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1 – 10 of 58Patricia Milne and Shawn Callahan
The purpose of this paper is to report on a research project that sought to discover the value of the online KM discussion list, ActKM, to its members; how members manage the…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to report on a research project that sought to discover the value of the online KM discussion list, ActKM, to its members; how members manage the postings, the degree of off‐list activity generated through the list; and the impact of the list on KM practice.
Design/methodology/approach
Data were collected through the use of web‐based questionnaires to the full list membership and a second questionnaire to members of the list's core management team. Telephone interviews were conducted with a sample drawn from the frequent contributors to the list. A basic assumption of the research was that the discussion list ActKM is a community of practice.
Findings
The results indicated that ActKM is indeed a community of practice and that off‐list activity is considered a valuable extension of community life. Other finings are that ActKM is a significant tool that facilitates learning for members and there is strong agreement about the type of postings that are preferred.
Research limitations/implications
The paper provides useful insights into the value of list membership for individuals. However, while the results suggest that there has been an impact on the practice of KM more generally, this research is not able to identify the degree to which this has occurred.
Originality/value
Online discussion lists proliferate. This paper provides useful guidance for list managers and for those wanting to support and nurture online communities of practice.
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The purpose of this paper, drawing as it does on earlier research, is to provide the context for a discussion on the use of rewards and recognition programmes in knowledge aware…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper, drawing as it does on earlier research, is to provide the context for a discussion on the use of rewards and recognition programmes in knowledge aware organisations.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper shows that knowledge sharing is the fundamental requirement of a knowledge‐based organisation. Some of the greatest challenges for organisations moving down the knowledge management path stem from well‐established practices of hoarding knowledge, practices which, in the past, have been well rewarded. Employees' motivation was to hoard knowledge because of the competitive advantage that this would give them. The challenge now is to develop an organisational culture where sharing knowledge is the norm. In seeking ways to foster this culture managers are implementing incentive programmes in the belief that employees will be motivated to share their knowledge across the organisation. Some organisations are investing large amounts of organisational resources towards this end. This paper uses the results of the earlier research to provide a context for an examination of the use of rewards and recognition programmes in the knowledge aware organisation.
Findings
The paper finds that reward and recognition programmes can positively affect motivation, performance and interest within an organisation. While a little more problematic, team‐based incentives, if designed appropriately, can also encourage and support a range of positive outcomes. But research has yet to reveal whether programmes of this type will influence employees to share their knowledge and learning. Neither is there any research‐based evidence to show that these activities do provide the expected or hoped for return on the, sometimes, large amounts of money that organisations invest in them.
Research limitations/implications
While there is a strong history of research into the impact of rewards on aspects of employee behaviour including motivation and performance, no research to date has investigated the impact on knowledge sharing.
Practical implications
The paper suggests that managers who are relying on rewards and recognition programmes as part of their strategies for cultural change need to support research programmes so that they can be confident that the large amounts of resources they are investing for this purpose will bring the return they think.
Originality/value
This paper provides the context for a discussion. It shows that while organisations are investing in reward and recognition programmes, research on the value of such programmes as factors that motivate knowledge sharing has not been explored empirically.
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Dorothy Tao and Patricia Ann Coty
Until the Loma Prieta earthquake of 17 October 1989, also known as the “World Series earthquake” or the “San Francisco earthquake,” many of us may have considered earthquakes a…
Abstract
Until the Loma Prieta earthquake of 17 October 1989, also known as the “World Series earthquake” or the “San Francisco earthquake,” many of us may have considered earthquakes a remote danger. But instantaneous television transmission from the interrupted World Series game and frightening images of the collapsed Cypress Viaduct and the burning Marina district transformed this incident from a distant disaster into a phenomenon that touched us all. The Loma Prieta earthquake was followed in December 1990 by the inaccurate but widely publicized New Madrid earthquake prediction. Despite its inaccuracy, this prediction alerted the public to the fact that the largest earthquake ever to have occurred in the United States occurred not in California or Alaska, but in Missouri, and that a large earthquake could occur there again. Americans are discovering that few places are immune to the possibility of an earthquake.
Isaac Alfon, Isabel Argimon and Patricia Bascuñana‐Ambros
This paper presents the findings of a survey of UK banks and building societies undertaken to understand management’s reasons behind their decisions about capital. The survey…
Abstract
This paper presents the findings of a survey of UK banks and building societies undertaken to understand management’s reasons behind their decisions about capital. The survey shows that: (a) firms use different approaches to form their views about “desired” capital; (b) the main factors explaining the level of a firm’s desired capital are financing the firm’s long‐term business strategy and FSA’s capital requirements; (c) actual capital usually exceeds firms’ desired capital; (d) a change in a firm’s individual capital requirements is likely to lead to a change in its desired capital in the medium term. The paper reflects the authors’ views and not the corporate views of the FSA.
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Adetayo Olaniyi Adeniran, Ikpechukwu Njoku and Mobolaji Stephen Stephens
This study examined the factors influencing willingness-to-repurchase for each class of airline service, and integrate the constructs of service quality, satisfaction and…
Abstract
This study examined the factors influencing willingness-to-repurchase for each class of airline service, and integrate the constructs of service quality, satisfaction and willingness-to-repurchase which were rooted on Engel-Kollat-Blackwell (EKB) model. The study focuses on the domestic and international arrival of passengers at Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos and Nnamdi Azikwe International Airport in Abuja. Information was gathered from domestic and foreign passengers who had post-purchase experience and had used the airline's services more than once. The survey data were obtained concurrently from arrival passengers at two major international airports using an electronic questionnaire through random and purposive sampling techniques. The data was analysed using the ordinal logit model and structural equation model. From the 606 respondents, 524 responses were received but 489 responses were valid for data analysis and reporting and were obtained mostly from economy and business class passengers. The study found that the quality of seat pitch, allowance of 30 kg luggage permission, availability of online check-in 24 hours before the departing flight, quality of space for legroom between seats, and the quality of seats that can be converted into a fully flatbed are the major service factors influencing willingness-to-repurchase economy and business class tickets. Also, it was found that passengers' willingness to repurchase is influenced majorly by service quality, but not necessarily influenced by satisfaction. These results reflect the passengers' consciousness of COVID-19 because the study was conducted during the heat of COVID-19 pandemic. Recommendations were suggested for airline management based on each class.
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This paper aims to critically focus on the UK's People & Planet's “green league table” in order to explore to what extent such league tables contribute to the transitional and…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to critically focus on the UK's People & Planet's “green league table” in order to explore to what extent such league tables contribute to the transitional and transdisciplinary challenge of ecological sustainability for universities.
Design/methodology/approach
By taking a narrative and metaphorical perspective, the paper endeavours to understand how the green league table impacts on university greening, particularly around the apparent disengagement of academic and non‐academic actors in their bio‐cultural connection.
Findings
The paper conceptualizes the ecological sustainability challenge for universities by arguing that current sustainability managerial agendas and narratives, promoted by league tables are underpinned by what is conceptualized as the primacy of the “greenwashing glass cage” organisational metaphor. This highlights the self‐serving nature of sustainability approaches by managerial technocrats, consisting of carbon officers, sustainability managers predominantly based in estates departments. Drawing on the immediacy and “common‐sense”, doomsday imperative and legitimacy of the climate change agenda rather than embracing the wider inherent social, environmental and economic stakeholder conflicts and systemic bio‐cultural engagement challenges of sustainability, this top‐down, punitive, self‐satisfied approach around carbon targets and performance measures self‐perpetuates the myth that sustainable universities contribute effectively to the wider ecological challenge.
Originality/value
This paper not only offers a critique and warning against the blind adherence to league tables within university but also proposes a new grounded bio‐cultural and defamiliarizing narrative for universities. This narrative represents a more inclusive, non‐instrumental, contextual, experiential approach to ecological sustainability.
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Maria Teresa Bianchi, Patrícia Monteiro, Graça Azevedo, Jonas Oliveira, Rui Couto Viana and Manuel Castelo Branco
This paper aims to examine the relation between firms’ political connections and corporate social responsibility (CSR) reporting in Portugal. The authors argue that in settings…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to examine the relation between firms’ political connections and corporate social responsibility (CSR) reporting in Portugal. The authors argue that in settings where the existence of political connections are viewed as damaging collective interests of stakeholders, political connected firms can deal with legitimacy issues from such connections by resorting to CSR practices and the reporting thereof.
Design/methodology/approach
Using archival data from a panel sample of 36 firms from Portugal between 2009 and 2012, the authors examine the relationship between political connections and CSR reporting by way of regression analysis.
Findings
The authors find a positive relationship between political connections and CSR reporting.
Originality/value
This study draws on legitimacy theory to highlight that CSR can be used to deal with stakeholder activism and vigilance pertaining to suspicion related to the existence of political connections.
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