve Knowledge Transfer Quality (KTQ). The KTQ includes the amount and the accuracy of knowledge and depth of understanding, so it can be a new option of qualitative indicator to measure the success of KT.

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to explore a phenomenon in knowledge management that has been given scant attention: the influence of cultural distance on inter-organizational knowledge transfer in the context of multinational companies involving headquarters in the USA and a subsidiary in Sri Lanka.Design/methodology/approachDesigned as a qualitative exploratory study, data was collected through in-depth interviews of 15 participants and documents review.FindingsThe findings of this study implied that the theoretically introduced cultural dimensions shall be relevant to analyze the phenomenon of this study. Consequently, through the findings of this study, it is argued that inter-organizational knowledge transfer in multinational companies is influenced by cultural distance.Research limitations/implicationsThis study theoretically and empirically contributes to the debates on knowledge transfer in knowledge management research in general and, inter-organizational knowledge transfer in multinational companies between headquarters and subsidiaries with respect to the influence of cultural distance in particular, through the light of Trompenaars’ (1993) cultural dimensions theory.Practical implicationsThe findings of this study could motivate the practitioners to take into account: the influence of cultural distance on inter-organizational knowledge transfer, if inter-organizational knowledge transfer happens in similar contexts: multinational companies with a headquarters in the USA (a western context) and a subsidiary in Sri Lanka (a non-western context) in the practical business world.Originality/valueThis study provides theoretical and empirical insights into the influence of cultural distance on inter-organizational knowledge transfer in multinational companies between headquarters and subsidiaries in the selected context while suggesting various avenues for further research toward the influence of cultural distance on such phenomenon in similar/dissimilar contexts.

Online platforms have emerged to facilitate patent transfer between academia and industry, but a recommendation method that matches patents with company needs is missing in the literature. Previous patent recommendation methods were designed mainly for query-driven patent search contexts, where user needs are given. However, company needs are implicit in the patent transfer context. The problem of profiling the needs and recommending patents accordingly remains unsolved. This research proposes a knowledge graph approach to address the problem. The proposed approach defines and constructs a patent knowledge graph to capture the semantic information between keywords in the patent domain. Then, it profiles patents and companies as weighted graphs based on the patent knowledge graph. Finally, it generates recommendations by comparing the weighted graphs based on the graph edit distance measure. During the recommendation process, three recommendation strategies (i.e., supplementary, complementary, and hybrid recommendation strategies) are proposed to profile different company needs and make recommendations accordingly. The proposed approach has been implemented and tested on a knowledge transfer platform in Jiangxi province, R.P. China. A pretest experiment shows that the proposed approach outperforms several baseline methods in terms of precision, recall, F-score, and mean average precision. User feedback from an online experiment further demonstrates the usability and the effectiveness of the proposed approach for recommending patents to companies.

Our study estimates the effects of the European Monetary Union (EMU) on high-technology (HT) export and assesses the potential knowledge spillovers of such trade. Irrespective of the importance of the HT trade channel, none of the previous studies in the literature focus on the effects of a common currency on HT trade. Increasing trade in the HT sector may lead to more efficient use of resources and help countries to move towards a knowledge-based economy. Moreover, it may lead to higher overall growth. After considering multilateral resistances, pair fixed effects and bias correction in the preferred (three-way bias-corrected) model, EMU membership becomes negative and statistically non-significant for HT exports. Furthermore, our findings indicate that the effect of the EMU on HT exports is country-specific, which lends support to the notion of non-homogenous knowledge transfer and country-related knowledge-based economic development within the EMU.

The purpose of the study is, first, to examine how, and which institutionalized supplier development initiatives are associated with knowledge transfer, and, second, to investigate the mediating ro...

We analyze transfer channels of radical innovations launched by small and medium-sized firms (SMEs) using an ego network approach. Based on a unique longitudinal dataset covering the observation period 1996–2016, we identify and trace back radical innovations of SMEs in German Biotech in order to analyze the extent to which SMEs themselves—or eventually also other organizations in their direct cooperation surrounding—benefit from radical innovations in terms of subsequent innovation performance. Results from negative binomial panel regressions indicate that direct cooperation partners of radical innovators show higher innovative performance than partners of the control group, i.e., statistical twin firms without radical innovations. Our results confirm that radical innovations initiate a positive impulse for innovation through direct cooperative relationships. Interestingly, geographical proximity does not play a role, and especially technologically different partners benefit from direct cooperation with radical innovators.Plain English Summary Radical innovations are rare but have a great importance for the economy. Our study shows that not only radically innovating biotech SMEs themselves but also various types of directly linked cooperation partners benefit significantly. We investigate whether directly linked cooperation partners of radically innovating firms benefit from knowledge spillover transferred through formal cooperation. A radical innovation represents a novel and often complex combination of already existing knowledge. Thus, knowledge transfer process differs for radical and non-radical innovations. Project-based formal cooperation can support the transfer of radical knowledge. In this context geographical and technological factors matter. Using the example of German small and medium-sized biotechnology firms, we show that collaboration with radical firms is positively related to innovation performance of directly linked project partners. Interestingly, this effect is higher for partners located in other regions as well as for technologically distant partners. Our study extends the research on knowledge transfer by emphasizing the role of formal collaboration projects, especially in knowledge intensive high-tech industries.

The literature on academic entrepreneurship within business schools is limited and fragmented. The purpose of this systematic literature review is to address this deficit and to identify what business schools do to support academic entrepreneurship and to outline a future research agenda. Based on our systematic literature review we identified three main themes that business schools do to support academic entrepreneurship namely: entrepreneurial education; entrepreneurial networks; and entrepreneurial ecosystems. Furthermore, we identified two further embryonic themes, individual level factors and obstacles to entrepreneurship. Based on our review and analysis we present some future avenues for research.

Objective The Global Digital Exemplar (GDE) Program is a national attempt to accelerate digital maturity in healthcare providers through promoting knowledge transfer across the English National Health Service (NHS). “Blueprints”—documents capturing implementation experience—were intended to facilitate this knowledge transfer. Here we explore how Blueprints have been conceptualized, produced, and used to promote interorganizational knowledge transfer across the NHS. Materials and Methods We undertook an independent national qualitative evaluation of the GDE Program. This involved collecting data using semistructured interviews with implementation staff and clinical leaders in provider organizations, nonparticipant observation of meetings, and key documents. We also attended a range of national meetings and conferences, interviewed national program managers, and analyzed a range of policy documents. Our analysis drew on sociotechnical principles, combining deductive and inductive methods. Results Data comprised 508 interviews, 163 observed meetings, and analysis of 325 documents. We found little evidence of Blueprints being adopted in the manner originally conceived by national program managers. However, they proved effective in different ways to those planned. As well as providing a helpful initial guide to a topic, we found that Blueprints served as a method of identifying relevant expertise that paved the way for subsequent discussions and richer knowledge transfers amongst provider organizations. The primary value of Blueprinting, therefore, seemed to be its role as a networking tool. Members of different organizations came together in developing, applying, and sustaining Blueprints through bilateral conversations—in some circumstances also fostering informal communities of practice. Conclusions Blueprints may be effective in facilitating knowledge transfer among healthcare organizations, but need to be accompanied by other evolving methods, such as site visits and other networking activities, to iteratively transfer knowledge and experience.

Purpose The birth and survival rate of youth-owned businesses has been a major concern for policymakers, industry and academics alike. Learning and innovation play important roles and more critical is the mediating factors and how it impacts the enterprise competitiveness of youth-owned businesses and hence worth studying. Therefore, this study aims to examine the impact of mediating factors such as government support, informal network society and external knowledge infrastructure on learning and innovation in youth-owned small businesses in Lagos, Nigeria, from a cross-sectional perspective. Design/methodology/approach Leveraging the sectoral system of innovation theory, we use a primary research method and data obtained from a structured questionnaire administered among a sample of 1,000 registered youth-owned small businesses in Lagos, while 30 in-depth interviews were also conducted. The exploratory factor analysis was used for data examination. Findings The findings show that even though government support, informal network society and external knowledge all have a positive relationship with learning and innovation in youth-owned small businesses, government support has the most impactful impact. The informal network society via a trade association, professional network and social media are also critical in knowledge transfer in youth-owned businesses. Originality/value The significance of learning and innovation is more important as many small businesses do not have the privilege of standard human resource management (HRM) systems. This paper looks at the mediating factors affecting the introduction of innovative practices in youth-owned and managed small businesses and how productivity is enabled in a developing county context.