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As companies focus on core activities, inter-organisational relationships assume greater importance. This places new demands on cross-boundary, inter-organisational relationships. It is often argued that information and communication technology enables the seamless and efficient flow of information between market-facing organisations and their suppliers. Moving beyond simple market mechanisms based on price, the efficiency and effectiveness of inter-organisational networks can be improved through information sharing.

There have been recent calls for further research into the sharing of managerial tacit knowledge to enhance individual and organisational performance. This, due to a lack of knowledge of current practices of knowledge sharing, especially in developing countries, has been the motivation behind this research. The study examines the roles of personality traits in facilitating knowledge sharing practices and managerial tacit knowledge transfer among managers working in high and low performance local governments. Specifically, the study examines the direct relationship between knowledge sharing practices and tacit knowledge among 308 managers working in local governments. Secondly, this study explores the differences between knowledge sharing practices, tacit knowledge and individual performance among managers working in high and low performance local governments. Thirdly, this study also explores the role of personality traits as moderators of the relationship between knowledge sharing practices and tacit knowledge with individual performance. A triangulation approach combining questionnaire and interviews was used in the study. The questionnaire was distributed to middle managers of 35 Malaysian local government engaged in a Star Rating System. There were 358 completed questionnaires returned, but only 308 were useable. To support the results from the quantitative data, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 8 managers from Malaysian Local Governments of high and low levels of performance representing 4 main categories: City Hall, City Council, Municipal Council, and District Council. The results provided general support the majority of hypotheses of the study. Specifically, mentoring programme (competence), individual codification, institutional personalization and institutional codification were related to managerial tacit knowledge transfer. Tacit knowledge associated with managing oneself, managing tasks and managing others were significantly related to knowledge sharing practices. Unexpectedly, there were no significant differences in knowledge sharing practices, levels of accumulated managerial tacit knowledge, or individual performance between high and low performance local governments. Finally, results indicated that the agreeableness dimension of individual personality interacted with mentoring programmes in a way that predicted individual performance. Furthermore, agreeableness and conscientiousness dimensions of personality interacted with tacit knowledge associated managing self and managing tasks to influence individual performance. The openness dimension interacted with tacit knowledge associated with managing others to influence individual performance. This study adds to the limited body of empirical research in knowledge management, particularly within the Malaysian public sector. It represents a comprehensive survey and explanation of knowledge management in Malaysia. The relationship between knowledge sharing practices and tacit knowledge variables and their interaction with sub traits of personality in terms of individual performance suggests that it would be beneficial to the Ministry of Housing and Local Government in Malaysia to manage tacit knowledge as a way of enhancing individual performance. Contributions to the theory and practice, limitations and implications of the study are discussed.

The ability of an organisation to transfer knowledge is one of the key sources of competitive advantage for many of today’s organisations (Argote, 2000). New knowledge is created through interactions between explicit and tacit knowledge (Nonaka and Takeuchi, 1995). From the distinction between explicit and tacit knowledge made by Polanyi’s (1966), it is clear that the former can be transferred with relative ease, particularly using recent advances in information technology. Transfer of tacit knowledge on the other hand, requires social interactions with peers, colleagues, mentors and supervisor (Lahti et al, 2002; Cavusgil et al, 2003). Difficulties associated with this have been referred to as ‘internal stickiness’ (Szulanski, 1996) and is believed to be due to several factors. This study examines difficulties associated with the transfer of managerial tacit knowledge in the relationships involving supervisor and subordinates who work as managers in the Malaysian public sector. After examining previous literature in the field it is hypothesised that the stickiness of knowledge transfer may be associated with the quality of leader member exchange relationships, especially between leaders and their ‘in-group’ versus ‘out-group’ members. For example, in-group relationships are associated with higher levels of trust, respect and obligation compared with out-group relations. Another construct known to be associated with the quality of dyadic relationships is cognitive style (Armstrong, 1999). Cognitive style refers to individual differences in ways of perceiving, organising and processing information and differences in ways in which individuals solve problems, take decisions and relate to others. The research employed a quantitative approach using survey methods. Instruments used in the study included a measure of knowledge transfer stickiness (Szulanski, 1996), Leader Member Exchange (LMX7) (Graen and Uhl-Bien, 1995), Tacit Knowledge Inventory for Managers (TKIM) (Wagner and Sternberg, 1989) and the Cognitive Style Index (CSI) (Allinson and Hayes, 1996). The survey was administered to 1200 managers in the Malaysian Public Sector and 344 completed surveys were returned representing a response rate of 28.7%. Results from a final sample size of 300 managers comprising supervisors and their immediate subordinates are reported. The study successfully determined the relationship between knowledge transfer stickiness, LMX, cognitive style and managerial tacit knowledge. As expected, high-quality LMX leads to higher quality exchanges and concomitant improvements in the transfer of managerial tacit knowledge. Moreover, as hypothesised, individual differences and similarities in cognitive style also influence the transfer of tacit knowledge between supervisor and subordinate. Practical implications are given and recommendation made for future research.

This thesis explores the concept of knowledge codification in the context of Knowledge Management (KM) in an organisation. In the KM literature, codification of knowledge into information is viewed as central to the notion that knowledge can be managed and transferred. However, such literature pays little attention to knowledge codification as a process, or to the complex issues which the concept of codification raises. The research therefore examines processes of knowledge codification in an organisation, and how codification plays a part in its emerging approach to Knowledge Management. The empirical research was conducted within the internal consultancy section of the UK Post Office, using a methodology of participant observation within the Knowledge Management consultancy group. The data were collected predominantly from participation in a KM project: This aimed to capture knowledge from consultants working on an overseas consultancy project, and to transfer their knowledge elsewhere in the Post Office through the medium of codified text. The research has gained in-depth insight into an organisation's approach to Knowledge Management, and generated significant findings about knowledge codification as a process. In particular, the analysis focuses on different levels of social interaction in which the processes of knowledge codification occurred, and finds that codification involves more than just the codification of knowledge into information: Codification also involves the process of defining the codes needed to codify knowledge. However, the codified knowledge will have limited transferability to individuals or groups who do not share the underlying knowledge and experience to enable them to decodify the codes similarly. The thesis therefore concludes that further research is needed to bring attention to the importance of knowledge decodification within the Knowledge Management discourse.

This study explored the broad learning patterns associated with the acquisition of managerial tacit knowledge. The study then proceeded to examine whether levels of accumulated managerial tacit knowledge (LAMTK) may be associated with managers' learning styles and/or the extent to which a person's style is consonant with the context of their work environment. The possibility that deliberate learning strategies normally associated with formal rather than informal learning would be unrelated to LAMTK was also examined. The research employed a cross-sectional, mixed-method approach incorporating both qualitative interview and survey data collection. For the qualitative element, interviews were conducted with 14 public sector managers based on a method developed by Nestor-Baker (1999). For the quantitative element, survey data were collected from 356 public sector managers attending management development training courses at the Malaysian National Institute of Public Administration. Respondents completed a questionnaire designed to measure tacit knowledge based on Stemberg et al's (2000) Tacit Knowledge Inventory for Managers, learning styles based on Geiger et al's (1993) normative version of Kolb's Learning Style Inventory, learning strategy based on Warr & Downing's (2000) Learning Strategies Questionnaire, and a range of other self developed items. The interviews revealed that most managers were unaware of the learning associated with the acquisition of tacit knowledge, as it occurs in an unplanned and unintentional manner. Several adult learning principles such as reflection and learning from experience emerged from the analyses. While learning styles were found to be significant in predicting LAMTK, a rather surprising finding was that learning strategies, believed to be associated with declarative as opposed to tacit knowledge, were also related to LAMTK. Based on these findings it was concluded that the process of tacit knowledge acquisition involves the interaction of learning that takes place in both formal and informal settings. Outcomes of the research suggest that in management development initiatives, formal approaches should be blended with informal approaches in order to achieve effective learning.

This research contributes to the literature on the subjective experience of knowledge sharing from the perspective of those actively engaged in it. The sharing of knowledge in organizations is influenced by interconnecting factors, including organizational mission, the use made of information technology, and the motivation of individuals. Much of the existing literature takes a reductionist approach to investigating these, treating knowledge as an asset and humans as rational beings. A research organization provides knowledge services to its clients, in which knowledge is viewed both as an asset and as praxis, both aspects being used to meet the organization’s remit and help justify its continued existence. An officially mandated culture of knowledge sharing is promoted to motivate staff to develop and exploit the organization’s knowledge capability. Despite this, knowledge sharing has not been optimised. The Appreciative Inquiry Method, an interpretivist action research method from the “enquiry” tradition, was deployed amongst participants from the organization to help them give up their thinking the effectiveness of their knowledge sharing practice and their ability to improve it. This made possible a synthesis of the situation based on their shared understanding. The PEArL framework was used throughout to reflect on the conduct of the research. The contribution of the research is in supporting and extending findings in the literature from an interpretivist perspective. The importance of knowledge-as-practice was affirmed, together with tacit knowledge possessed by individuals. Knowledge sharing is affected by the low value placed on knowledge-as-practice by the organization’s clients, which affects staff motivation and the way self-efficacy is expressed. The undervaluing of knowledge-as-practice influences pre-existing, informal knowledge subcultures, which subvert the formal knowledge sharing culture. The participants’ power in the situation is limited to providing the executive with a case for maintaining knowledge as practice, to encourage a culture of motivation to share knowledge and to increase access to sharing mechanisms. The contribution includes support for the importance of the “relationship” component of the PEArL framework.

The present research extends the existing literature in at least three aspects. Firstly, it looks at what makes firms perceive patents as more or less important. Secondly, it examines how patents do (if at all) interact with other appropriability mechanisms. Finally, it looks at how firms act with respect to why, where, what and when to patent. The manufacturing industry is still the major source of patent applications. Thus, a firm-level study in manufacturing was chosen. The adopted methodology consists of i) a series of interviews with decision-makers on patents in six pharmaceuticals firms, using a semi-structured questionnaire, and ii) two postal surveys of firms in UK manufacturing, conducted through structured questionnaires. One survey, also known as the Community Innovation Survey, was undertaken by the UK Office for National Statistics on behalf of the UK Department of Trade industry. Another survey, encompassing particular aspects of patenting activities, was administered by the researcher to firms listed in the UK R&D Scoreboard. Contrary to our suspicions patent numbers may be a good proxy for evaluating the importance of patents as a mechanism of protection, but not necessarily for measuring the level of innovativeness of a firm. Secondly, our findings suggest that some mechanisms of appropriability are more correlated to patents than others but, overall, they lead to the same sort of conclusions. Finally, we found that i) firms seek patents mainly as a protective device against copying; ii) patents tend to be filed early in the innovation process when the prospects may still be uncertain; iii) in general broader patent scope is sought but a narrow scope can also be valuable; and iv) the attractiveness of the market is central when firms decide to pursue cross-border proprietary control of the knowledge they create.