Virtuous Spiral or Vicious Circle?Creating and Distributing Innovative Knowledge within Universities

Martin Rehm, Amber Dailey-Hebert, Katerina Bohle Carbonell & Karen D. Könings20th International EDiNEB Conference,

Milton Keynes (UK), June 2013

universities are challenged to tackle interconnected, ill-defined problems in need of innovative solutions

vs.

Top-Down Approach Bottom-Up Approach

Bottom-Up Approach• make use of faculty’s tacit knowledge

composed of their on-the-job experiences (e.g. Gherardi & Nicolini, 2000)

• transforming individuals’ tacit knowledge into new explicit knowledge

contribute to the process of (innovative) knowledge creation within organizations.

Tacit Explicit Knowledge

Social Interaction

&

Innovative Knowledge Communities (IKC)

Main Research Question

How do educational innovators collaborate and spread their newly gained knowledge throughout an

organization in “bottom-up” initiatives?

Research Model

Setting

• Maastricht University – 3-year project: “Learning and Working”• all faculties• new target groups• innovative learning approaches

Instruments• Social Network Analysis– In- & Out-Degree Ties• The amount of connections sent / received

• Knowledge Sharing Attitudes– Individuals’ knowledge sharing

intentions (IKSI)(Bock, Zmund, Kim, & Lee, 2005)

Social Network Analysis

all ties among members

only “frequent” out-degree connections

Knowledge Sharing Attitudes

Question M SD

My knowledge sharing does …

strengthen the ties between existing members in the organization and myself.

4.60 0.52

get me well-acquainted with new members in the organization.

4.20 0.42

expand the scope of my association with other members in the organization.

4.60 0.52

draw smooth cooperation from outstanding members in the future.

4.20 0.79

create strong relationships with members who have common interests in the organization.

4.60 0.52

[…]

My knowledge sharing with other organizational members is …

good. 4.10 0.57

harmful. 1.50 0.53

an enjoyable experience. 4.60 0.52

valuable to me. 4.80 0.42

a wise move. 4.60 0.52[…]I always provide my manuals, methodologies and models for members of my organization.

4.40 0.52

I intend to share my experience or know-how from work with other organizational members more frequently in the future.

3.90 0.32

Note: Group A; N = 10 (50%); Likert scale 1 (strong disagreement) – 5 (strong agreement)

Conclusion

a first preliminary idea of how educational innovators collaborate and spread their newly gained knowledge throughout an organization in “bottom-up” initiatives

Outlook• expand the scope to include a broader

group of individuals from within an entire organization Groups B & C

• cross comparison of initiatives– Park University• 2-year project

innovate faculty development