Jean-Gregoire Bernard

A Typology of Knowledge Management System Use by Teams

This essay sketches out a typology of knowledge management system use by teams. It is proposed that how a knowledge management system is framed and enacted by a team depends on (a) psychological safety (the shared beliefs held by members of a team that the team is safe for interpersonal risk taking — Edmondson, 1999) and (b) the rate of episodic change experienced by the team. Four distinct patterns of use are identified: candid, ambivalent, conservative, and reluctant. Each of these usage patterns has implications for the learning opportunities teams may face and the perceived usefulness of a knowledge management system.

IT Enabled Frugal Effectuation

To succeed, entrepreneurs operating in frugal contexts tend to adopt an effectual logic of action. Such entrepreneurs also increasingly rely on digital technologies to pursue opportunities.Yet, despite a flurry of scholarly attention to effectuation tactics and their outcomes, surprisingly little is known about how digital technologies support effectuation, and with what outcomes. This paper sketches a theoretical model of how IT affordances support effectuation in frugal contexts.The model extends entrepreneurship and information systems theories of frugal entrepreneurship by linking specific IT affordances to dimensions of effectuation. The paper also discusses how the model could be refined by empirical studies and extended across levels of analysis.