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This paper aims to propose an integrative and result-driven health-care knowledge management (HKM) model and discuss the findings of a research that examines how the KM initiatives of a major private Brazilian hospital system are linked to its health-care performance outcomes.

Data were collected from a top-level Brazilian private hospital system (Mater Dei Healthcare System – MDHS), which is composed of three large hospitals internationally accredited by ISO 9001/2000, NIAHO and JCI. Multiple qualitative approaches were used to collect data such as 16 in-depth interviews with health professionals and managers, document analysis, participatory observation and benchmarking interviews with two reference hospital networks in Brazil.

The proposed health-oriented KM model is an expansion of the organizational knowing cycle model (Choo, 1996), adding absorptive capacity (ACAP) as a new construct. The paper discusses how ACAP integrates with sense-making, knowledge creation and decision-making processes within the health-care context. Information technology and clinical governance were identified as support factors to the HKM processes.

The paper presents a pragmatic and result-driven knowledge management (KM) model using health-care-welfare key performance indicators, as well as the emergence of KM as an integrative and strategic approach to hospital management.

The present study presents a knowledge-based perspective to clinical staff management, demonstrating the tangible results of KM initiatives that contribute to health and management performance outcomes.

This study empirically tests the impact of the Dark Triad personality traits (narcissism, Machiavellianism, psychopathy) and co-worker competitiveness on knowledge sabotage.

A model was constructed and tested by means of Partial Least Squares with data from 150 participants recruited via Amazon’s Mechanical Turk.

The individual personality traits of narcissism, Machiavellianism, and psychopathy are significant predictors of individual knowledge sabotage behavior, whereas co-worker Machiavellianism and psychopathy trigger co-worker knowledge sabotage. Out of the three Dark Triad traits, individual and co-worker psychopathy emerged as the strongest knowledge sabotage predictor. Co-worker competitiveness has a positive effect on co-workers’ knowledge sabotage behavior. There is a relatively strong relationship between co-worker and individual knowledge sabotage which suggests that knowledge sabotage is a form of contagious workplace behavior. Individuals underestimate their negative behavior and traits and/or overestimate those of their fellow co-workers.

Managers should realize that the Dark Triad personality traits could predispose certain individuals to engage in extremely harmful counterproductive knowledge behavior. They need to ensure that individuals with these traits are not hired or are identified during their probation periods. It is recommended that organizations include knowledge sabotage measures in their periodic employee surveys. Organizations should help their employees objectively re-evaluate their own traits and knowledge behavior as well as those of their colleagues to ensure that their reciprocating knowledge behavior is more aligned with the reality in their organization.

This study offers a reliable and valid quantitative survey instrument to measure the presence of knowledge sabotage.

This study aims to investigate how the processes of memory acquisition, retention, retrieval and application occur in project-based organizations (PBOs). In this kind of organization, the nature of corporate memory is influenced by the transience, uniqueness and independence of the project portfolio. Such understanding may help practitioners to mitigate the effects of project transience and promote knowledge sharing among project teams.

An empirical and qualitative study was carried out through a multiple case study approach conducted in three Brazilian Engineering Design Firms, which are organized by projects. Document analysis, direct observation and semi-structured interviews with engineers, project managers and executives were conducted.

The memory acquisition process takes place in five forms which have different sources and destinations when comparing PBOs with traditional organizational settings. Memory retention in PBOs crosses organizational boundaries and establishes a knowledge network of former employees and third parties. The PBOs project memory can be divided into volatile and perennial memory, where the former can be lost throughout project execution and the latter is internalized, becoming an inseparable part of the corporate memory. Memory retrieval in PBOs is also distinct since it has particular mechanisms depending on whether the knowledge is technical or administrative.

The research investigates the corporate memory processes within the volatile context of PBOs in a Latin-American developing country whose culture favors tacit knowledge exchange. The paper proposes a framework that unveils different patterns of knowledge acquisition, temporary and perennial retention structures, intensive usage of external knowledge in memory retrieval and particular memory applications in PBOs. The framework may guide scholars, project managers, engineers and practitioners in navigating through the uniqueness of organizational learning flows and structures in PBOs.

The paper develops a behavioral model of Web information seeking that identifies four complementary modes of information seeking: undirected viewing, conditioned viewing, informal search, and formal search. In each mode of viewing or searching, users would adopt distinctive patterns of browser moves: starting, chaining, browsing, differentiating, monitoring, and extracting. The model is applied empirically to analyze the Web information seeking behavior of 24 women in IT professions over a two‐week period. Our results show that participants engaged in all four modes of information seeking on the Web, and that each mode may be characterized by certain browser actions. Overall, the study suggests that a behavioral approach that links information seeking modes (goals and reasons for browsing and searching) to moves (actions used to find and view information) may be helpful in understanding Web‐based information seeking.

In scholarly publications, citations play an essential epistemic role in creating and disseminating knowledge. Conversely, the use of problematic citations impedes the growth of knowledge, contaminates the knowledge base and disserves science. This study investigates the presence of problematic citations in the works of business ethics scholars.

The authors investigated two types of problematic citations: inaccurate citations and plagiarized citations. For this, 1,200 randomly selected citations from three leading business ethics journals were assessed based on: (1) referenced journal errors, (2) article title errors and (3) author name errors. Other papers that replicated the same title errors were identified.

Of the citations in the examined business ethics journals, 21.42% have at least one error. Of particular concern are the citation errors in article titles, where 3.75% of examined citations have minor errors and another 3.75% display major errors – 7.5% in total. Two-thirds of minor and major title errors were repeatedly replicated in previous and ensuing publications, which confirms the presence of citation plagiarism. An average article published in a business ethics journal contains at least three plagiarized citations. Even though business ethics fares well compared to other disciplines, a situation where every fifth citation is problematic is unacceptable.

Business ethics scholars are not immune to the use of problematic citations, and it is unlikely that attempting to improve researchers' awareness of the unethicality of this behavior will bring a desirable outcome.

Identifying that problematic citations exist in the business ethics literature is novel because it is expected that these researchers would not condone this practice.

In order to manage knowledge, we need to understand the nature of knowledge in organisations. It is helpful to distinguish between three categories of organisational knowledge: tacit knowledge, explicit knowledge, and cultural knowledge. Tacit knowledge is personal knowledge, explicit knowledge is codified knowledge, and cultural knowledge is based on shared beliefs. We use this framework to discuss the role of the information professional with respect to each category of knowledge. Knowledge management initiatives led by information professionals in three organisations are then examined. An analysis of these experiences suggests many opportunities for information professionals to make important contributions in managing an organisation’s knowledge for growth and innovation.

Examines the information processes that support organisational sense‐making, knowledge creation and decision making. Sense‐making involves interpreting the raw data of the environment by enactment, selection and retention. New knowledge is created by knowledge conversion, knowledge building, and knowledge linking. Completely rational decision making would involve identifying alternatives, projecting the outcomes of each alternative and evaluating the alternatives and their outcomes according to known preferences and objectives. In the organisational knowing cycle, a continuous flow of information is maintained between sensemaking, knowledge creating, and decision making, and the outcome of information use in one mode provides the elaborated context and the expanded resources for information use in other modes. An illustration is given of a knowledge cycle in the World Health Organisation Smallpox Eradication Programme in which continuous cycles of interpretation, innovation and adaptive action underpinned the success of the project.

This paper explores the dynamics of information‐ and knowledge‐based activities in one of the world’s leading foreign exchange banks and its development of an innovative online trading system. These activities are analyzed using the framework of “the knowing organization,” which postulates that learning and innovation in organizations result from managing holistically the activities of sensemaking, knowledge creation, and decision‐making (Choo, 1998, 2002). In sensemaking, project members at the bank were driven by their shared beliefs about the competition, customers and technology to enact the challenge of building an online dealing system. Knowledge creation focused on filling perceived gaps, and involved both expanding non‐traditional capabilities within the group and acquiring expertise from outside the group. Decision making at the enterprise level to approve the project was formal and procedural, while decision making at the operational level was open and entrepreneurial. As predicted by the model, the interactions between these activities were vital. The outcome of sensemaking provided the context for knowledge creation and decision making, while the results of knowledge creation provided expanded resources for decision making. The three sets of activities were integrated through strong leadership, group norms of trust and openness, and a set of shared vision and values.

Defines end user computing (EUC). Suggests a dichotomy between information systems (IS) managers and end users, both of whom wish control computing resources. Reviews literature concerning EUC and the stage growth model. Suggests alternative visions of the role of IS and user managements in the growth of EUC.

The purpose of this paper is to look at why organizational disasters happen, and to discuss how organizations can improve their ability to recognize and respond to warning events and conditions before they tailspin into catastrophe.

A review of research on organizational disasters suggests that there are a number of information difficulties that can prevent organizations from noticing and acting on warning signals. The paper describes these difficulties using recent examples of organizational mishaps from: 9/11, Enron, Merck Vioxx withdrawal, Barings Bank collapse, Columbia Space Shuttle breakup, and Children's Hospital Boston.

The paper identifies three types of information impairments that could lead to organizational disasters: epistemic blind spots, risk denial, and structural impediment. It examines common information and decision practices that make it hard for organizations to see and deal with warning signals. Finally, the paper suggests what individuals, groups, and organizations can do to raise their information vigilance.

The paper shows that organizational disasters have a structure and dynamic that can be understood, and proposes a number of strategies by which organizations can become better prepared to recognize and contain errors so as to avert disaster.