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Information and knowledge represent important organisational assets. In healthcare environments, patient wellbeing depends on effective management of these assets. This paper describes junior doctors’ perspectives of adverse consequences of ineffective information and knowledge management (IKM) practices. The research for this phenomenological study consisted of semi-structured interviews with ten junior doctors in public hospitals in Adelaide, South Australia. The reasons for ineffective IKM include limited access to information, inadequate clinical handover, inappropriate use of information systems, and incomplete documentation. Adverse medical events resulting from ineffective IKM practices include medication errors, delays in patient care or discharge, poor post-discharge care, confidentiality breaches, acting against patient wishes, disability or even death. Junior doctors regard health information systems and access to electronic patient medical records as important for improving IKM. Behaviour of staff often results in ineffective IKM and the paper suggests that an IKM-focused culture should be driven by hospital management. Refereed/Peer-reviewed

There has been an exponential growth use of enterprise social networks for improved communication, connection, collaboration and enhanced knowledge sharing within organizations. However, the intended benefits of this social network deployment have not been fully realized due to the relative low usage among employees. This study provides an insight into the underlying factors deemed likely to influence employees’ enterprise social networks consumptive and contributive use by modifying and extending the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT). An online survey was conducted and data were collected from 158 employees whose organizations are currently deploying a workplace social platform. The data were validated and analyzed using partial least square (PLS-SEM) method and Ordered Logistic Regression (OLR). Significant differences were found regarding the factors that influence consumptive and contributive use. The most influential factors for consumptive use are performance expectancy and content value, followed by facilitating conditions and effort expectancy. On the other hand, the contributive use is strongly influenced by social influence, content value and relationship expectancy. Moreover, a more balanced use pattern as measured by a smaller gap in consumptive and contributive use is shown to be positively associated with increased overall enterprise social network use. This study provides implications for managers to develop appropriate interventions to address idiosyncratic enterprise social network use patterns, minimize resistance and maximize effective utilization of the social platform among employees. This paper fulfills the need to identify important factors to be actively managed and manipulated to fully realize the benefits from the investment of enterprise social network. Refereed/Peer-reviewed

Purpose – Ensuring effective usage of Web 2.0 within government organisations is not as straightforward as it seems. The organisations should be aware of a number of issues when implementing Web 2.0 internally. This paper introduces a theoretical model that highlights the importance of management, technology and people issues influencing the level of Web 2.0 usage from an internal perspective. The purpose of this paper was to identify and explore these issues in a government context. Design/methodology/approach – This paper uses a mixed-method (qualitative and quantitative) analysis to identify the issues that should be focused on for achieving effective usage of Web 2.0 among government employees. A combination of interviews, surveys and usage data collected from two government organisations was used to gather the data. Findings – The main finding is that, a policy will act as an initial catalyst for culture change and effective usage of Web 2.0 technologies in a government environment. It was also found that it is important to develop an understanding among senior management about the motivation for their employees to utilise Web 2.0 internally. As a result, the proposed theoretical model could assist government organisations in developing effective adoption approaches through identifying their employees’ motivation to adopt Web 2.0 technologies and developing a suitable organisational social media policy. Research limitations/implications – There is the issue of the small number of both qualitative and quantitative respondents within the research. Such limitation is because the research relies solely on the voluntary participation of the employees. This limitation was coupled with the fact that both organisations had different security requirements that had affected the amount and level of feasible information that was accessible to the researchers. Practical implications – This paper extends the understanding of issues applicable to the adoption of Web 2.0 tools from a government organisations’ perspective. The developed theoretical model acts as an adoption guide for organisations to achieve effective Web2.0 tools usage. At the same time, this paper also examines related motivation aspects which higher management should consider while using a new social media or Web 2.0 platform internally. Originality/value – This paper highlights suitable overview approaches for organisations to consider in increasing adoption of Web 2.0 among their employees. This paper also provides an initial foray into identifying other complex issues that may exist within different government organisations in relation to internal technology usage.

Organisations increasingly realise that they must transform into true digital enterprises to create competitive advantage and ensure corporate survival. However, many organisations do not realise that successful digital transformation (DT) requires much more than technology; it can only succeed if they manage their data, information and knowledge as true business assets. This paper describes collaborative research conducted by academic and industry partners, a mutually beneficial journey spanning the past ten years. The aim was to develop a Holistic Information Asset Management (HIAM) model indicating the important areas of information asset management (IAM) that support the DT journey. Interviews were conducted with C-level executives in organisations from all industries on three continents to investigate their IAM practices, the barriers to good IAM and the benefits of managing information assets (IAs) well. This paper proposes that organisations should focus on ten domains in their quest for effective IAM: i) business benefits, ii) business environment, iii) executive awareness, iv) leadership and management, v) information environment, vi) information systems, vii) information behaviour, viii) information attributes/quality, ix) information performance and x) justification. Refereed/Peer-reviewed

Managing knowledge and fostering a knowledge-sharing culture are essential in meeting the expectations of such diverse stakeholders as business owners, investors, current and prospective employees, business partners, customers, and the public. This paper describes how the adoption of knowledge management is reflected in communicated company values and principles by analysing the occurrence of knowledge-related keywords in the online resources of selected companies in Australia. The results show that companies are publicly communicating knowledge creation, sharing, and management-related topics, with knowledge sharing being the most frequent topic. The extent of communicating about knowledge-related issues differ between large organisations and SMEs; large companies mention relevant keywords significantly more frequently in their documents than SMEs. This indicates that knowledge management penetrates deeper into larger companies’ values and philosophy Refereed/Peer-reviewed

Continuous change and increased business complexity pose unique challenges to Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) to develop and sustain competitive advantage. These challenges are even more pronounced for SMEs in isolated regional areas, especially those that operate in the declining manufacturing industry. This paper explores key factors that regional SMEs draw on in their quest to survive and innovate in a changing business environment. Based on a qualitative interpretive research design, empirical evidence was gathered through personal interviews with business owners/managers of 19 regional Australian manufacturing SMEs. Three interrelated innovation factors were identified: (i) an emphasis on developing knowledge; (ii) openness to continuous learning; and (iii) engagement in social networking with various stakeholders. In addition, information technology plays an enabling and supportive role in strengthening regional manufacturing SMEs’ ability to be more innovative. Based on these findings, four propositions are suggested indicating how SMEs can use knowledge to foster innovation in a challenging and competitive business environment. Refereed/Peer-reviewed

Organizations in the 21st century find themselves in the culture of collaboration. Collaboration and knowledge sharing are fundamental aspects of problem solving, decision making and innovation, and are therefore vital for success. Some organizational cultures foster collaboration while others actively or inadvertently destroy shared decision-making activities. Reverse brainstorming is a method where participants identify different ways to cause a problem. These negative ideas are then used to stimulate ideas for solving the problem. This paper reports on a reverse brainstorming session during which knowledge management practitioners, consultants and academics generated ideas on how collaboration and knowledge sharing is destroyed in organizations, followed by positive ideas to promote effective, collaborative workplaces. Refereed/Peer-reviewed

Introduction The Resource Based View (RBV) of the firm (Barney, 1991, 2001) argues that organisations possess resources such as land, labour, capital, and Information Assets that enable them to achieve competitive advantage and superior long-term performance. The Industrial Age was characterised by large manufacturing facilities and during this time management attention was focused on managing, measuring, and reporting on tangible resources and assets like buildings, plant, equipment, and machinery. In the modern knowledge-based economy the wealth-creating capacity of organisations is no longer based on tangible assets alone. Intangible assets such as data, documents, content, and knowledge are critical to the operation of every organisation (Freeze & Khulkani, 2007; Jhunjhunwala, 2009; Salamuddin, Bakar, Ibrahim, & Hassan, 2010; Wilson & Stenson, 2008). These intangible assets are referred to as Information Assets in this paper. Information Assets drive, record, and enforce organisational strategy and growth and enhance efficiency of resource allocation. They also help leaders to make informed decisions to improve customer acquisition/retention, employee recruitment/retention, and enhance employee motivation and loyalty (Steenkamp & Kashyap, 2010). Organisational knowledge is regarded as a key factor in management practices (Garcia-Parra, Simo, Sallan, & Mundet, 2009) and the capacity to create, transfer, and employ knowledge contributes to organisational success and sustainable competitive advantage (Davenport & Prusak, 1998; Drucker, 1994; Nonaka & Takeuchi, 1995; Spender, 1994; Teece, 1998). Practitioner experience and anecdotal evidence in the form of numerous failed Information Technology (IT) initiatives, ineffective business practices, and a lack of understanding of the value and deployment of information on all levels of organisations generated a lack of confidence that Information Assets are being effectively managed (Experience Matters, 2012). Furthermore, whilst there is copious academic and industry material on various aspects of Information Management including Data Quality, Knowledge Management (KM), and the Semantic Web, very little research has been done on why Information Assets are not better managed in real-world organisations. In response to the observed gap in research and practices the authors embarked upon a research project to investigate the causes of this observation. The first phase of the research was conducted in Australia and South Africa and explored the deployment of data, documents, content, and knowledge from a practice perspective (Evans, Hunter, & Price, 2011; Hunter, Evans, & Price, 2011), to determine whether organisations recognise Information Assets that are of value to their operations and how these assets are managed. Preliminary findings indicate that every organisation has Information Assets that are of value to its operations. Participant 2 (P2) commented that all they have in their business is knowledge and that "the business would grind to a halt without these assets" (P6). Despite this, few organisations manage these assets with the same rigour as they manage their other scarce and valuable resources, and not one of these organisations could claim exemplary practice in the management and deployment of those assets. Where Information Asset Management (IAM) programmes do exist they seem to be compliance driven. There is a lack of a value driven response to the types of Information Assets investigated in this project. The findings of the first phase of the research were sufficiently compelling to justify further investigation. The next phase focused on the reasons why Information Assets are not effectively deployed in organisations (i.e., the 'barriers'). This phase of the research is reported in this paper. The format for the remainder of this manuscript is as follows. In the next section literature which relates to the deployment of Information Assets is discussed. …

Background: Technology plays an increasing role in our everyday lives, but we have yet to explore its full potential for supporting independent living. Content: This article gives an overview of the range of new telecare technology that is available and looks at some of the current challenges and future opportunities this presents. The evidence base for the effectiveness still needs to be established and more work is needed to quantify the benefits for carers. There are opportunities around the application of the technology to support independent living for people with dementia. We discuss our experiences and the potential for assistive technology. Conclusion: Although technology has great potential for supporting independent living, we are currently utilizing a fraction of this capacity. To fully realize its benefits, a systematic and cohesive approach across various sectors needs to be adopted.

This document reports on the investigation of senior managers’ interpretation of Intellectual Assets and their value to the corporation. The participants included ten senior managers from nine large Australian organizations. Confidential qualitative interviews were employed and emerging themes were identified. The research participants recognize the need to manage intellectual assets and their importance to operations and competitive advantage. However, because of the intangible nature of Intellectual Assets there is a lack of management of this valuable resource.

In the modern organisation the effective management of data, information, content and knowledge is crucial for enhancing competitiveness and growth. There is a profound need for all levels of business management to understand the risks, challenges and business benefit of managing these ‘Information Assets’. This paper describes the results of qualitative empirical research to investigate the roles and responsibilities of Executive Boards to ensure effective management and governance of Information Assets. Personal interviews we reconducted with Board members in Australia and the United States. The results indicated that Boards often fail to fully appreciate the strategic value of Information Assets and do not understand the organisational risk and untapped business benefit resulting from ineffective Information Asset Management practices. This paper suggests that Executive Boards should be engaged in discussions about Information Management and fulfil strategic-, control- and institutional roles to guide the way Information Assets are managed and deployed. Refereed/Peer-reviewed

PurposeIt is generally accepted that new information technologies are an integral part of most forms of business initiatives. Evidence suggests that many of these innovations are ineffective and under‐utilised. The information systems/information technology (IS/IT) industry often does not seem to be capable of delivering what business clients expect. Owing to this “expectation gap” and various behavioural issues, business experts have a negative perception of the IS/IT function. It is proposed that a new way of alignment between IT and business is necessary The research aims to address two problems, namely, what factors are influencing business‐IT interface within organisations, and how the IT executive could contribute towards fusion fulfilling an organisational development (OD) role.Design/methodology/approachA triangular and qualitative research approach was followed, including a literature study, questionnaire and interview.FindingsResults indicated a number of reasons leading to IT/business failure and also indicate how fusion can be created by fulfilling an OD role.Research limitations/implicationsOnly companies in the Gauteng region, which is considered to be the economic heart of South Africa, have been included in the study. The small sample size might hinder the generalisation of the results and could be further extended.Originality/valueThe research indicates how a healthy business‐IT interface can be achieved through the fusion of the IT function and the rest of the business by integrating OD initiatives.

Knowledge management can be used in an organization to achieve competitive advantage via knowledge creation, knowledge sharing, knowledge absorption, and higher quality information that enable rapid response to changes in the business environment. Knowledge management can also increase the intangible assets of an organization by capturing expert know-how and retention of vital corporate knowledge. Acquiring, refining, maintaining, and disseminating knowledge should be done through ethical conduct. The need to respect privacy and intellectual property of the individual should be balanced with the need to protect organizations against data theft and diminished competitive advantage due to knowledge loss. The conflict between the rights of the individual and that of the organization creates ethical dilemmas for executive managers, knowledge workers. Rule-based methods for decision-making in the face of these ethical dilemmas are insufficient to deal with the moral complexity of organizational life, because moral judgments are individual and personal. Virtue-based ethical theories place less emphasis on which rules people should follow and instead focus on helping people develop good character traits on which decisions are based. This chapter discusses virtue ethics in organizations and the role of trust, leadership, and wisdom in establishing organizations with virtuous knowledge management practices.

Organizations are increasingly implementing enterprise social networks (ESNs) for improved communication and collaboration, as well as enhanced knowledge sharing and innovation among employees. However, the paradoxical relationship between ESN implementation and the promised benefits has been attributed to employees’ underutilization. Our research focuses on factors influencing employees’ decision to use ESN in their work role and draws on case studies of two multinational professional service firms (PSFs) based in Australia. Qualitative data were collected during ten semi-structured interviews with employees from both organizations, to determine their perceptions of ESN usage and capture the factors that influence their use behavior. The findings illustrate that the likelihood of ESN use is significantly influenced by technological, organizational, social and individual factors. A successful ESN use within an organization involves the nexus between these four factors and recommendations are made, as guidelines for organizational actors about how ESNs usage can be increased. Refereed/Peer-reviewed

Purpose– This study aims to explore deterrents to knowledge-sharing in pharmaceutical manufacturing. Effective knowledge-sharing is fundamental to stimulation of the process of knowledge absorption. The limited proximal communication between the employees in the pharmaceutical industry stifles their knowledge-sharing behaviour significantly.Design/methodology/approach– A cross-sectional case study, consisting of semi-structured interviews with managers and scientists, was conducted in a multinational pharmaceutical company in Australia. Respondents were asked to answer questions regarding their current knowledge-sharing practices and to identify organisational deterrents to knowledge-sharing. The data were condensed into themes according to the thematic analysis method.Findings– The pharmaceutical industry is extensively regulated and its excessive competitiveness is cultivating organisational reticence towards the development of a knowledge-sharing culture. Nine categories of deterrents to intra- (within) and inter-organisational (between organisations) knowledge-sharing have been identified. These categories include high cost of sharing knowledge, information technology limitations, knowledge-hiding, lack of socialisation, lack of trust culture, non-educational mindset, organisational politics, poor leadership and time pressure.Research limitations/implications– The population of this study consists of managers and practitioners working for a pharmaceutical company. Hence, the generalisability of the findings to other health-care settings is unknown.Practical implications– The findings have implications for leaders and managers who should be aware of these professional diversities, instigators as well as the ripple effects of limited knowledge-sharing to guide the organisation towards developing an optimal knowledge-sharing culture.Originality/value– A focussed investigation of knowledge-sharing behaviour within the pharmaceutical industry in Australia, considering the pressure applied to this industry over the past decade. This case study specifically focusses on the diversity of deterrents to knowledge-sharing in the pharmaceutical manufacturing industry.

In this era of rapid growth in information and communication technologies organizations are going through melodramatic changes in their environments and culture. This challenge demands dynamic capabilities to sustain its competitive advantage. One such a capability is the knowledge absorption capability (i.e. absorptive capacity) that can be described as the ability of an organization to acquire, assimilate, transform and exploit knowledge gained from external sources. Absorptive capacity operationalization refers to the functioning of its dimensions. Although absorptive capacity has been extensively studied, the role of trust in operationalizing absorptive capacity is not yet been investigated. This research seeks to understand the role of trust in each of the absorptive capacity dimensions. A qualitative research methodology is employed through exploratory case studies to answer the research question, using semi-structured interviews as a dynamic data collection strategy. A theoretical framework is proposed to further understand the relationship between trust and absorptive capacity. A model will be developed to guide organizations to enhance absorptive capacity towards innovation, improved performance and competitive advantage. The paper is representing work in progress and the framework is currently being tested in the Healthcare industry in Australia. Refereed/Peer-reviewed

La gestion des connaissances (KM) est generalement consideree comme un processus positif pour une organisation, permettant d’atteindre un avantage concurrentiel par une meilleure gestion des informations, la compilation de savoirfaire et une reaction rapide aux fluctuations de l’environnement. Toutefois, dans certains cas, la gestion des connaissances existe dans un univers de tension dynamique entre les besoins contradictoires de respecter la vie privee et la propriete intellectuelle, de se premunir contre le vol de donnees, de proteger la securite nationale et de respecter les lois. Alors que la litterature de gestion des connaissances met l’accent sur le cote brillant du paradigme, il y a aussi une autre facette dans laquelle la connaissance est faussee, supprimee ou detournee en raison de motifs personnels ou organisationnels. Cet article decrit les paradoxes ethiques de la gestion des connaissances. Il suggere que reconnaitre a la fois les promesses et les pieges du KM necessite une certaine sagesse.

Introduction Research projects to quantify the success rate of IT projects found a high percentage of unsuccessful information systems in organisations. The criteria for success of IT projects are that they are delivered on time, within (or below) budget and that the systems work as required. Failures include extended schedules, exceeding the budget and failing to meet stakeholder needs. Business expects IT professionals to solve their business problems, but Burris (1999) is of the opinion that "the gap between how IT executives think they are performing (against business expectations) and how they are really performing (based on CEO perceptions) is widening". According to the Standish group's CHAOS report of 2000, 26% of software projects succeed, which means that 74% fail. Mann (2002) is of the opinion that more than a third of all software projects exceed their budgeted cost and time schedule. Some are abandoned in midstream. The high rate of failure of IT projects are sources of concern for the modern organisation, because it is increasingly dependent on the effective and efficient implementation of IT in all areas of the organisation. In most instances the lack of confidence in IT is not focused on the technology--it is aimed at the IT professional. Business experts have a negative perception of the IT function. The business sections regard IT professionals as 'strange' and 'part of the problem'. According to Aggarwal (1996) the credibility of information systems personnel suffer because they cannot meet the expectations of the users. Users therefore have a negative impression that systems staff cannot get anything done on time and within budget. Because of the negative image, user support for future projects becomes increasingly difficult. Fielding (2002) agrees that most IT departments are still "held in very low esteem". They need to build personal relationships and "be caught doing things right". Kunda (2001) agrees that the major cause of most software failures is the people rather than the technology. He suggests that the factors, which should be addressed during software development are: political issues, organisational and business strategy, organisational resources and support, organisational setting and management style, and organisational culture. The relationship gap refers to stereotypes, which originate when two groups do not interact frequently and effectively and the prejudgements of the other group are never checked. Logan (2002) supports this by saying: "too many companies fail to recognise the cultural differences between business managers and IT professionals and therefore fail to take steps to bridge those differences." Cormack (2001) also attributes tension in the relationship to different issues, of which many are related to the organisational culture and interpersonal relationships. Examples of such issues include horror stories, poor communication, misuse of expert power and position power, low interdependence and the lack of clear control. Research therefore has to move towards the human element of IT and the cultural differences between business and IT groups. Katz (1995) suggests that the negative perceptions of the IT function can be changed and that, instead of "being part of the problem, not the solution and not understanding the business", IT professionals should become part of a reengineering effort and focus on "forging new working relationships and repairing old ones". Business considerations, not technical ones, should drive investments in IT. A topic of many research projects is the need for strategic alignment between IT and business. Important researchers in this field include Henderson (1998), Henderson and Venkatraman (1991), Hirscheim (2001), Meador (1999) and Luftman (2001). These researchers and practitioners have studied and described strategic alignment as a means for ensuring that IT management actions are consistent with the business strategy, ensuring that the "capabilities, structures and processes of the IT organisation reflect and enable the business capabilities, structures and processes. …

Introduction A number of research projects have been completed throughout the world to quantify the success rate of IT projects and it was found that the percentage of unsuccessful information systems in organisations is very high. The criteria for success of IT projects are that they are delivered on time, within (or below) the budget, that the systems work with no interruptions or 'bugs' and that the systems meet the client/business user expectations. Failures include extended schedules, exceeding the budget and failing to meet stakeholder needs. According to the Standish group's CHAOS report of 2000, 26% of software projects succeed, which means that 74% fail. In the past, traditional job titles for IT workers, such as programmer and systems analyst defined where people fit in the IT world. Currently those titles are less important; skills and experience seem to be more important than titles in determining rank and pay. Alexander (1999) supports this in saying that even the definitions of IT job titles, such as programmer, programmer analyst, systems analyst and project manager, are "fuzzy". A programmer may be called a software engineer, software developer, or an application developer. A programmer analyst can be called a senior programmer or a senior developer. There is often no distinction between a systems analyst and a programmer analyst." Even the hierarchy of IT job titles is breaking down. For example, one version of the IT hierarchy lists these jobs in ascending order: Programmer analyst, senior systems programmer, senior systems analyst, project manager, network administrator and computer operations manager. But, according to Alexander (1999) pay doesn't necessarily go in that order anymore and "a project manager's authority varies widely from one company to another." Some companies create their own titles, adding to the title confusion - titles are likely to become more confusing in the future. According to Alexander (1999) 'business analyst' is one of the least well-defined IT titles. It can mean a technical person with some business expertise, or a businessperson with some technical skills. The business analyst is a "squishy job title", but it is important and these people are hard to come by. "There are technical people who know bits and bytes but can't speak in end-user terms, and there are business people who lack enough technical expertise to make things happen in IT." Many organisations have a role called business analyst, sometimes combined with the role of systems analyst. The combination of business- and systems analysis is sometimes referred to as business systems analysis. There doesn't seem to be any standard definition of what a business analyst or a systems analyst is and what they should be doing, although every organisation seems to have them. In the modern view of business analysis, it consists of the specification of business requirements, followed by the specification of the technical requirements and designs. According to the B2T Training group (www.b2ttraining.com) business analysis is one of the most fundamental and challenging information technology positions: "Analysis moves a project from its initial state of uncertainty to a clearly defined and agreed upon set of requirements, through to an information system, which would solve the business problems". A business analyst usually specialises in business problem analysis and technology-independent requirements analysis. They are typically recruited from the user community and therefore they focus on business and non-technical aspects of systems problems solving. Their job is to identify, document and validate requirements and to identify ways or areas to add value to the organisation. A critical skill of the Business Analyst is the ability to investigate and understand how a business is actually run, as opposed to how developers think it works or want it to work. They often also "pair-program" with one of the developers on code or work with users on developing acceptance tests. …