Aino Kianto

Does knowledge management really matter? Linking knowledge management practices, competitiveness and economic performance

Purpose – While nowadays an extensive literature promoting knowledge management (KM) exists, there is a worrying shortage of empirical studies demonstrating an actual connection between KM activities and organizational outcomes. To bridge this gap, this paper aims to examine the link between KM practices, firm competitiveness and economic performance.Design/methodology/approach – This paper proposes a framework of KM practices consisting of human resource management (HRM) and information communication technology (ICT). These both are hypothesized to impact competitiveness and economic performance of the firm. Hypotheses are then tested with structural equation modeling by using a survey dataset of 234 companies.Findings – The results show that HRM and ICT practices for managing knowledge are quite strongly correlated and have a statistically significant influence on both financial performance and competitiveness of the firm. The findings also indicate that ICT practices improve financial performance only ...

Knowledge processes, knowledge‐intensity and innovation: a moderated mediation analysis

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine innovation from a knowledge‐based view by exploring the effect of knowledge processes and knowledge intensity on innovation performance.Design/methodology/approach – First, a theoretical model of the connections between knowledge processes, knowledge intensity and innovation performance is presented. The posited hypotheses are then tested statistically, using a survey dataset of 221 organizations.Findings – The result shows that while all knowledge processes have a beneficial impact on innovation, knowledge creation impacts innovation the most and fully mediates the impact of knowledge documentation, intra‐organizational knowledge sharing and external knowledge acquisition on innovation performance. Furthermore, knowledge intensity increases all knowledge processes. Knowledge intensity also moderates the relationship of documentation and knowledge sharing with knowledge creation. The interaction effect is negative, meaning that firms in less knowledge‐inte...

Intellectual capital in service‐ and product‐oriented companies

Purpose – As service companies are occupying an increasingly significant place as drivers of economic growth, there is a pressing need to understand their peculiarities in order to facilitate their effective management and governance. One important area in which this kind of understanding is lacking is intellectual capital (IC) and knowledge management. Although intellectual capital has become the key value driver for all types of organizations, there is a lack of systematic research on whether there are fundamental differences in the IC of service‐oriented versus product‐oriented companies. In an attempt to bridge this gap the paper aims to examine the main differences in IC stocks, creation, management and protection mechanisms between service‐oriented and product‐oriented companies.Design/methodology/approach – The analysis is based on empirical evidence collected from 418 respondents representing HR and R&D functions in 335 Finnish companies.Findings – The results demonstrate that service‐oriented com...

The interaction of intellectual capital assets and knowledge management practices in organizational value creation

Purpose – Organizational performance is increasingly grounded on knowledge-related issues. The two key academic discussions addressing knowledge in organizations are the intellectual capital (IC) and knowledge management (KM) literatures. However, there are very few earlier studies systematically combining these approaches and demonstrating how IC assets and their management mechanisms might interact in organizational value creation. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to develop and argue a theoretical model depicting the connections between IC, KM practices and organizational performance outcomes. Design/methodology/approach – The paper draws on IC and KM literatures to build a theoretical model on how intellectual asset assets and their management practices interact in producing organizational performance. Several conceptual models and related discussion on the interaction of IC and KM practices are put forth. Findings – Organizational value creation is based on both static (IC assets) and dynamic ...

Linking social capital to organizational growth

In the current discussion of the intellectual capital, three main themes have been brought up: intangible assets, the dynamic capabilities to create and modify these assets, and the social relationships in which the knowledge processes take place, that is social capital. Within the latter view, knowledge is understood as a socially constructed and shared resource, and the focus is on the characteristics of the social relationships connecting the various actors and on the benefits these bring to the participants. Even though it is widely agreed that knowledge is essentially social by nature and that social capital does matter to the corporate bottom line, there are relatively few previous studies that have empirically examined the impact of social capital on organizational growth. To bridge this gap, the paper empirically examines how social capital residing in both intra-organizational and inter-organizational relationships of firms is related with organizational growth. The results suggest that contrary to the theoretical claims in the existing literature, social capital has only meagre role in promoting organizational growth.

Development and validation of a survey instrument for measuring organisational renewal capability

Mastering continuous change has become an important issue for an increasing number of organisations. However, the management of innovative performance is hindered by the lack of measures that could enable the reliable assessment and effective development of organisational capabilities for continuous renewal, learning and innovation. The objective of this paper is to describe the development of a survey instrument, the Organisational Renewal Capability Inventory, for measuring organisational renewal capability, and to assess its validity and reliability. This paper contributes to the literature on innovation by providing a systematic technique for collecting, analysing and interpreting data about organisational capability for continuous renewal.

The impact of intellectual capital management on company competitiveness and financial performance

Most of the existing research on intellectual capital (IC) has concentrated on identifying the key intangible resources and measuring their level in various contexts. However, the extent to which IC is being managed in companies and how IC management impacts on organizational performance have been relatively neglected issues. To bridge these gaps, the current paper examines how IC management affects company performance based on data collected from Finnish, Russian, and Chinese companies. The results demonstrate the importance of a conscious and systematic management of organizational knowledge for the company bottom line.

USING INTELLECTUAL CAPITAL MANAGEMENT FOR FACILITATING ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE

Purpose – This paper aims to examine the role of intellectual capital (IC) management in an organizational change process. The purpose is to obtain new empirical findings and an enhanced understanding of the role of IC in an organizational change process is obtained.Design/methodology/approach – First, the existing literature on change management and IC management is reviewed. Then, empirical research is carried out in terms of an action research project on IC development processes in three case companies. These processes and their outcomes are evaluated using interviews.Findings – An IC model can be a useful tool for change management as it helps to ensure the alignment of the change content with the strategic goals of the organization.Research limitations/implications – The study is based on applying the Danish IC management model in Finnish companies. Different results might have been obtained if another IC management model had been used or the companies representing other countries and cultures had be...

Knowledge management practices and innovation performance in Finland

Purpose – Recent empirical studies have suggested that knowledge-based issues are closely related to companies’ innovation performance. However, the majority of research seems to be focused either on static knowledge assets or knowledge processes such as knowledge creation. The purpose of this paper is to concentrate on the conscious and systematic managerial activities for dealing with knowledge in firms (i.e. knowledge management (KM) practices), which aim at innovation performance improvements through proactive management of knowledge assets. The study explores the impact that KM practices have on innovation performance. Design/methodology/approach – The authors provide empirical evidence on how various KM practices influence innovation performance. The results are based on survey data collected in Finland during fall 2013. The authors use partial least squares to test the hypothesized relationships between KM practices and innovation performance. Findings – The authors find that firms are capable of s...

The influence of knowledge management on continuous innovation

This study of 1,011 employees in 54 small and medium-sized organisations from various industries examined the influence of five aspects of knowledge management on continuous innovation. Continuous innovation was divided into three composing elements: individual creativity; knowledge implementation and commercialisation; and organisational strategic flexibility. The results demonstrate that knowledge assets, strategic management of knowledge, knowledge codification, knowledge sharing and knowledge acquisition all function as enablers of continuous innovation. Furthermore, knowledge sharing practices among colleagues was found to be the most significant predictor of self-rated continuous innovation. Strategic management of knowledge predicted commercialisation success on the level of the whole organisation, while acquiring knowledge from external sources proved to be the key facilitator of organisational-level strategic flexibility. The paper extends understanding of the knowledge-based nature of continuous...