• Knowledge Management Research
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.79-98
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• 2020

The majority of research on institutional theory suggests that the new institutional practices presented by national governments and expert groups is a legitimate demand by society, and that the organization is a passive actor that accepts it. However, individual organizations often perform so-called decoupling acts that run their organizations in their own way instead of following the way the system requires, despite the pressures of a strong institutional environment. In this study, the decoupling behavior of these organizations can be varied by the characteristics of the highest decision maker in the organization based on the upper-echelon theory(UET) even if there is no difference in pressure experienced by individual organizations, and their relationship is empirically analyzed among secondary educational institutions that are relatively strongly regulated by the government. According to the analysis of 192 high schools in Korea, the female principal, the younger the principal, and the higher the educational background, the more likely they are to engage in decoupling behavior that are different from the intent and content of government policies. Therefore, from the results of this study, meaningful theoretical and practical implications can be provided for researchers and managers in the field of knowledge management research.

• Korean Journal of Cognitive Science
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.31-47
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• 2004

This study was carried out to examine the development of physical knowledge in children. Eighty children aged 3- to 11-year-old and 16 adults were participated in this study. Participants' knowledge about failing, sliding and sinking/floating objects was investigated to understand what kind of knowledge they had, whether their knowledge was organized as theory and what was the nature of the developmental change in physical knowledge. Results showed that, for falling object task children of all age had correct knowledge about object's falling phenomena. However, there were age differences in children's understanding of the cause of object's falling. As the children's age decreased, the frequency of explanation referring to the absence of supper rather than the gravity as the cause of falling phenomena increased. For the sliding object task, children of all age could predict the motion of sliding object correctly. But only a few 9- and 11-year-old children could understand the effect of object weight and relations between gravity, frictional force and their interactions. Children under age 7 showed no evidence of possessing these knowledge. For sinking or floating object task, children of all age and even adults showed difficulties in understanding the sinking or float phenomena per se. For the cause of these phenomena although a few 9- and 11-year-old children referred to buoyancy as the cause, they had no correct knowledge about the buoyancy. This was also true for the adults. As a conclusion, the results of this study suggested that, not 3, but as young as 5-year-old children's physical knowledge exited as a form of naive theory in terms of their use as a causal devise in explaining the cause of object motion. However, even the theory of 9- and 11-year-old children was lack of the abstractness and coherence, which were also important characteristics of a theory. Finally, developmental change in physical knowledge proceeded toward more frequent and consistent use of physical knowledge as causal device and more abstract and coherently organized theory.

• Asia pacific journal of information systems
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.53-74
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• 2012

A challenge in fostering virtual communities is the continuous supply of knowledge, namely members' willingness to contribute knowledge to their communities. Previous research argues that giving away knowledge eventually causes the possessors of that knowledge to lose their unique value to others, benefiting all except the contributor. Furthermore, communication within virtual communities involves a large number of participants with different social backgrounds and perspectives. The establishment of mutual understanding to comprehend conversations and foster knowledge contribution in virtual communities is inevitably more difficult than face-to-face communication in a small group. In spite of these arguments, evidence suggests that individuals in virtual communities do engage in social behaviors such as knowledge contribution. It is important to understand why individuals provide their valuable knowledge to other community members without a guarantee of returns. In virtual communities, knowledge is inherently rooted in individual members' experiences and expertise. This personal nature of knowledge requires social interactions between virtual community members for knowledge transfer. This study employs the social capital theory in order to account for interpersonal relationship factors and identity theory for individual and group factors that may affect knowledge contribution. First, social capital is the relationship capital which is embedded within the relationships among the participants in a network and available for use when it is needed. Social capital is a productive resource, facilitating individuals' actions for attainment. Nahapiet and Ghoshal (1997) identify three dimensions of social capital and explain theoretically how these dimensions affect the exchange of knowledge. Thus, social capital would be relevant to knowledge contribution in virtual communities. Second, existing research has addressed the importance of identity in facilitating knowledge contribution in a virtual context. Identity in virtual communities has been described as playing a vital role in the establishment of personal reputations and in the recognition of others. For instance, reputation systems that rate participants in terms of the quality of their contributions provide a readily available inventory of experts to knowledge seekers. Despite the growing interest in identities, however, there is little empirical research about how identities in the communities influence knowledge contribution. Therefore, the goal of this study is to better understand knowledge contribution by examining the roles of social capital and identity in virtual communities. Based on a theoretical framework of social capital and identity theory, we develop and test a theoretical model and evaluate our hypotheses. Specifically, we propose three variables such as cohesiveness, reciprocity, and commitment, referring to the social capital theory, as antecedents of knowledge contribution in virtual communities. We further posit that members with a strong identity (self-presentation and group identification) contribute more knowledge to virtual communities. We conducted a field study in order to validate our research model. We collected data from 192 members of virtual communities and used the PLS method to analyse the data. The tests of the measurement model confirm that our data set has appropriate discriminant and convergent validity. The results of testing the structural model show that cohesion, reciprocity, and self-presentation significantly influence knowledge contribution, while commitment and group identification do not significantly influence knowledge contribution. Our findings on cohesion and reciprocity are consistent with the previous literature. Contrary to our expectations, commitment did not significantly affect knowledge contribution in virtual communities. This result may be due to the fact that knowledge contribution was voluntary in the virtual communities in our sample. Another plausible explanation for this result may be the self-selection bias for the survey respondents, who are more likely to contribute their knowledge to virtual communities. The relationship between self-presentation and knowledge contribution was found to be significant in virtual communities, supporting the results of prior literature. Group identification did not significantly affect knowledge contribution in this study, inconsistent with the wealth of research that identifies group identification as an important factor for knowledge sharing. This conflicting result calls for future research that examines the role of group identification in knowledge contribution in virtual communities. This study makes a contribution to theory development in the area of knowledge management in general and virtual communities in particular. For practice, the results of this study identify the circumstances under which individual factors would be effective for motivating knowledge contribution to virtual communities.

• Journal of Information Science Theory and Practice
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• v.3 no.3
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• pp.17-44
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• 2015

Due to the oil business, settlements in the Gulf Region developed into prosperous cities. But in the near future, oil is off. The plans of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states bank on diversified and knowledge-intensive economies. Are those development plans realistic? What is the state of the art of knowledge institutions in the GCC countries? Applying the theoretical frameworks of Knowledge City and Science Indicators research, we empirically and theoretically studied the emerging Gulf cities Kuwait City (Kuwait), Manama (Bahrain), Doha (Qatar), Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Sharjah (all UAE), and Muscat (Oman). Our methodological framework includes grounded theory, ethnographic field study, ServQual-like quantitative questionnaires and semi-standardized qualitative interviews conducted on-site with informed people, informetrics, and, finally, the use of official statistics. In particular, we describe and analyze the cities' knowledge infrastructures, their academics, and expenditure on R&D as input indicators; and publications as well as graduates as output indicators. A further crucial aspect of a knowledge society is the transition of graduates into knowledge-intensive public services and private companies.

• Journal of Information Technology Applications and Management
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• v.29 no.6
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• pp.95-122
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• 2022

The rapid development of technology, the spread of information, and the implementation of the government's start-up support policy exponentially increase the number of start-up companies. The purpose of this study is to investigate each company's cultural capital's effect on organization performance by promoting knowledge management activities and forming organization habitus based on Cultural Reproduction Theory and Cultural Mobility Theory. As a result of the study, it confirmed that the relationship between cultural capital, knowledge management activities, habitus, and organization performance was significant. The results of this study have academic implications as follows: First, the field of research has expanded by studying the effects of cultural capital on business administration, which is less active than existing education and sociology. Second, it accepts and supports Cultural Reproduction Theory and Cultural Mobility Theory from different perspectives.

• The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business
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• v.9 no.10
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• pp.61-71
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• 2022

Organizations pursue innovation to improve performance and gain competitive advantage, and knowledge workers represent an integral part of creating knowledge and helping organizations in their innovation efforts. The current paper seeks to examine the impact of the work environment on knowledge workers' creativity. Building on The Investment Theory of Creativity, The Componential Theory of Creativity, the Job Demand-Resource model, and the Resource Based View, we develop and test a model suggesting a relationship between work environment-social support, sufficient resources, organizational freedom, and organizational regulations-and the quantity and quality of the creative performance of knowledge workers. Using a sample of 167 engineers in Saudi Arabia, an emerging but wealthy country with huge innovation inspirations, the results of our Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) regression analysis indicate that all four elements of the work environment included in our study positively impact the quantity and quality of knowledge workers' creative performance. Our paper provides important contributions to the literature on the work environment, creativity, and knowledge management, with an emphasis on creativity in developing countries. Our study highlights the importance of creating a supportive and encouraging work environment for knowledge workers to foster their creativity. The study offers several theoretical and managerial implications, along with suggestions for future research.

• International Journal of Computer Science & Network Security
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.394-398
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• 2022

The article determines that the study of the development of scientific and didactic knowledge about the educational process in higher education should be built mainly on the basis of qualitative research methods that ensure the identification and understanding of the changes taking place in didactic knowledge, in the unity of their internal and external manifestations. On the basis of the epistemological model of the study of science, a generalized model of didactic knowledge about the educational process in higher education, including didactic relations as a theoretical core, subject of research, research methods and positions of researchers, ways of interaction between science and educational practice, and thematic structures of didactic knowledge; scientific and methodological problems of didactic knowledge about the educational process in higher education at the present stage of its developments due to the post-nonclassical transformation and orientation of research towards the humanitarian ideal of scientific character.

• Journal of Korean Institute of Industrial Engineers
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• v.29 no.3
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• pp.230-238
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• 2003

The configuration design of a mechanical product can be efficiently performed when it is based on the functional modeling. There are methodologies, which decompose function from the abstract level to the concrete level and match the functions to physical parts. But it is difficult to carry out an innovative design when the function is matched only to a pre-detined part. This paper describes the configuration design process of a mechanical product with a design expert system, which uses function taxonomy and TRIZ theory. The expert system can propose a functional modeling of a new part. which is not in the existing parts list. The abstraction levels of design knowledge are introduced, which describe the operation of mechanical product in the levels of abstraction. This is the theoretical background of using knowledge of function and TRIZ for configuration design. The expert system is adequate to control this design knowledge. which expresses knowledge of functional modeling, mapping rules between functions and parts, selection of parts, and TRIZ theory. The hierarchy of functions and machine parts are properly expressed by classes and objects in the expert system. A design expert system has been implemented for the configuration design of a train bogie, and a new brake system of the bogie is introduced with the aid of TRIZ's 30 function groups.

• The Journal of Information Systems
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• v.25 no.3
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• pp.91-116
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• 2016

Purpose Quality and quantity of knowledge in virtual communities is at the discretion of knowledge contributors, and understanding what motivates knowledge contributors' behavior can be invaluable. The purpose of this paper is to find the social aspect of knowledge contribution in virtual communities within the frame of self-determination theory. Also, we seek differential effects of motivation value for novice vs. expert knowledge contributors. Design/methodology/approach Reputation and altruistic motives are studied as antecedents of intrinsic and extrinsic values in contributing knowledge in virtual communities. Gained social connectedness and satisfaction in their knowledge were behaviors studied as dependents of the motivational value. Also, the proposed model was tested for group differences between expert and novice knowledge contributors seeking motivational changes. Self-determination theory is the base theory which explains how externally motivated behaviors can evolve from extrinsically motivated to intrinsic-like behavior with social experiences as knowledge contributors. Findings Analysis of 262 data points gathered from knowledge contributors in Korean virtual communities in 2005 reveals social connectedness as an important dependent variable both for novice and expert knowledge contributors. Group difference analysis shows altruism has negative influence on extrinsic value only for experts. Intrinsic value has a positive influence on satisfaction for both groups alike but the expert group shows a statistically stronger influence than the other.

• Asia pacific journal of information systems
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• v.30 no.3
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• pp.513-531
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• 2020

Online Word-of-Mouth communication, or eWOM, has dramatically changed the way people network, interact, and share knowledge. Studies have examined why consumers choose to share knowledge online, especially online product reviews, as well as the motivations of individuals to share product ideas online. However, the role of gender in shaping the motivation and types of knowledge shared online has been given little consideration. Using concepts from Social Exchange Theory and the Theory of Reasoned Action, we address this research gap by developing and testing a model of gender's influence on knowledge sharing in a social media context. A PLS analysis of survey data from 257 students indicates that reputation, altruism, and subjective norms are key motivators for knowledge sharing intention in social media. More importantly, that gender plays a moderating role within the motivation-knowledge sharing relationship. We also find that subjective norms have a greater impact on knowledge sharing with women than with men. Collectively, our research results highlight individualized factors for improving customer participation in external facing social media for marketing and product innovation.