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Purpose Knowledge management seeks collaborative practices among organisations to generate technical, adapt and share knowledge to obtain a sustainable competitive advantage in cross-border business activities. This paper aims to disentangle the crucial determinants of knowledge management in inter-organisational arrangements settings. Design/methodology/approach In the first stage, after an in-depth literature review, the main knowledge management drivers are identified. In the second stage, based on the identified drivers, the importance and relationship between the drivers are evaluated by expert opinions from academic and executive activists. Eventually, in the last stage, a multi-layer decision-making approach has been proposed and used to determine the relationship and the importance of the drivers. Findings The findings of this paper assess the ranking of the different elements from experts’ opinions and discuss important theoretical and managerial implications. The influential factors were identified through an extensive literature review, which combined with the views of experts from academia and industry (international firms). Furthermore, the ranking of factors based on the experts’ overall opinion was used to discuss theoretical and managerial contributions. Originality/value This research provides a better understanding of the interrelationships between the key drivers of knowledge management, which helps management draw more effective strategies to address the cultural differences between firms. Moreover, understanding of the importance of the systems and structures that define the nature of the collaboration in inter-organisational settings, as well as the risks related to those are presented in this research.

Purpose This study contributes to current efforts to design and implement sustainable innovation strategies in organisations from the textile industry. This study aims to examine how businesses can overcome the current challenges (e.g. lack of resources) of sustainable innovation by the incorporation of green knowledge of customers into their value co-creation strategies. Such strategies are based on actively listening to customers and addressing their expectations with regard to environmental sustainability, in particular in the face of the negative environmental impact of the fast-fashion industry. Design/methodology/approach The findings of this study are derived from the analysis of data collected from 208 small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the Spanish textile sector. A partial least squares structural equation modeling analysis was conducted using version 3.3.3 of the SmartPLS software. Findings This paper contributes to the literature on environmental sustainability by informing SME eco-innovation through the active listening of their customers’ perceptions while implementing value co-creation strategies. The research has found that engaging with customers and actively listening and addressing their expectations can result in the creation of green knowledge that contributes to both incremental and radical eco-innovation in the textile sector. Practical implications This study found that when organisations from the sector lack eco-innovation capabilities, their existing and often their potential customer base is able to acquire new environmental knowledge and transfer it to the business through a process of value co-creation. The research also found that such green knowledge has the potential to lead to eco-innovation in the sector. In other words, the value co-creation process between the textile industry and its customers is a driver of the eco-innovations required to reduce the environmental impact of the sector, helping it address both its sustainability and its ethical challenges. Originality/value This study proposes that co-creation challenges such as the lack of resources, funding, qualified staff or technologies motivate companies in the textile sector to collaborate with their customers to seek joint solutions.

Counter-knowledge comes from unverified sources of information such as hoaxes, rumours or partial lies. It creates an atmosphere of lack of trust that often leads individuals into making risky deci...

PurposeThis paper provides a conceptual discussion of the bidirectional relationship between knowledge management (KM) and intellectual capital (IC) in a specific subset of knowledge-based organisations, i.e. professional sport organisations. Through the review and conceptual discussion of two relevant research themes, i.e. KM strategies for IC value creation and IC codification, this paper aims to highlight research gaps useful to future research.Design/methodology/approachThe authors apply a systematic literature review method to analyse 66 management and accounting studies on KM and IC in sport organisations. Internal and external validity tests support the methodology adopted.FindingsThe authors provide a conceptual model to explain how KM strategies about IC investments can be optimal, i.e. they create value for all the stakeholders but also suboptimal, i.e. they create value only for a group of stakeholders. Next, they provide evidence of the opportunistic use of the codification associated with IC investments that impair financial reporting information transparency and mislead managers and investors.Practical implicationsThe results are informative for managers, regulators and policymakers to mitigate the inefficiencies regarding KM and IC codification and decisions.Originality/valueThis study contributes to the understanding of the bidirectional relationship between KM and IC in knowledge-based organisations by focussing on professional sport organisations in which KM and IC have played an important role for a long time. It also includes future avenues for advances in managing, measuring and reporting IC.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to provide a thorough empirical investigation of the potential link between corporate innovations and corporate competitiveness in the context of the UK IT industry. Design/methodology/approach This research uses a panel of 216 UK IT firms for the period from 2000 to 2016. The sample data for this study were extracted from the Worldscope, extracted from the Datastream database from Thomson Reuters. For the analysis of the data, the generalised method of moments model is applied. Findings The results of this study provide empirical evidence that there exists a strong, positive link between corporate innovations and corporate competitiveness. Such evidence further reinforces the common view in the current literature of strategic management that because of the nature of their business, firms in the IT industry need to enhance their innovative capacities on a continual basis because of their critical role on these firms’ success and survival. Also, it is found that when the proxies for corporate innovations are lagged by two periods, their impact on corporate competitiveness becomes relatively more significant. However, when they are further lagged, i.e. by three periods, such an impact turns out to be relatively less pronounced. Research limitations/implications The data gathered for this paper was restricted to IT-oriented firms in the UK. Using a secondary database (Datastream), the paper considered the period of 2000-2016. Originality/value The research makes a significant contribution to the current debate on the relationship between information technology, innovation and performance, referred to in the literature as the productivity paradox, by studying the problem in the IT industry. It supports organisations from the sector in their efforts to deal with the dynamic nature of technological innovations and of the context where they operate. Methodologically, the way the study has measured the concepts of innovation and performance and the lessons learned from their analysis has also brought value to the research.

The digital transformation of the healthcare sector is an essential development as societies move into a post-industrial, knowledge-based economy. The adoption of the latest technologies and their applications in the health and care systems must be managed effectively from the perspective of their cyber security and resilience. However, there is still a limited understanding of the key concepts that must define the strategic vision of a resilient and sustainable digital transformation of the healthcare sector. Using data collected at the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic from owners and C-level executives from critical infrastructure sectors in the United Kingdom, this research analysed core constructs that contribute to the required transformative, adaptive and absorptive capacities for health systems digital resilience. The research found that a balanced base of cyber security knowledge development, uncertainty management, and consideration for the sector’s high levels of systemic and organisational interdependence are essential for its digital resilience and for the sustainability of its digital transformation efforts. The paper describes the implications of these findings for research and management practice.

Guest EditorAlexeis Garcia-Perez, Centre for Business in Society, Coventry University, UK Supported byAnitha Chinnaswamy, Aston Business School, Aston University, UKVahid Jafari-Sadeghi, Aston Business School, Aston University, UK

Purpose Social media developments in the last decade have led to the emergence of a new form of word of mouth (WOM) in the digital environment. Electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM) is considered by many scholars and practitioners to be the most influential informal communication mechanism between businesses and potential and actual consumers. The purpose of this paper is to extend knowledge about WOM in this new context by proposing a conceptual framework that enables a better understanding of how trust and reciprocity influence eWOM participation in ORCs. Design/methodology/approach This study applies non-probability convenience sampling technique to conduct a quantitative study of data from an online survey of 189 members of ORCs. Partial least squares (PLS) is used to analyse the correlations between individuals’ intention to seek opinion, to give their own opinion and to pass on the opinion of another within ORCs. Findings The data analysis reveals that opinion seeking within ORCs had a direct effect on opinion giving and opinion passing. Ability trust and integrity trust had a positive effect on opinion seeking, while benevolence trust had a direct positive effect on opinion passing. Reciprocity had a direct impact on opinion passing. While reciprocity did not affect opinion giving, the relationship between these two concepts was mediated by integrity trust. Research limitations/implications By studying the complexities that characterise the relationships between reciprocity, trust and eWOM, the study extends understanding of eWOM in ORCs. Originality/value To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is one of only a few papers that have examined the complex interrelationships between reciprocity, trust and eWOM in the context of ORCs.

Purpose This paper aims to investigate the potential of knowledge management (KM) as a discipline in helping understand and manage social and economic complexity. The paper highlights some of the potential relationships between KM in organisations and their economic performance. Finally, the authors assess the role of human resources and technological infrastructures in the relationship between organisation’s approach to KM and their performance. Design/methodology/approach The hypotheses are tested via a survey on a sample of managerial-level employees of information technology organisations located in the city of Brno in Czech Republic. The data collected are analysed using structural equation modelling (SEM) to study the relationship between KM; the workforce’s willingness and ability to collaborate and co-create value; and the organisations’ economic performance. Findings The research found that there is a direct and positive relationship between an organisation’s approach to KM and its economic performance. This study also shows that the workforce’s behaviour and the technological infrastructure of the organisation have a direct effect on business performance. Finally, the authors proposed that a link between human resource management and technology orientation must be established and supported by a KM strategy. Originality/value This paper offers a new perspective to the approach to KM in organisations. Reflections and empirical results underline the need for organisations to invest in the implementation of KM strategies that involve both the human resources and technological infrastructure as a way to improve the impact of knowledge on the companies’ economic performances.

The convergence of technology upgrading such as virtual reality, augmented reality, and digital and social networking platforms provides new directions and solutions for companies. The proposed research seeks to capitalise on and critically interrogate such convergence, how it works and the challenges connectivity brings for internal local life and external global markets of small to medium enterprises (SMEs). SMEs have been considered the most innovative oriented businesses in developed countries even in emerging markets acting as pioneer in the digital transformational word. It has been widely recognised that local SMEs can get advantages from multinational enterprises spillover. However, studies on the horizontal technology spillover between SMEs are scarce. In fact, there is a need to explore the effect of horizontal technology spillover on SMEs for international growth. Therefore, the research offers quantitative metrics such as technology upgrading, knowledge spillover, and technology transfer to explore this effect in the Chinese market. Especially, the empirical research is conducted on a sample of 80 SMEs in Beijing from technology – intensive industry. It critically interrogates how digital, social and transformational technologies impacts SMEs' competitiveness to produce points of digital convergence that connect, co-create and drive local to international growth via structural equation modelling.

Knowledge translation can be understood as the ability to translate concepts between different contexts by stakeholders who have different skills, aims, and even feelings in their relation to such concepts. Knowledge translation tools allow for the effective transfer of existing knowledge as well as the emergence of new knowledge of value to some or all of the stakeholders involved in the process. Knowledge translation is particularly challenging in healthcare and medicine, where different practitioners (e.g. physicians, biologists, engineers, researchers) and professionals need methodologies and tools to communicate and share knowledge among them and with patients in an effective manner. To better understand this phenomenon, we conducted a Structured Literature Review (SLR). The concepts knowledge, translation and either healthcare or medicine were used as search terms in the title, abstract or keywords on Scopus, which highlighted more than 2,000 contributions in the medical literature and only 22 in Business and Management. Our review of these documents revealed a need in the healthcare sector for better managerial and organisational practices to cope with the various challenges related to the sharing of knowledge among stakeholders. At the same time, the business and management communities appear to have made significant progress in addressing the same issues. We therefore decided to concentrate our analysis on the works published by the business and management community as a mean to highlight future research directions for the healthcare management sector. Thus, our research identifies areas of relevance which are currently underdeveloped, provides insights on both theoretical and empirical developments and offers a critique of the approaches, research frameworks and methods used, as well as emerging trends in these domains. Despite a lack of an agreed definition of the term Knowledge Translation, our findings highlight a growing interest in the topic, with most of the contributions published after 2015. Scholars have approached the term from a variety of perspectives depending on the nature of the stakeholders of relevance to their studies. Whilst there does not seem to be a predominant framework, the literature reveals several tools and techniques that are effective in enhancing Knowledge Translation in different contexts. New research opportunities in this domain emerge in terms of underinvestigated areas within the healthcare sector.

For the last two decades the Internet of Things (IoT) has been a subject of growing global interest. Particularly dynamic industries such as the healthcare service sector have just begun to understand the benefits of the IoT for the provision of a new, more advanced type of services. However, whilst the healthcare service industry is yet to fully grasp the benefits of information systems for its practitioners and managers, and for patients and families, there is a need for a better understanding of the challenges and opportunities associated to IoT-based healthcare systems as another disruptive wave of technologies. In particular, research on the relevance of users' skills for adoption of IoT-based healthcare services has been limited. Using the current Internet-based healthcare service landscape as a platform for the formulation and testing of its hypotheses, this paper explores the relationship between patients' capabilities for effective use of information and communication technologies and the success of IoT-based healthcare services. The resulting theoretical model for effective use of information and communication technologies and the success of IoT-based healthcare services was then validated. The validation was based on data collected from a randomly selected sample of 256 users of Internet-based healthcare services provided by the public healthcare system of the Region of Murcia in Spain. The findings of this research inform future strategies for the implementation of new generations of health and well-being services based on IoT technologies.

Technological innovation is the new backbone for companies. Exploiting and exploring new knowledge increase the chance of survival in the current dynamic market. Alongside, there are countries were be an innovative need to face up social and political challenges. This has transformed their economy, spreading an entrepreneurial mindset mingled with the willing to help a local community. This phenomenon is called social entrepreneurship which is leveraging new economies and building wealth, environmental system. In this vein, the present research seeks to offer qualitative research on 142 social entrepreneurs in an emerging country. The scope is to analyse if social entrepreneurship, entrepreneurial characteristics, and entrepreneurial ecosystem influence innovation. As emerged, technological innovation is affected by the first two factors but the entrepreneurial ecosystem is still not supportive. New, several activities should be organised by the government to assist entrepreneurs, whereas, the entrepreneurs are socially motivated to build up his enterprise.

The automotive industry is undergoing probably the most far-reaching changes that have ever affected it. The outward manifestations of change are the emergence of the connected vehicle as the norm rather than the province of up-market cars competing on the presence of innovative ICT-driven features, the race to develop fully autonomous vehicles (AVs) and the switch to more environmentally sustainable alternative fuel vehicles. The main enabler of these fundamental developments is technological change. But technology is also a driver of change, this is nowhere more obvious than in the application of ICTs in the transport arena. But technological changes of this magnitude also lead to changes in industry structure, a shift in the basis of competition from features and performance to functionalities, and a growing reliance on knowledge that is new to the traditional industry. This paper addresses one aspect of this milieu of developments, that is the emergence of cybersecurity threats to the modern highly-computerised vehicle. Countering such problems requires a high degree of knowledge sharing in the industry and particularly between car manufacturers and their supply networks. This article collects, synthesises and analyses some primary evidence from cybersecurity experts in the industry. The overall conclusion reached is that, in the view of auto-cybersecurity specialists, the level of knowledge-sharing is inadequate. The article presents a number of potential explanations for this phenomenon; the common feature of these explanations is the existence of significant tensions and lack of trust in the knowledge environment.

Purpose – This paper aims to contribute towards understanding how safety knowledge can be elicited from railway experts for the purposes of supporting effective decision-making. Design/methodology/approach – A consortium of safety experts from across the British railway industry is formed. Collaborative modelling of the knowledge domain is used as an approach to the elicitation of safety knowledge from experts. From this, a series of knowledge models is derived to inform decision-making. This is achieved by using Bayesian networks as a knowledge modelling scheme, underpinning a Safety Prognosis tool to serve meaningful prognostics information and visualise such information to predict safety violations. Findings – Collaborative modelling of safety-critical knowledge is a valid approach to knowledge elicitation and its sharing across the railway industry. This approach overcomes some of the key limitations of existing approaches to knowledge elicitation. Such models become an effective tool for prediction of safety cases by using railway data. This is demonstrated using passenger–train interaction safety data. Practical implications – This study contributes to practice in two main directions: by documenting an effective approach to knowledge elicitation and knowledge sharing, while also helping the transport industry to understand safety. Social implications – By supporting the railway industry in their efforts to understand safety, this research has the potential to benefit railway passengers, staff and communities in general, which is a priority for the transport sector. Originality/value – This research applies a knowledge elicitation approach to understanding safety based on collaborative modelling, which is a novel approach in the context of transport.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to discuss key aspects of knowledge management (KM) education in response to challenges posed by the necessity to improve KM as a discipline and an established professional field. Design/methodology/approach The paper is based on a systematic review of the current literature. This review was used as input in a recent panel held at the 2016 International Conference on Knowledge Management (ICKM). The paper brings together current literature with thought-provoking panelists’ presentations and subsequent debates with the audience. Findings KM education from the “why, what, who, where and when” perspectives were first addressed and analyzed, and the end result was a reflection on “how” to approach KM education in the future. Research limitations/implications This paper effectively underlines that, KM being a relatively new phenomenon, there is no clear consensus about roles that KM employees should play in an organization, what KM competencies and skills are needed, and where and when these should be obtained. Broad guidelines on how to approach KM education in the future may serve as a basis for further research. Practical implications The study provides suggestions on how to place KM in adult education. Originality/value The paper tackles the research questions through an innovative combination of a systematic literature review and a panel discussion on the topic of KM and education. Overall, the paper provides a fresh view of the state of the art of knowledge and research on the topic and also shows the common vision of a group of KM researchers and educators.

This study examines the extent to which business performance in global enterprises can be influenced by three key factors in the current dynamic, socio-economic context. These are: (1) an open organisational culture derived from an open-mindedness attitude, (2) an organisation's investments in innovation in environmentally friendly and health-conscious products and services, and (3) customers' perception of risk of information security and privacy concerns derived from their engagement with the organisation and its products and services. Taking Apple as the basis for our study, an empirical investigation of 161 of its customers from a variety of socio-economic and cultural backgrounds, our results indicate that a culture of open mindedness relates, indirectly and though environmental product innovation, to the way the firm addresses the privacy concerns of end users. This, in turn, helps addressing the privacy concerns of the customer base and, simultaneously improves firms' performance, offering a mix-blended source of strategic advantage. Based on a leading innovation company in the U.S. and globally, and one of the most important names in the technology industry, lessons can be learned from our study both for further theoretical developments and for management practice in a variety of knowledge-intensive, global enterprises.

Many developing countries around the world are frequently confronted with a dual challenge of simultaneously developing IT infrastructure and implementing software solutions. Some countries have successfully created extensive information technology infrastructures, yet software use continues to be reliant on pirated sources. The experiences of licensing regulation violations and increasing virus attacks indicate that part of the problem is a consequence of dependencies created by the use of proprietary software within resource-scarce economies. Recent growth in the use of free and open-source software (FOSS) by various public- and private-sector agencies suggests an alternative path to software self-sufficiency for a resource-scarce country like Cuba. There is, however, an interesting background to current software use within Cuba that makes it unique among several less-developed countries. Apart from the well-known advantages, FOSS use could be essential to shape the future scenario of Cuba. The present paper first delineates some of the Cuban background, basically characterized by lack of freedom in technology ownership and access to external information. The potential of FOSS use within existing conditions in Cuba is then analyzed. Finally, conclusions are provided on the basis of a survey carried out in Cuba, arguing that there needs to be stronger political will to reduce gaps between goals and implementation reality to achieve intrinsic advantages of FOSS use successfully.

Ever since the late 1990s, different research communities have used the term 'knowledge warehousing' to refer to several types of IT-based tools. An extensive review of the literature on this topic revealed that existing approaches to knowledge warehousing may be classified into three completely different categories. None of the studies reviewed has been able to provide a compelling justification for their suitability. Given such lack of clarity, it seems that we are just experiencing a 'syntactic upgrade' of the concept of data warehousing into a new, more fashionable term. Furthermore, it remains unclear whether the human nature of knowledge would even allow such a resource to be warehoused. On the basis of advantages and limitations of existing notions of knowledge warehousing, this paper aims to provide tools required to unify existing disparate views of knowledge warehousing by focusing on aims of approaches rather than terminology.