Special issue on information technologies and knowledge management.(SPECIAL ISSUE)

This is the second volume of the Special Issue on Knowledge Management and Information Technologies and contains six papers examining the complex issue from different perspectives. We draw on the framework of knowledge problems (1) to highlight the contributions of the papers in this issue. The framework suggests that knowledge problems in organizations can be viewed as a combination of the problems of knowledge coordination, knowledge transfer, and knowledge reuse. These knowledge problems reflect difficulties with respect to the access, application, and sharing of knowledge within firms and attempt to provide a systematic means to articulate an answer to the question: If knowledge management is the solution, then what is the problem? Knowledge coordination problems are linked to the difficulty of locating knowledge sources or identifying knowledgeable individuals or groups for the knowledge required to diagnose or solve specific problems. Knowledge transfer problems are linked to the complexity of transferring or obtaining the knowledge required to solve specific problems. Knowledge reuse problems are linked to the difficulty of ensuring the application of preexisting knowledge to situations when redeployment of prior knowledge stocks rather than a fresh effort to develop novel knowledge is advisable.

Lihui Lin, Xianjun Geng, and Andrew B. Whinston ("A Sender-Receiver Framework for Knowledge Transfer") offer insights related to the knowledge transfer problem. The paper examines how the effectiveness of knowledge transfer is influenced by factors such as incomplete information and asymmetric information. Focusing on the dyadic level, the paper employs formal game-theoretic models to arrive at analytical results regarding the influence of incompleteness and asymmetry in the information sets involved in appropriately valuing knowledge that is transferred. The paper models the challenges posed when either sender or receiver has incomplete information to assess the value of knowledge being transferred and the situations when the level of knowledge possessed by the receiver and sender are asymmetric. The strength of the paper is the grounding of rigorous models of the phenomenon in real-life situations to highlight the implications for knowledge transfer in these contexts. The paper provides insights for practice and for further research in signaling and incentives for revealing of that can change information structures in which dyadic knowledge sharing occurs.

Robin Poston and Cheri Speier ("Effective Use of Knowledge Management Systems: A Process Model of Content Ratings and Credibility Indicators") provide a nuanced perspective on knowledge reuse problems in contexts where knowledge management systems mediate the storage and access of codified knowledge. In a series of four experiments, the paper examines the mediating influence of content credibility indicators such as the number of raters and rater on the relationship between the validity of content ratings and users' search and evaluation processes. The strengths of the paper lie in the systematic articulation of differences in the anchoring and adjustment processes attributable to rating validity and credibility indicators and the consequent influence on decision quality and decision times in knowledge intensive tasks.

Chungsuk Ryu, Yong Jin Kim, Abhijit Cahudhury, and H. Raghav Rao ("Knowledge Acquisition via Three Learning Processes in Enterprise Information Portals: Learning-by-Investment, Learning-by-Doing, and Learning-from-Others") address the knowledge transfer and reuse problems in terms of three individual level learning processes in enterprise collectives. They draw on activity theory to develop a mathematical model identifying potentially optimal decisions by individuals with respect to learning by doing, learning from others, and learning by investments when they attempt to maximize benefits under differing knowledge decay rates, differing costs of learning, and differing productivity of learning processes. The study has implications for the design of knowledge management systems and highlights a variety of issues that can be examined in future field studies.

Andrew N. K. Chen and Theresa M. Edgington ("Assessing Value in Organizational Knowledge Creation: Considerations for Knowledge Workers") focus on factors linked to knowledge creation. Using a simulation approach, the study examines the complex interaction of individual and contextual factors such as ...