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
