Electronic knowledge repositories represent one of the fundamental tools for knowledge management (KM) initiatives. Existing research, however, has largely focused on supply-side driven research questions, such as employee motivation to contribute knowledge to a repository. This research turns attention to the dynamic relationship between the supply-side issue of knowledge contribution and demand-side issue of knowledge usage, as repository systems are successful only to the extent that their content is actively utilized by organizational members to enhance their work performance. There are two primary objectives of this dissertation research. The first is to examine determinants of high quality knowledge contribution, the knowledge refinement process, and effective knowledge use, by drawing on organizational and dyadic factors. The second purpose is to expand the current understanding of knowledge contribution and use beyond conventional constructs that are based on quantity or frequency. New theoretical frameworks are proposed to conceptualize knowledge quality, knowledge refinement, and knowledge use. Towards these goals, informal qualitative interviews and a survey study with a matched-triad design were conducted with users of Eureka, a successful global knowledge repository system of the Xerox company. Results reveal that procedural justice significantly contributed to the quality of refined knowledge and the extent of knowledge use. However, procedural justice had little impact on the quality of knowledge contribution. In addition, expertise gap and communication frequency significantly influenced the quality of refined knowledge, whereas shared understanding made little contribution. These findings are discussed with respect to implications for knowledge management research and managerial practices.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:PITT/oai:PITTETD:etd-09042009-234538 |
| Date | 30 September 2009 |
| Creators | Chung, Ting-ting (Rachel) |
| Contributors | Ting-Peng Liang, Laurie J. Kirsch, Dennis Galletta, Brian S. Butler, John S. Hulland |
| Publisher | University of Pittsburgh |
| Source Sets | University of Pittsburgh |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | http://etd.library.pitt.edu/ETD/available/etd-09042009-234538/ |
| Rights | unrestricted, I hereby certify that, if appropriate, I have obtained and attached hereto a written permission statement from the owner(s) of each third party copyrighted matter to be included in my thesis, dissertation, or project report, allowing distribution as specified below. I certify that the version I submitted is the same as that approved by my advisory committee. I hereby grant to University of Pittsburgh or its agents the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible, under the conditions specified below, my thesis, dissertation, or project report in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. I retain all other ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis, dissertation or project report. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of this thesis, dissertation, or project report. |
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