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Knowledge Integration (knowledge + integration)

Distribution by Scientific Domains
Business, Economics, Finance and Accounting57%
Humanities and Social Sciences28%

Selected Abstracts

Supporting scientific discovery learning in a simulation environment

JOURNAL OF COMPUTER ASSISTED LEARNING, Issue 1 2003
D.J. Reid
Abstract Until recent times, most studies on supporting simulation-based scientific discovery learning adopted the ad hoc strategies-oriented approach. This paper makes a systematic analysis of the internal conditions of scientific discovery learning to propose a triple scheme for learning support design that includes interpretative support (IS), experimental support (ES), and reflective support (RS). The experiment was conducted with 78 students (aged from 12 to 13 years) to examine the effects of the IS and ES using a 2x2 between-subjects design. The main results were: significant effects were observed for IS on the post-test of intuitive understanding, flexible application and knowledge integration; no main effect was demonstrated for ES, and there was a marginally significant interactive effect for ES and IS on the intuitive understanding test. A process analysis showed that the successful learners had designed more well-controlled experiments than the failing ones. Learning support in a simulation environment should be directed toward the three perspectives to invite meaningful, systematic and reflective discovery learning. [source]

A knowledge management perspective to evaluation of enterprise information portals

KNOWLEDGE AND PROCESS MANAGEMENT: THE JOURNAL OF CORPORATE TRANSFORMATION, Issue 2 2002
Yong Jin Kim
The paper develops conceptual criteria for evaluating Enterprise Information Portal (EIP) systems in the context of knowledge management activities such as knowledge integration and application. The criteria have been drawn from an Activity theory perspective consisting of actors, community, object, tools, rules, and division of labor. It then discusses the characteristics of several commercial EIPs and evaluates one major commercial EIP in the context of the framework. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]

Social capital and information science research

PROCEEDINGS OF THE AMERICAN SOCIETY FOR INFORMATION SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY (ELECTRONIC), Issue 1 2007
Catherine A. Johnson (moderator, presenter)
The concept of social capital has become a popular area of research in many social science fields, including public policy, political science, economics, community development, sociology, anthropology, and education. Increasingly, it has been used as the conceptual framework for research in the area of information studies including such topics as knowledge integration (Bhandar, Pan & Tan, 2007), knowledge sharing (Huysman & Wulf, 2006), access to information by the homeless (Hersberger, 2003), community informatics (Williams and Durrance, in press), and information seeking behavior (Johnson, in press). The concept has an ideological foundation in the theories of Pierre Bourdieu (1980), with two divergent approaches to its study emerging during the last two decades: one focusing on social capital as a collective asset and the other regarding it as an individual asset. The main proponent of the first approach is political scientist Robert Putnam who defines social capital as inhering in the "dense networks of social interaction" which foster "sturdy norms of generalized reciprocity and encourage the emergence of social trust" (Putnam, 1995, p. 66). Social network analysts, on the other hand, view social capital as resources to which individuals have access through their social relationships. Nan Lin, who is the main proponent of this approach, defines social capital as "resources embedded in a social structure which are accessed and/or mobilized in purposive actions" (Lin, 2001a, p. 12). While the concept of social capital may be operationalized differently depending on the point of view of the researcher, its value to information science research is in providing a framework within which to understand the relationship between social structure and information access. Participants in this panel will discuss social capital from various vantage points, including the role of social capital in solidifying power relationships, the effect of recent government policies on reducing social capital, and the relationship between social capital and the use of libraries and information technology. The intent of the panel is to clarify the meaning(s) of social capital and to demonstrate how the concept may be used in information science research. [source]

Market Orientation and R&D Effectiveness in High-Technology Firms: An Empirical Investigation in the Biotechnology Industry,

THE JOURNAL OF PRODUCT INNOVATION MANAGEMENT, Issue 3 2010
Luigi M. De Luca
There seems to be lack of consensus among informed scholars about the importance a of market orientation for high-technology firms. This paper gives a comprehensive review of existing empirical studies on the relationship between market orientation and innovation performance and pinpoints two limitations in this research stream that might be at the origin of such controversy. First, extant research often overlooked key innovation outcomes for high-technology firms, such as those related to research and development (R&D) performance. Second, organizational conditions that can ensure an optimal integration of market knowledge in the innovation process have been less analyzed in the case of these firms. Against this background, the present study contributes to the literature by providing a test of the effect of market orientation on R&D effectiveness and the moderating role of knowledge integration in this relationship, using a sample of Italian biotechnology firms. The study's objectives are addressed in two steps. The first one consists of an in-depth qualitative study based on semistructured interviews in five biotechnology firms. The second step consists of a follow-up survey of 50 biotechnology firms. Results from hierarchical multiple regression analysis show that the different dimensions of a market orientation have diverse effects on R&D effectiveness of high-technology firms: whereas interfunctional coordination has a positive main effect, the effect of customer orientation is moderated by knowledge integration, and competitor orientation has no effect on R&D effectiveness. Post hoc analyses also show two additional results involving a broader set of dependent variables. First, R&D effectiveness mediates the effects of customer orientation and interfunctional coordination on organizational performance. Second, market orientation does not appear to significantly affect R&D efficiency. The present study contributes to current literature in two main respects. First, it adds to previous work on market orientation and innovation by proposing a new dependent variable,R&D effectiveness,which offers a better perspective to understand the impact of market orientation on innovation performance in high-technology contexts. Second, while part of the current debate on the role of market orientation in high-tech markets seems to be polarized by positions that sustain its potential drawbacks or, on the contrary, its advantages, this study's findings on the moderating role of knowledge integration shed light on important contingency factors, such as organizational capabilities. The authors discuss the study's limitations and provide directions for future research. [source]

Performance of Global New Product Development Programs: A Resource-Based View

THE JOURNAL OF PRODUCT INNOVATION MANAGEMENT, Issue 5 2007
Elko J. Kleinschmidt
Gaining a competitive edge in today's turbulent business environment calls for a commitment by firms to two highly interrelated strategies: globalization and new product development (NPD). Although much research has focused on how companies achieve NPD success, little of this deals with NPD in the global setting. The authors use resource-based theory (RBT),a model emphasizing the resources and capabilities of the firm as primary determinants of competitive advantage,to explain how companies involved in international NPD realize superior performance. The capabilities RBT model is used to test how firms achieve superior performance by deploying organizational capabilities to take advantage of key organizational resources relevant for developing new products for global markets. Specifically, the study evaluates (1) organizational NPD resources (i.e., the firm's global innovation culture, attitude to resource commitment, top-management involvement, and NPD process formality); (2) NPD process capabilities or routines for identifying and exploiting new product opportunities (i.e., global knowledge integration, NPD homework activities, and launch preparation); and (3) global NPD program performance. Based on data from 387 global NPD programs (North America and Europe, business-to-business), a structural model testing for the hypothesized mediation effects of NPD process capabilities on organizational NPD resources was largely supported. The findings indicate that all four resources considered relevant for effective deployment of global NPD process capabilities play a significant role. Specifically, a positive attitude toward resource commitment as well as NPD process formality is essential for the effective deployment of the three NPD process routines linked to achieving superior global NPD program performance; a strong global innovation culture is needed for ensuring effective global knowledge integration; and top-management involvement plays a key role in deploying both knowledge integration and launch preparation. Of the three NPD process capabilities, global knowledge integration is the most important, whereas homework and launch preparation also play a significant role in bringing about global NPD program success. Tests for partial mediation suggest that too much process formality may be negative and that top-management involvement requires careful focus. [source]

The emergence of interdisciplinary knowledge in problem-focused research

AREA, Issue 4 2009
Anna Wesselink
In this paper I explore the specific properties associated with the new knowledge produced by inter- or transdisciplinary research. Using my analysis of a land use planning study in the Meuse valley in The Netherlands, I argue that the process of knowledge integration requires the exercise of value judgement and that the outcomes are emergent. I also show that the selection of a boundary object as objective facilitates interdisciplinary research because it is shared amongst disciplines and because it necessitates judgement in its implementation. [source]