Purpose – This master thesis aims to investigate knowledge sharing within two selected cross-cultural virtual teams of a non-governmental organization. The particular focus of this study is on the motivation for knowledge sharing of the individual team members. Based on the findings, the study provides implications for the development of an organizational knowledge management strategy.Design/Methodology/Approach – The qualitative research approach of this study was based on the conceptual framework of this thesis. Said framework was particularly influ-enced by Swift et al.’s (2010) model on goal orientations and the motivation to share knowledge. After eight semi-structured interviews with participants from the organization, Template Analysis was applied for the data analysis.Findings – It was possible to categorize the participants in learning-prove, learning-avoid and performance-prove goal orientations which showed that the motivation stemmed from both learning and demonstrating competence. Furthermore, contributing was a motivating factor in both goal orientations. In the learning goal orientation, it was demonstrated by wanting to contribute to a better life for youth and children and the performance goal orien-tation focused on contributing to a successful organization. The factors which affected the behaviour towards knowledge sharing were relational and cognitive ones. Structural factors did not have an effect.Practical Implications – The practical contribution of this study was the development of managerial implications for the NGO’s HR department. Based on the identified findings, these implications are to be used for the development of a knowledge management strategy within the organization, as it is currently lacking. These implications focus mainly on infra-structural issues as well as on the promotion of organizational culture.Originality/Value – The value of this study is the focus on cross-cultural virtual teams of an NGO, an area lacking research regarding the motivation of individuals to share knowledge. The authors put a particular focus on team members from Northern and Eastern Europe as well as Africa.

Through a qualitative case study, this study explores why enterprise social media is used for knowledge sharing among information professionals, and what factors drive and hinder sharing knowledge on enterprise social media among information professionals. Data was collected through online semi-structured interviews with seven information professionals based in a Scandinavian country. Qualitative analysis of content was used in this study and the results were analyzed according to the affordances of enterprise social media of visibility, persistence and association, and related to previous research. The study concludes that information professionals use enterprise social media for knowledge sharing to increase their professional development, and there are diverse factors influencing knowledge sharing on enterprise social media. Some significant drivers to knowledge sharing are helping others and develop expertise. Significant barriers are fear of sharing and lack of trust in content. The outcome of this study gives a better understanding of why information professionals use enterprise social media for knowledge sharing and what factors influence their knowledge sharing practices on enterprise social media.

To effectively manage and facilitate the knowledge sharing process in organisations is crucial, as it contributes with economic and competitive organisational value. This thesis investigates the knowledge sharing process in an organisation, and how a design solution could be developed to facilitate this process. The investigation of the organisation showed that, a barrier for the employees to exchange knowledge, is that they are not fully aware of each others knowledge gaps. Consequently, due to low awareness of each others knowledge gaps, the employees are having difficulties to know if their knowledge could be valuable to share. This illuminated an area to focus upon, and an opportunity for a design solution to be developed. The design solution evolved along with insights obtained from usability testing, to achieve a result which correlates with the needs of the employees. The final design solution is a tool, which enables the employees to gather information of their knowledge gaps, thus enhance the awareness of what knowledge to share. The tool, and the process of its creation, provides an answer of how a design solution could be developed to facilitate the exchange of knowledge among employees in an organisation.

In collaboration with Afry, the focus of this thesis is to facilitate the transition from an Industrial park into an Eco-park using industrial symbiosis strategy, in the industrial harbor of Malmö. To transition into a collaboration where physical exchanges of energy, waste, materials and other by-products between different facilities takes place. Some of the keys to an industrial symbiosis are proximity, government planning and self-organization. The aim of the thesis is to create a digital platform that can facilitate the connectivity between facilities and organizations and to inspire a social transition. Therefore, this thesis uses transition design as an approach, touching upon topics such as organizational collaboration, industrial symbiosis strategy and knowledge sharing. Whilst using Research through design for designing a technology that can inspire collective transition into a more sustainable future. Design methodology from Service design and Interaction design, such as user researching, customer journey mapping and prototyping, is used when designing for a somewhat unexplored area in Sweden.

Problematisering: Inom försäkringsbranschen har en omfattande förändring nyligen skett genom införlivandet av en ny lag som ställer högre krav på hur kunskap hanteras och delas. Kunskapsdelning är en av de svåraste utmaningarna i modern tid och något som företag ofta misslyckas med. Trots detta tenderar företag att se intern kunskapsdelning som en enkel process när den i själva verket är omfattande och komplicerad och kräver mycket tid och resurser. Tidigare forskning visar på att kunskap resulterar från sociala konstruktioner och är föränderlig, snarare än statisk, samt inriktad på processer och visar på att kunskap är beroende av kontext. Det saknas dock forskning kring processerna för kunskapsdelning och även hur det går till i praktiken och denna studie ämnar att fylla den kunskapsluckan och därmed bidra med en djupare förståelse för intern kunskapsdelning i praktiken, från ett processperspektiv. Syfte: Studiens syfte är att bidra med ökad förståelse av hur ett bank- och försäkringsbolag hanterar intern kunskapsdelning efter en förändring. Metod: Studien är av kvalitativ karaktär med starka inslag från hermeneutiken och har inspirerats av en induktiv ansats med en iterativ process. Nordic Safe Insurances1 har agerat som fallföretag till studien, vilket innebär att företaget har utgjort det enskilda fallet. Detta har utgjort studiens empiri efter att fem semistrukturerade intervjuer med chefer och medarbetare med ansvar för utbildning och utveckling på fallföretaget genomförts, vilka presenteras i separata och detaljrika berättelser. Slutsats: Studiens resultat visar på att kunskap delas både formellt och informellt där de formella samspelen utgör grunden för medarbetarnas beteende och syn på verksamheten och är av hög relevans för att interaktioner som sker vid de informella samspelen ska främja kunskapsdelning. Vidare visar resultatet på att ett stort ansvar för kunskapsdelning ligger hos cheferna då ett engagerat och uppmuntrande ledarskap skapar förutsättningar för att medarbetarna ska dela sin kunskap. Interaktioner spelar en övergripande och central roll för att kunskapsdelning ska kunna ske och skapandet av forum som möjliggör detta är därmed av högsta relevans. / Background: In the insurance industry, a change has recently occurred through the incorporation of a new law that has resulted in higher demands on how knowledge is managed and shared. Knowledge sharing is one of the most difficult challenges of modern times and something that companies often fail to address. Despite this, companies tend to see internal knowledge sharing as a simple process when in fact it is extensive and complicated and requires a great amount of time and resources. Previous research shows that knowledge results from social constructs and is changeable, rather than static, and focuses on processes and shows that knowledge is dependent on context. Research on knowledge sharing processes and how it is shared in practice is lacking and this study aims to fill that knowledge gap and thus contribute with a deeper understanding of internal knowledge sharing in practice, from a process perspective. Purpose: The purpose of this study is to contribute with an increased understanding of how an insurance company handles internal knowledge sharing after a change. Methodology: The study is of a qualitative nature with strong elements from the hermeneutic perspective and has been inspired by an inductive approach with an iterative process. Nordic Safe Insurances2 has acted as a case company for the study, which means that the company constitutes the individual case. This constitutes the empirical study after five semi-structured interviews with managers and employees responsible for training and development at Nordic Safe Insurances, which are presented in separate and detailed stories. Conclusion: The study’s result show that knowledge is shared both formally and informally, where formal interplay form the basis for employees’ behavior and views of the business and are of high relevance for interactions that occur at informal interplay to promote knowledge sharing. Furthermore, the result shows that a great responsibility for knowledge sharing lies with the managers as a committed and encouraging leadership creates the conditions for employees to share their knowledge. Interactions play an overall and central role for knowledge sharing to take place and the creation of forums that enables is are of utmost relevance.

Over the last decade, researchers and practitioners have contributed to the body of knowledge on improving business operations among public housing authorities. However, effective knowledge-sharing processes within a public housing organization remain deficient. The purpose of this quantitative study was to examine the correlations between employees' perceptions of trust, organizational fairness, supervisors' competency, and employees' willingness to share knowledge. Understanding the factors that predict employees' willingness to share knowledge is imperative to developing leaders' best practices. Social capital theory served as the theoretical framework for this study. Seventy full-time employees and leaders of the housing authorities in the State of Texas participated. A multiple, standard-regression analysis indicated significant correlations between the independent variables and employees' willingness to share knowledge. Organizational fairness was the strongest predictor. These findings may help leaders in public housing authorities improve best practices to create effective knowledge-sharing processes and open opportunities for further discussion with organizational leaders in public sector agencies. The results of this study may have implications for social change: Public housing leaders could optimize operational procedures by managing sustainability and developing effective best practices that might reduce taxpayers' burden and increase social services to low-income residents.

Today we are experiencing a rapidly increasing trend to use social networking in ways that dramatically affect both our personal and our public lives. This is a global phenomenon being experienced around the world. Exactly how this technology is being used and by whom is of great interest. The problem is that not a lot of research has been conducted to investigate the role social networking sites play to influence a person’s attitude toward sharing knowledge at work. In light of the marked increase in the use of social networking sites and how it is changing the way we live, both at work and during leisure activities, this research examines the factors that influence our attitudes towards knowledge sharing. This study presents the results of a quantitative research to understand the nature and impact of these motivating factors and analyzes how they influence our attitudes regarding the use of social networking sites as a venue in which to share knowledge. This study was conducted by means of an Internet survey. A self-administered questionnaire provided data and assisted in determining the degree to which the use of social networking sites is being used to share knowledge in the workplace. This non-experimental, cross-sectional, correlational study was conducted by means of quantitative research procedures to investigate the impact and influence social networking has on the knowledge transfer process. This research showed how social networking has redefined the collaborative environment that encourages knowledge holders to share their valuable knowledge. The results show that some factors, such as organizational climate, the subjective norm, and knowledge sharing attitudes, have a dominant impact on our behavior regarding the use of social networking sites and our intention to share knowledge with others. Another set of factors influenced our behavior and attitudes, but to a lesser degree, while one factor, anticipation of extrinsic rewards, actually exerted a negative influence on an individual’s knowledge sharing attitudes. The results of this dissertation increased and contributed to our understanding of the relationship between social networking sites and intention to share knowledge and set the stage for follow-on research.

The aim of this research is to examine the relation between an organisation´s information strategy and their marketing strategies. It also brings to surface what effects an effective working information strategy might have on an organisation´s marketing strategy. The research aim is to further also understand the concepts behind an organisation´s information strategy with regards to definitions and how they all relate to each other. An area this research aims to answer is the connection between communication and information sharing and marketing strategies. It will also go through how information sharing, knowledge sharing and internal communication can affect marketing strategies within the logistics industry. Furthermore, this research will look at internal and external communication as well as knowledge sharing and its effects on marketing in three different logistics companies. The result will be presented in a comparative study and interviews have been executed using a semi structured qualitative method. Conclusions made during the analysis suggest that information strategies and marketing strategies are very closely related and might be considered co-dependent. However, for an organisations information strategy to have a positive impact on an organisations marketing strategy, an information strategy has to be updated frequently and conceptualized with the organisations information policy. In addition, all co-workers ought to be involved in the information strategy and its information policy because by being so, it could generate a more effective workplace.

京都大学 / 0048 / 新制・課程博士 / 博士(情報学) / 甲第19339号 / 情博第591号 / 新制||情||103(附属図書館) / 32341 / 京都大学大学院情報学研究科社会情報学専攻 / (主査)教授 石田 亨, 教授 田中 克己, 教授 矢守 克也 / 学位規則第4条第1項該当 / Doctor of Informatics / Kyoto University / DFAM

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