The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on knowledge sharing in UK higher education

Knowledge-related tensions in remote work arrangements during the COVID-19 pandemic

Purpose

This study aims to identify knowledge-related tensions in remote work in higher education institutions during the COVID-19 pandemic and increase understanding of how such tensions can be managed.

Design/methodology/approach

The research was conducted as an inductive, qualitative study in the field of higher education in Finland. The data were collected using semi-structured interviews of 34 managers in two higher education institutions and analyzed using an inductive and interpretive analysis method.

Findings

The findings demonstrate that the knowledge-related challenges and opportunities during the remote work period of the COVID-19 pandemic in Finnish higher education institutions can be conceptualized as tensions involved in knowledge codification, knowledge silos and creating new knowledge. The study contributes to research by presenting a framework for managing knowledge-related tensions in remote work arrangements to benefit remote and hybrid work in knowledge-intensive organizations.

Practical implications

This paper increases the understanding of the tensions in remote work arrangements; the results can help managers understand the challenges and opportunities of remote knowledge work concerning their organization and thereby assist them in management and decision-making in complex operational environments.

Originality/value

This study adopted the little-used perspective of tensions to examine knowledge management issues. By examining the various affordances that remote work may allow for knowledge-intensive work and higher education institutions, the study contributes to a deepened understanding of knowledge work in remote contexts, the related tensions and their management.

Examining online learning platform characteristics and employee engagement relationship during Covid-19

Purpose

As work-from-home policies were being implemented during Covid-19, organizations have been migrating their learning and development programs to digital platforms. This study aims to understand the role of employees’ perceptions about four key attributes of online learning platforms (OLPs), namely, online environment, ease of use, online content (OC) and online engagement anchors in their levels of work engagement (WE). Further, it also investigates how the personality attributes of the employees and financial incentives for online learning influence this relationship.

Design/methodology/approach

Using the snowball sampling technique, online questionnaires were distributed to about 350 employees in four IT firms in India who were working from home during the Covid-19 period. The total number of valid responses was 306 and consisted of software developers, technical leads, process specialists, testers and managers. The analysis was done using Python software (V.3.7.4) packages and Process Macro (pyprocessmacro V.1.0.8) developed for Python.

Findings

Perceived OLP features significantly influence employee WE. OC and ease of use are significant influencers of employee WE. The perception of OLP features indirectly affects WE through the learner’s personality characteristics. Moreover, the financial incentive to learn online shares a negative interaction effect with OLP features to influence WE.

Originality/value

The paper contributes to the existing literature on virtual knowledge management by identifying the driving factors that reinforce the acceptance of OLPs. Moreover, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first attempt to link online learning management system key characteristics with employee outcome as engagement. Most of the previous work has ignored exploring such a relationship in an organizational setting.

Adoption of social media-based knowledge-sharing behaviour and authentic leadership development: evidence from the educational sector of Pakistan during COVID-19

Purpose

This research paper aims to explore the influence of social media–based knowledge-sharing intentions (SMKI) on prospective authentic leadership development (ALD) to deal with the future crisis. In the existing literature, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, there is no significant empirical evidence to test the relationship between SMKI and ALD. Thus, this study contributes to the growing literature regarding the role of SMKIs, ALD, social media–based knowledge-sharing behavior (SMKB) and facilitating conditions (FCs). However, in this study, the authors developed a conceptual framework based on technology adoption and leadership theory. It was used to identify preservice educational leaders’ SMKIs and their effect on ALD to deal with an educational crisis during the COVID-19 pandemic. Furthermore, SMKIs are strengthening ALD, directly and indirectly, using SMKB and FCs.

Design/methodology/approach

In this study, the higher education students are considered preservice leaders who were enrolled in educational leadership and management programs. However, this study’s target population and sample are students enrolled in educational leadership and management programs. Therefore, higher education students are considered preservice educational leaders. Therefore, a multilevel questionnaire survey approach was adopted to collect data from preservice educational leaders (n = 451 at Time 1 and n = 398 at Time 2) enrolled in education departments in the selected universities in Pakistan. A total of 398 survey questionnaires were finalized with a return ratio of 89%. The partial least square structural equation modeling with SmartPLS 3.2.8 was used for the data analysis.

Findings

This research found that SMKIs are positively and significantly connected with ALD. This study also confirms that SMKB significantly and positively mediates the relationship between SMKIs and ALD. Therefore, this study concludes that preservice educational leaders were ready to adopt SMKB.

Practical implications

Social media–based knowledge sharing can be helpful to develop authentic leadership among preservice educational leaders during a crisis. Preservice educational leaders as authentic leaders can prove to be an asset in dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic crisis.

Originality/value

This research integrated the technology adoption model and leadership theory to provide empirical evidence of SMKIs’ direct and indirect influence on ALD through social media–based knowledge-sharing actual use behavior by preservice educational leaders during the COVID-19 pandemic. Moreover, the moderated mediating effect of the FCs was also studied in the relationship between SMKIs and actual user behavior as well as ALD.

M. Knowledge diffusion–application association during the COVID-19 pandemic: investigating the role of technology intervention

Purpose

Knowledge management during the pandemic has been a challenging task due to the sudden intervention of technology in the organisational environment and the unexpected shift to the work-from-home culture. This study aims to investigate the role of technology intervention in the relationship between knowledge diffusion and knowledge application.

Design/methodology/approach

A cross-sectional study was conducted and data were collected from 541 employees who were working from home during the pandemic in India.

Findings

This study found significant relationships between knowledge diffusion and technology intervention. This study also observed the mediating role of technology intervention in the relationship between knowledge diffusion and knowledge application.

Originality/value

Tis study stands with other pioneering studies that have explored the role of technology intervention in the knowledge diffusion–application relationship using the job demand-resource model.

Improving Knowledge-Sharing Intentions: A Study in Indonesian Service Industries

Managers of service firms should improve the knowledge-sharing intentions among employees to obtain knowledge stored in them and use it to provide better services to customers. Across types of organizations, especially professional bureaucracies and operating adhocracies, one question is whether service firms can use the same information technology infrastructure strategy to improve workers’ knowledge-sharing intentions. To address this question, 347 respondents working in service industries participated in this study, and focus group discussions were conducted among representatives of those firms to produce better interpretations of statistical results. Findings suggest a weak but significant relationship between information technology infrastructure and knowledge-sharing intentions. While entering a new normal period after the COVID-19 pandemic, effective information technology infrastructures appear to represent a natural and ordinary facility. Despite operating in disparate organization types, managers in both professional bureaucracies and operating adhocracies should build trust and relationships with workers to increase knowledge-sharing intentions.

Propagation of information-sharing in social media: the perspective of intrinsic and extrinsic cues

Purpose

Social media has progressively upgraded an interactive domain via online sociability and information-sharing. This study aims to formulate an information-sharing intention model by identifying the decisive role of intrinsic and extrinsic motivations.

Design/methodology/approach

Empirical data from 508 participants were collected to examine the structural model using structural equation modeling.

Findings

Results indicate that information-sharing intention is strongly promoted by intrinsic and extrinsic motivations. Furthermore, perceived herding, perceived crowd and intrinsic motivation boost substantially extrinsic motivation. Perceived herding is of utmost importance to extrinsic motivation, whereas emotional appeal and informative appeal are of paramount importance to intrinsic motivation. Moreover, source trust and exhibitionism are underlying motivations for intrinsic motivation.

Practical implications

The findings provide useful guidelines for practitioners to urge users into information-sharing via social media.

Originality/value

This study contributes significantly to the current literature by developing an effective mechanism of information-sharing through social media based on the motivational theory.