• 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.

• The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business
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• v.8 no.9
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• pp.249-260
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• 2021

This research explores the effects of intellectual capital on knowledge management processes (creation of information, knowledge sharing, and use of knowledge) and innovation performance. The data was gathered from 224 fashion accessories in Thailand using a questionnaire. The population was collected on December 16, 2019 (https:/www.ditp.go.th) from a list database of the Department of International Trade Promotion, Ministry of Commerce of Thailand (2019). A questionnaire mail survey technique was used to collect data. Executives or managers were the key participants in this study. The statistical technique used to analyze is the ordinary least square regression. The findings show that intellectual capital has a significant positive effect on information management systems. Likewise, information management techniques have a significant positive effect on innovation performance. Moreover, increasing the use of information tends to make staff willing to use the knowledge to improve the quality and quantity of the service. This tendency contributes to productivity gain. Through the interaction of processes of information use, self-reflection, and input from customers, employees tend to increase the production of knowledge that eventually develops the results of the innovation. Hence, organizations should value knowledge management process elements to improve efficiency, and thus innovation.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing Administration
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.46-55
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• 2012

Purpose: This study was designed to identify creation of intellectual capital and factors influencing the creation of intellectual capital in hospital organizations. Methods: A cross-sectional design was used, with a convenience sample of 300 nurses from three general hospitals in Gwangju and South Cholla province. The tools used for this study were scales measuring creation of intellectual capital (8 items), social capital (20 items), knowledge management (8 items). Data was analyzed with descriptive statistics, Pearson's correlation coefficient and regression using the SPSS WIN 18.0 program. Results: There were significantly positive relationships between social capital and knowledge management with creation of intellectual capital. The mean score for creation of intellectual capital in hospital organizations was 4.59 points. Factors influencing creation of intellectual capital in hospital organization were identified as knowledge management (${\beta}$=.625), shared values & action (${\beta}$=.166), and participation in civic activities (${\beta}$=.118). These factors explained 59.3% of the variance in creation of intellectual capital in hospital organizations. Conclusion: The results indicate which factors are major factors influencing creation of intellectual capital and therefore, serve as predictors of creation of intellectual capital in hospital organizations.

• Journal of Information Technology Services
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.131-152
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• 2016

Group social capital can be defined as an intangible asset that promotes knowledge sharing and social interaction. It is posited here that the group social capital raised and nurtured among group members positively influences on team performance in IS (Information Systems) development projects. And communication effectiveness is selected as a critical antecedent and its detailed relationships with the dimensions of group social capital are analyzed. Effective communication plays important role in ISD project teams by integrating knowledge from different areas. Moderating effects of project phase between the sub-dimensions of social capital and project performance are investigated. Hypotheses are tested using data from 131 project teams of 85 manufacturing firms. The results indicated that Communication effectiveness positively impacted sub-dimensions of social capital (social ties, trust, and shared vision). Moreover, the team performance is influenced by shared vision and trust, leaving social ties as a leading subcontract, as theoretically proposed in prior research. The project phase moderates the impact of shared vision on team performance.

• Journal of the Korea Safety Management & Science
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.373-381
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• 2013

This paper reviewed the mediating effects of knowledge sharing between social capital(interaction, trust, shared vision) and innovation(radical innovation, incremental innovation) in small businesses. Based on the responses from 337 responses, the results of mediating effect analysis and path analysis showed that interaction and shared vision effect positively on radical innovation and incremental innovation via knowledge sharing or directly, but trust effects positively only on incremental innovation. Social capital and knowledge sharing have more effects on incremental innovation than on radical innovation.

• Management & Information Systems Review
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• v.36 no.5
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• pp.175-193
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• 2017

This study examines the effect of social capital formed on B to B inter - firm transactions on firm's performance through a research model developed around the mediating effect of knowledge absorption capacity. In other words, we examined how each level of social capital affects firm performance. by examining the dimensions of social capital that are not presented in previous studies, we have identified how each element of social capital affects corporate performance. in addition, the effects of knowledge absorption on firm performance are analyzed and presented in various ways. The results of the study are summarized as follows. First, social capital is divided into three dimensions. In other words, the relationship between structural elements, relational dimensions, and cognitive dimensions was verified. First, the structural dimension influenced the relational dimension, and the relational dimension had a positive effect on the cognitive dimension. this is meaningful in that it solved what is pointed out as a limit in previous studies. this is meaningful in that it verified what was pointed out as a limit in previous studies. secondly, the structural dimension influenced the cognitive dimension. Second, each component of social capital has a positive impact on knowledge absorption capacity. Finally, it was found that knowledge absorption capacity had a positive effect on the corporate culture, and it was confirmed that knowledge absorption capacity was important. the extent to which social capital is absorbed in BtoB transactions means that the performance of the two companies can be quite different.

• Human Ecology Research
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• v.58 no.4
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• pp.463-481
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• 2020

This study examines the level of consumer knowledge regarding the concept and characteristics of the sharing economy along with the role of the three economic players in the sharing economy. This study develops scales for measuring a consumer's knowledge level and the knowledge level using these scales as well as analyzes the impact of knowledge levels, socio-demographic variables, social capital, and knowledge sharing on participation in the sharing economy. The scales measuring the level of knowledge in the sharing economy were composed of 22 questions for the concept, 30 questions for the characteristics, and 15 questions for the role of the economic parties. Consumer's knowledge level regarding the concept and characteristics of the sharing economy and the role of the economic players was very low. In particular, the knowledge on the concept was insufficient. Women's knowledge on the sharing economy showed higher scores than men. Consumers with higher scores in social capital and knowledge sharing showed higher scores of the knowledge level on the sharing economy than those behind in these two variables. A higher knowledge level of the sharing economy resulted in higher participation in the sharing economy. Issues and directions for future studies on the sharing economy were proposed.

• Management & Information Systems Review
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• v.36 no.1
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• pp.41-57
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• 2017

The previous studies have investigated the effect of social capital on innovation performance. However, the previous studies investigating the relationship between social capital and innovation performance have assumed a black box in the linkage. According to the knowledge based view, firms with inter-dependent relationship can make innovation through sharing processes of knowledge. In other words, social capital as intangible resource results in knowledge management activities which can increase innovation performance. And increasing innovation can make relationship satisfaction promoting relationship investment gradually. Therefore, research hypotheses are made from social capital to relationship investment. From the empirical results, except for the effect of knowledge sharing on both product innovation and relationship satisfaction, almost all hypotheses are reported to be significant. And product innovation performance positively affects relationship satisfaction, and relationship investment is positively affected by relationship satisfaction. From this study, we can know the importance of knowledge management activities in strategic management view.

• Asia-pacific Journal of Multimedia Services Convergent with Art, Humanities, and Sociology
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• v.8 no.9
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• pp.647-658
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• 2018

Modern society is complex and rapidly changing, and knowledge sharing is needed to acquire and create knowledge. Knowledge sharing is the act of providing information knowledge and know-how of their own in order to cooperate with or help their colleagues. This study presents a research model using social capital theory to explain the mobile knowledge sharing behavior of virtual community members. Based on previous studies, social capital theory is divided into structural, relational, and cognitive aspects. It was composed of social interaction ties as a measure of structural aspect, trust as a measure of cognitive aspect, shared language, shared vision and relational aspect. After collecting survey data, factor analysis and regression analysis were performed using SPSS 22. In this way, we examined how the detailed factors of social capital affect information sharing behavior and how the level of knowledge sharing affects community promotion. The results showed that social interaction ties, shared language, shared vision, and trust affect knowledge sharing. Knowledge sharing has had a positive impact on community promotion.

• Knowledge Management Research
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.65-91
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• 2016

Although the success of industrial clusters largely depends on whether clustering firms can achieve economic performance, there has been less attention on investigating factors and conditions contributing to the performance enhancement for clustering small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Along this vein, we adopt the theories of social capital and organizational learning as those success factors for clustering SMEs. This study thus aims at examining what effect social capital accrued in the relationships among actors within clusters has on firm performance of clustering SMEs and what role organizational learning plays in the linkage between social capital and firm performance. For the empirical analysis, we operationalized the variables and their measures to develop questionnaires through the theoretical reviews on literatures. As a sample of 227 clustering SMEs, our collected data was analyzed by hierarchical regression analysis. The results confirmed that a high level of social capital, represented by network, trust, and norm, has positive effect on firm performance of clustering SMEs. We also found that clustering firms presenting high organizational learning, represented by absorptive and transformative capability, achieve better performance than those placing less value on organizational learning. Furthermore the significant relationship between social capital and firm performance is mediated partially through organizational learning. These findings imply not only that the territorial agglomeration of industrial cluster does not guarantee the performance creation of clustering SMEs but that they need to develop social capital among various actors within clusters, facilitating their knowledge diffusion. In order to absorb and mobilize the shared knowledge and information into strategic resources, the firms should improve their capability associated with organizational learning. These expand our understanding on the importance of social capital and organizational learning for the performance enhancement of clustering firms. Differentiating from major studies addressing benefits and advantages of industrial cluster, this study based on the perspective of firm-internal business process contributes to the literature advancement. Strategic and policy implications of this study are discussed in detail.