Organizational Competencies (Asynchronous Session)
Self-organisation in Flexible Working Environments View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Snjezana Ahlgren
Innovation is imperative for organizations to sustain their competitive advantage and thrive. Increasingly, to succeed in a fast-paced business world, understanding the antecedents to fostering employee innovation remains under-developed. Adding to this complexity, the seismic shift of employment weighs on organizations to offer flexibility in working arrangements. This, consequentially, gives employees autonomy in organizing how, where, and when work is conducted, whilst at the same time meeting the demands of being innovative and competitive. This paper presents a study of an Australian Accounting Organization that implemented flexible desking with the aim of employee collaboration and knowledge sharing. The qualitative online questionnaire, based on de Jong et. al. (2010) Innovative Work Behvaiour (IWB) model and survey questions, looked specifically at how employees perceive the potential effects of workspace usage on each of the four phases that make up IWB. It explored the employee’s capacity and capability in exploration of new opportunities, generating and championing ideas, and working styles that were important determinants for organizational innovation by this flexible desking. The findings showed influence and impact on IWB for flexible desk users. The study highlighted how maintaining autonomy, physical proximity, and communication were important factors to fostering IWB. On the other hand, the study also showed that employees using fixed desks perceived no discernible influence on their IWB. This study contributes to the understanding of employee autonomy and IWB when working environments are changing rapidly. It also provides insights on how employees’ proclivity to innovate can be influenced through organizational practices.
Advancing External Firm Knowledge and Building Network Ties: A Mixed Method Examination of Apparel Industry Conditions View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Nancy Miller, Carol Engel Enright
Understanding how manufacturers engage in knowledge sharing with other firms is key in providing insights for the reshoring and strengthening of US apparel and sewn products manufacturing. Based on both social capital theory and the knowledge-based view of the firm perspective, this paper analyzes the conditions within the firm that support knowledge absorptive capacity, social interaction, and a people-oriented culture in building network ties to advance sharing of resources along the supply chain. Manufacturers of apparel and sewn products operating within a western US state form the sample population for this mixed method exploration. Study 1 involves a four-year qualitative examination of manufacturers across the state. Findings highlighted the frequency of knowledge as a topic of external organizational discussion. Study 2 probed aspects of knowledge quantitatively using an online survey with 38 participating manufacturing firm owners. Results suggested strong associations among the three independent variables and network ties generating an adjusted R2 of 0.766. A significant two-way interaction effect was found for absorptive capacity and social interaction indicating their positive effect on network ties. The relationship between absorptive capacity and network ties was found to be greater with higher levels of social interaction. Theoretical implications and suggestions for application of findings are offered.
Examining Knowledge Transfer and Networks: An Overlook Through the Last Twenty Years View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Marta Ferrer Serrano
Knowledge transfer (KT) has been the subject of debate in the academic literature in recent decades but it is only in recent years that researchers have focused on it. Its apparent beneficial effect on innovative potential and business performance has produced a large number of publications that show different types of relationships from different perspectives. The need to establish collaborative network relationships to achieve effective knowledge transfer has linked both concepts in most research. In contrast, studies linking KT and networks have not been systematized to date. Therefore, in this paper, we carry out a systematic literature review (n = 180) during the 2000-2020 period. We present the most important findings to date, showing how far the research with the greatest impact has come. This study shows how the analysis of KT and collaborative networks is a promising research topic, proposes future lines of research, and establishes implications for academics, managers, and policy makers.
Four Dimensions of Absorptive Capacity: A Framework for Organisational Knowledge Management View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Alan Labas
The concept of organisational absorptive capacity is discussed in this paper through the perspective of business advisors servicing small businesses. Exploring the notion of absorptive capacity in an organisation requires the ability to assimilate and create new knowledge founded on embedded prior knowledge. A high level of absorptive capacity is generally accepted as important for businesses to assimilate and utilise new knowledge, in spite of this, the nature of absorptive capacity remains ambiguous. There is some consensus that absorptive capacity is a multi-dimensional construct, but the nature of those dimensions remains unclear. Adopting the premise that the most effective source of organisational knowledge creation are individuals within organisations, this paper investigates the absorptive capacity antecedents for individual business advisors to identify their propensity towards acquiring or assimilating particular types of knowledge. The identification of four dimensions of individual absorptive capacity for all knowledge workers provide a conceptual framework to evaluate mechanisms which influence organisational knowledge creation, knowledge absorption or knowledge utilisation. This perspective contributes to the development of a theoretical approach for interrogating the inclination of individuals, within organisations, towards specific types of knowledge.
