Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
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TY - JOUR
T1 - Knowledge Seekers' and Contributors' Reactions to Recommendation Mechanisms in Knowledge Management Systems
AU - Sutanto, Juliana
AU - Jiang, Qiqi
PY - 2013/7
Y1 - 2013/7
N2 - We examined the behavior of knowledge seekers and contributors to an internal Knowledge Management System (KMS) in a multinational organization. The system has two selection mechanisms, based on semantic algorithms and user ratings. The first utilizes an algorithm to ‘measure’ the quality of knowledge contributions and ranks them accordingly, while the second averages the ratings that knowledge items receive from KMS users. Building on appraisal theory, we found that knowledge seekers and contributors reacted differently to the two mechanisms. The rating-based rankings positively influenced knowledge seekers’ tendency to access, comment on, and spread the knowledge shared in the KMS, while the algorithm-based ranking positively influenced knowledge contributors’ to continue sharing knowledge via the system. Moreover, shorter (or longer) time delay between the time that the knowledge was shared and the time when knowledge contributors received their first comments seemed to positively (or negatively) influence the contributors’ tendency to continue sharing knowledge via the KMS. Our study adds to the existing KMS literature by investigating knowledge seekers’ and contributors’ reactions to the two different knowledge recommendation mechanisms, and recommends that managers understand the importance of implementing algorithm-based rankings in their KMS as well as the simpler and more commonly adopted rating-based ranking.
AB - We examined the behavior of knowledge seekers and contributors to an internal Knowledge Management System (KMS) in a multinational organization. The system has two selection mechanisms, based on semantic algorithms and user ratings. The first utilizes an algorithm to ‘measure’ the quality of knowledge contributions and ranks them accordingly, while the second averages the ratings that knowledge items receive from KMS users. Building on appraisal theory, we found that knowledge seekers and contributors reacted differently to the two mechanisms. The rating-based rankings positively influenced knowledge seekers’ tendency to access, comment on, and spread the knowledge shared in the KMS, while the algorithm-based ranking positively influenced knowledge contributors’ to continue sharing knowledge via the system. Moreover, shorter (or longer) time delay between the time that the knowledge was shared and the time when knowledge contributors received their first comments seemed to positively (or negatively) influence the contributors’ tendency to continue sharing knowledge via the KMS. Our study adds to the existing KMS literature by investigating knowledge seekers’ and contributors’ reactions to the two different knowledge recommendation mechanisms, and recommends that managers understand the importance of implementing algorithm-based rankings in their KMS as well as the simpler and more commonly adopted rating-based ranking.
KW - Knowledge contributor
KW - Knowledge seeking
KW - Algorithm-based ranking mechanism
KW - Rating-based ranking mechanism
KW - Appraisal theory
U2 - 10.1016/j.im.2012.11.004
DO - 10.1016/j.im.2012.11.004
M3 - Journal article
VL - 50
SP - 258
EP - 263
JO - Information and Management
JF - Information and Management
SN - 0378-7206
IS - 5
ER -