Knowledge Sharing via Repositories, Personal Networks, Versus Institutionalized Routines

Speaker
Wai Fong Boh
Assistant Professor, Nanyang Business School, Nanyang Technological University in Singapore

When
-

Where
Newell-Simon Hall 1305 (Michael Mauldin Auditorium)

Description

Prior researchers have stressed that organizations should make use of a portfolio of mechanisms to effectively manage employees’ knowledge, and not restrict themselves to using only technology solutions. There is, however, little guidance about what knowledge management (KM) mechanisms organizations should include in their portfolio. In this study, we provide a greater understanding of how organizational unit climate influences an individual’s preference for using repositories, personal networks and institutionalized routines to share knowledge. Specifically, we hypothesize about how organizational unit climate influence individuals’ judgements of the relative usefulness of one type of knowledge sharing mechanism versus another. Survey data was collected from 1036 employees from five different subsidiaries of a firm to test our hypotheses. We found that having an open and warm climate has a positive influence on individuals’ preference to use personal networks, as it is likely to lower any risks or costs that individuals may perceive in using this mechanism. A competitive inter-unit climate, on the other hand, increases individuals’ preference for using repositories, and decreases individuals’ preference for using personal networks. This is likely because rivalries between work groups tend to make individuals sensitive to exposing themselves to the stigma of ignorance and increase individuals’ preference to use less visible methods of knowledge sharing, which is through repositories. Finally, individuals who perceive their leaders to be more effective tend to be more supportive of top-down initiatives provided by their leaders; thus they tend to have a positive opinion of the usefulness of institutionalized routines such as meetings and dialogues. Insights from this study will help managers to customize a portfolio of knowledge management mechanisms based on the climate of their organizational unit.

Speaker's Bio

Wai Fong Boh is an Assistant Professor at the Nanyang Business School, Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. She received her PhD from the Tepper School of Business at the Carnegie Mellon University. Her research interests are in the areas of knowledge management and organizational learning, and the management industry and organizational standards. She has articles published in Management Science, Organization Science, Journal of Management Information Systems, Communications of the ACM, Information & Organization and Human Resource Management. She has also presented in the International Conference of Information Systems (ICIS) and Academy of Management (AoM) Meetings, and published in the AoM Best Papers Proceedings. In 2002, she won an award for the ICIS Runner-Up to Best Theme-Related Paper Award. Her dissertation won the 2005 OCIS Best Dissertation Award, and was a Newman Award nominee for the Academy of Management Meetings.

Speaker's Website
http://www.ntu.edu.sg/home/awfboh/

Host
Laura Dabbish