Anastasia Sergeeva

Knowledge sharing research: bringing context back in

In response to the calls for more context-aware theorizing, in this essay we review the empirical research on individual knowledge sharing behavior in organizations, with a specific focus on the context in which employees share knowledge. We build on the “Who? / Where? / Why? / What?” framework to “flesh out” the contexts of the empirical studies on individual knowledge sharing published in top-level journals. Mapping the researched contexts, we indicate several biases of the literature as well as point to under-investigated spaces, suggesting theoretical dimensions, their contrasts, and new empirical settings that are missing from the major stream of knowledge sharing studies. We also find that context has been scarcely accounted for in the existing literature, discuss the reasons for it, show how accounting for context can be used to re-interpret some contradictions in existing literature, and suggest some ways to move forward.

The more the better…or is it? The contradictory effects of HR practices on knowledge sharing motivation and behavior

This article examines how individual-level antecedents such as motivation and ability to share knowledge mediate the relationship between HR practices and knowledge-sharing behaviour. The results of a survey of 329 secondary school teachers reveal the contradictory effects of different HR practices on the mediating roles of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation to share knowledge and subsequent knowledge-sharing behaviour of teachers. The study demonstrates that opportunity-enhancing HR practices act as a moderating condition that activates either intrinsic or extrinsic motivation to share knowledge and may completely offset the effect of motivation-enhancing HR practices. The study makes a distinctive contribution by demonstrating how certain combinations of HR practices aimed to enhance knowledge sharing might in fact be a costly solution for organisations, as they activate different mediating mechanisms in the HRM–knowledge-sharing behaviour link.

When the fit between HR practices backfires: Exploring the interaction effects between rewards for and appraisal of knowledge behaviours on innovation

This paper explores the idea that well-aligned HR practices may produce varied and even negative effects on innovation performance. To do so, we examine the interaction effect between rewards for and appraisal of knowledge behaviours on radical and incremental innovation outcomes. Drawing on the insights from the strategic HRM literature on the internal fit between HR practices, as well as the developments of the knowledge governance approach, we argue that rewards and appraisal applied together produce a setting that is conducive for deepening existing knowledge bases, but hindering for more distant and diverse knowledge search. Empirical test of these hypotheses using the data from 259 Finnish companies lends partial support for this argument. Intensive usage of appraisal of knowledge behaviours reduces the positive impact that rewards for such behaviours have on radical innovation. At the same time, rewards and appraisal do not intensify each others effect on incremental innovation.

Mobile devices in the operating room: Intended and unintended consequences for nurses’ work:

This article reports the results of a case study of the consequences of mobile device use for the work practices of operating room nurses. The study identifies different patterns of mobile technology use by operating room nurses, including both work-related and non-work-related use. These patterns have multiple consequences for nurses, such as improvements in information access, e-learning and work-related communication, as well as a perceived increase in distractions from the collaborative work. We conceptualize these consequences in terms of three level effects and explain how we find both positive and negative consequences on the third level. On the positive side, improvements were found in how nurses spent their unoccupied time during the stable parts of operations, contributing to their well-being and job satisfaction. A negative consequence was the perceived increase in distraction from the collaborative operating room work practices.

Losing Touch: How Robots Transform the Practice of Surgery

Robots create a fundamentally different sensory and bodily engagement with the physical world. Building on a 25-month field study of the Da Vinci robot, an endoscopic system for minimally invasive ...

Through the Eyes of Others:: How Onlookers Shape the Use of Technology at Work

In this paper, we argue that the use of technology is structured not only by users, technology, and social context, but also by onlookers (i.e., actors for whom the use is visible, but who are not directly involved in the activities of use themselves). Building on the “technology-in-practice” lens and insights of an ethnographic study in operating rooms where nurses used mobile technology for various work-related and recreational purposes, we show how onlookers contribute to structuring collective patterns of technology use. We conceptualize their role as the “onlooker effect,” which means that onlookers’ inferences, judgments, and reactions trigger users to reflect on consequences and adjust the use in front of others, a phenomenon which is activated by the cues unintentionally given off when using technology. By identifying the role of onlookers in technology use, this study goes beyond user-centric and feature-centric perspectives on information technology use, illustrating that it does not happen in the physical vacuum, but often draws in unintended audiences. The onlooker effect provides a more in-depth explanation for unexpected patterns of technology use emerging in the workplace.