Kenneth Husted

Governing Knowledge Sharing in Organizations: Levels of Analysis, Governance Mechanisms, and Research Directions

We discuss and examine recent claims that research on knowledge processes has paid insufficient attention to micro (individual) level constructs and mechanisms and to the role of formal organization in governing knowledge processes. We review knowledge sharing research published in 13 (top academic plus top practitioner-oriented) journals in the period 1996–2006 in relation to these two propositions. The review confirms the claim that the knowledge sharing literature is preoccupied with constructs, processes, and phenomena defined at a macro (collective, organizational) level and pay comparatively little attention to micro level constructs. The review provides less support for the proposition that formal governance mechanisms have been under-researched in comparison to formal organization. Still, the multiple ways in which formal governance mechanisms may interact in influencing knowledge sharing outcomes have been under-researched, as has the interaction between more informal aspects of the firm and formal governance mechanisms. We argue that future research on knowledge sharing needs to fill these gaps.

Knowledge-Sharing Hostility in Russian Firms

This article examines knowledge sharing in business environments and cultures that are hostile to knowledge sharing, focusing on knowledge sharing as it relates to individual behavior. Knowledge hoarding, apprehension about failures, and the Not-Invented-Here syndrome are examined, drawing on the examples of six Russian companies, including three with Western ownership. In knowledge-sharing hostile environments it is inadequate to apply traditional means for managing knowledge-sharing processes. Instead of encouraging, stimulating, and aligning incentives, managers need to initially force knowledge sharing in order to transform their organizations into knowledge-embracing cultures. Concrete guidelines for overcoming the barriers to knowledge sharing are outlined.

Decision making in organisations hostile to knowledge sharing

Der Aufsatz befasst sich mit einigen Merkmalen der Entscheidungsfindung in russischen Organisationen. Diesbezugliche Strukturen in Unternehmen sind normalerweise sehr stark. Paradoxerweise sind russische Firmen auch fur ihre Einstellung gegen Informationsaustausch bekannt. Beide Merkmale stellen eine gefahrliche Kombination fur strategische Entscheidungsfindungsprozesse und fur die Allokation von Ressourcen dar. Auf der Basis von 53 Interviews in 25 Firmen in den letzten 6 Jahren analysiert der Aufsatz das Interface zwischen verschiedenen Dimensionen der Einstellung gegen Informationsaustausch und den darausfolgenden Konsequenzen fur die strategische Entscheidungsfindung.

External knowledge sharing and radical innovation: the downsides of uncontrolled openness

Inter-firm collaborative innovation typically requires knowledge sharing among individuals employed by collaborating firms. However, it is also associated with considerable risks, especially if the knowledge sharing process is not handled using proper judgment. Such risks have been acknowledged in the literature, but the underlying empirical evidence remains unclear. This study aims to examine how sharing of business-critical knowledge with external collaboration partners affects firm’s innovation performance.,The authors develop a mediating model and hypotheses predicting that the uncontrolled sharing of knowledge leads to accidental knowledge leakage, which, in turn, hinders particularly firm’s radical innovation performance. The authors test the model by using a survey of 150 technology-intensive firms in Finland and a partial least squares structural equation model. The mediating model is tested with incremental and radical innovation performance, and the authors control for firm size, age, R&D intensity and industry.,The authors find strong support for the model in that uncontrolled external knowledge sharing leads to accidental knowledge leaking and to lower radical innovation performance. The same results are not found for incremental innovation, implying that uncontrolled knowledge leakage is especially detrimental to radical innovation.,These findings help in better understanding some of the downsides of too much openness and lack of judgment about knowledge sharing beyond the boundaries of the firm. Thus, firms pursuing radical innovation should carefully guide their employees with regard to what knowledge they share, to what extent they share it and with whom they share it.

Science medialisation in a reluctant knowledge-based economy: the case of biotechnology in New Zealand

In the shift towards the knowledge economy, the increased role and value placed on science is associated with an increased medialisation of science. This paper examines how biotechnology is medialised in the context of New Zealand, a society whose knowledge-based development is characterised by belated political reforms, low to medium levels of R&D investment in general and low levels of industry-based R&D in particular. We apply three dimensions of medialisation – extensiveness, pluralisation and controversy – to examine how biotechnology has been medialised in New Zealand over a 15 year period. We discuss how knowledge-based development systems moderate the medialisation of science.

Managing research and development for continuous change and learning - a case study

Continuous innovation has long been regarded as a direct consequence of a firms investments into systematic investigations in developing new products and processes. The exact process of how research and development investment contributes to inventive activities and its long-term impacts on the innovative capacity development of a firm, are still unclear. This paper, using a longitudinal case study of a Danish company in the electronic industry, analyses the impacts of research and development activities on the development and adjustments to a firms innovation capacities.