Knowledge Integration in Government–Industry Project Network

Abstract

Organizations in project networks often integrate specialized knowledge that resides within participants in the network to undertake collaborative ventures. Thus, knowledge integration forms an important aspect of any knowledge management process. Knowledge integration in past studies has been conceptualized as laddering up from knowledge identification to knowledge acquisition to knowledge utilization. However, this study reveals that on the basis of three knowledge typologies-object-based knowledge, professional knowledge, and coordinating knowledge-the process of knowledge integration progresses from knowledge identification to knowledge coordination to knowledge utilization. This study was carried out as an embedded case study of a large project network (TAXNET) comprising nine actors (i.e. firms). It was designed as a longitudinal study to be conducted in two phases, data being collected through in-depth interviews, non-obtrusive observations, and a diary. Other sources of information were minutes of meetings, e-mails, and company records. The contribution of this study lies in the fact that knowledge integration within project networks has not been fully explored in past studies. Hence, the revelation that actors in a project network do not need to acquire knowledge that is not available in-house but rather collaborate and coordinate with each other to draw on specialized knowledge that resides within other actors of the project network is unique. An important implication would therefore be that while establishing project networks, managers should be more cognizant that there are different types of knowledge and that the success of collaborative ventures would be determined by how knowledge is identified, coordinated, or used.

Conceptualisation of the Three-Dimensional Matrix of Collaborative Knowledge Barriers

“…From superior levels, it is necessary to encourage and establish training policies with new tools in order to form an excellent all-inclusive communications network. In this way, all participants should have enough training to include their information in the system and to obtain feedback with which they learn about not only the destination of this knowledge and its use, but also the benefits obtained by the receivers as a result of its use [75,76]. Moreover, technological coordination is also important to guarantee that the input data needed by a functional unit is available in the appropriate format and at the right time by another department.…”

“…Barriers at the inter-collaborative level are more in line with the lack of the management policies and appropriate methodologies [10] at the strategic levels of the formalities and mechanisms required to make knowledge explicit [75,76].…”

“…Routine messages tend to be direct and very slightly ambiguous, whereas non routine messages are complicated and tend to confuse. So, using a poor channel for a non-routine message can lead to loss of information, and the knowledge management process is not fruitful [75].…”

Collaborative relationships with customers: generation and protection of innovations

“…Therefore, it is probably one of the most valuable features a producer can have in gaining a contract. Accordingly, we posit the following research proposition: RP1: Customers' needs are an important source of innovation and therefore a precise understanding of them is essential for improving the company's innovative capacity There is a significant gap in understanding how knowledge is generated by an actor in a dyad or network and how it is identified, acquired and utilized by other participant actors (Tiwari, 2015). Scholars have tended to view absorptive capacity in terms of exposure to knowledge content, without a comprehensive understanding of the processes and structures allowing for interfirm knowledge flows (Lane, Koka & Pathak 2006).…”

The role of collaborative knowledge building in the co-creation of artifacts: influencing factors and propositions

“…Therefore, the authors propose the following: effective coordination (Tiwari, 2015), communication and cooperation skills (Mueller, 2012), as Postprint version of: Stefania Mariano, Yukika Awazu, (2017) "The role of collaborative knowledge building in the co-creation of artifacts: influencing factors and propositions", Journal of Knowledge Management, Vol. 21 Issue: 4, pp.779-795, https://doi.org/10.1108/JKM-09-2016-0360 well as meta-knowledge (Przemyslaw, 2014); and (3) intensified collaboration determined by interaction and emotional intensity, caring questioning to enable help-seeking and help-giving to prevent deviation from planned practice (Aarastad et al, 2015) and define structured content to help achieve teamwork outcomes (Brichni et al, 2014).…”