This article addresses fundamental knowledge of the Back-End of the Coffee Agribusiness System that can influence the final quality of the product, integrating the areas of agronomy, medicine and business. The representation will be made through an ontology that will contribute to clarifying for the scientific community the possible impacts of the use of coffee with compromised qualities in clinical research as well as informing and educating consumers with regard to coffee choice. Six steps were followed 1) Targeted search; 2) Literature review; 3) Systematic search in the target interest of the three areas of literature: agronomy, medicine and business; 4) Field research through six semi-structured interviews with the purpose of validating the research problem; 5) Organisation of knowledge with the aim of forming a common knowledge base as a starting point for ontology and 6) Ontology development. Coffee is one of the most researched substances in the world. There are more than 25,000 scientific articles published just from the clinical point of view (Illy, 2016), but little is available integrating results from clinical research, agronomy and management. Improvements in coffee quality could be developed with the knowledge integration of these areas. The Specialty Coffee Agribusiness System Knowledge Representation will improve subsidies funding for the scientific community because of the importance of using good quality coffee in clinical research. It will also guide professionals in the coffee agribusiness system to produce better quality coffee and offer a common vocabulary for the principal properties and influences during the Back-End process for researchers in the three areas.

Whereas innovation and strategy theory traditionally have been treated as two separate fields of expertise and research, this conceptual paper seeks to explore how these two fields have been interlinked in recent high-level research. Innovation research seeks to explain the process of creating new products and services. On the contrary, strategy research aims to explain how businesses create lasting competitive advantages. During the 1990s and 2000s, strategy scholars gained an increased interest in explaining how organizational capabilities and environmental turbulence are related, increasingly recognizing that it is difficult to retain sustainable competitive advantages, unless market dynamics and business renewal is addressed. Still, innovation activities largely remains outside the strategy theory domain. Therefore, a clear understanding of how strategy theory can be extended with core properties from innovation literature is needed, but still limited. Indeed, current research calls for an improved understanding of the link between strategy and innovation. To establish a systematic integration and analysis we ask: To what degree and how have strategy and innovation been linked in leading management journals? To establish a systematic integration and analysis we present the results of an extensive literature review of 1268 research articles published in the top strategy and innovation journals during 2007-2017 to address the question: To what degree and how have strategy and innovation been linked in leading management journals? Our analysis reveals that research addressing both strategy and innovation is limited, but highly cited. Moreover, we identify 5 main themes, which in turn reflected 12 subsidiary areas addressed in extant research. These themes give important insight about what has been done and can serve as baseline for future research. The paper builds a foundation for further integration of strategy and innovation theory. The conclusions of the conceptual discussion indicated that fusing core properties of strategy theory with recent ideas from innovation theory is both obtainable, and prudent. The paper presents an overview of existing research and shows that while some work has been done, there is extensive need for further development in most modern economies, where innovation is a key driver of competitive advantage. The paper develops an important theoretical baseline that organizations can use in approaching their innovation efforts. In particular, it shows that the theoretical link between strategy and innovation at the firm level largely is based on business models and disruption. Thus, in order to approach innovation efforts these tools and theories are essential for firms to think about.

In general scholars agree on the high importance of considering emotional aspects of interactions in design (e.g. Norman, 2004; Ross and Wensveen, 2010; Shusterman, 2000). As such design is particularly considering the aesthetic experience dimensions of objects, services and systems. In the context of digitally transformed realities, aesthetic experience can be described as a complex unit “consisting of individual parts that fuse into new elements as the experience proceeds” (Puolakka, 2014). When it comes describing the aesthetic in relation to products in the context of digital transformation, scholarly literature however constitutes a fragmented body of literature. By providing a systematic literature review on extant scholarly work, this paper aims at providing a better understanding of contemporary notions of aesthetic. We demonstrate how developing an understanding of aesthetic experience of knowledge management, is also about proposing up a new discipline, which explores poetic of digital systems theoretically and also in experiments in- and with digital systems. Design can play a role in contributing principles of exploration.

There is evidence that small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) do not manage knowledge the same way as large firms, and that they approach knowledge management (KM) in various ways. However, the literature on this topic is still scarce and fragmented. In order to fill this gap, the paper aims to single out and discuss the different features that characterize the approaches to KM adopted by small companies. The paper examines the KM approaches followed by companies of various KIBS sectors in 4 countries (Italy, Poland, Spain, and Romania) as they emerge from the findings of a quantitative survey which involved 223 small KIBS firms. KIBS companies were investigated because knowledge and its management are their distinctive elements, as highlighted in past studies. The study confirms that small KIBS firms regard knowledge as a key competitive resource, and transferring/sharing knowledge is a key KM process. However, their approaches to KM are firm-specific and differ in several aspects, e.g.: number and kind of adopted KM practices; motivation and promoters of implementation; obstacles encountered in introduction; strategic and operational aims of such practices; level of formalisation and use in the company. Despite this variety, some regularities also emerge: the study shows that companies that implement KM activities as a response to knowledge-related problems coming from the daily practice follow a substantially different approach from those that implement them after a strategic analysis by the management. The paper contributes to a better understanding of KM strategies followed by small KIBS companies with a diversified number of employees and belonging to different sectors. Also, it provides an evidence-based survey of different countries, which helps to highlight regularities in KM approaches even across multiple national contexts. The study provides useful insights into possible KM approaches in the KIBS sector; also, it contributes to a better understanding of KM in small enterprises in general. This can be of use to company executives for revising their KM approach, for implementing more suitable strategies in their organizational settings and, more generally, for developing awareness of KM-related problems and possible solutions. At this stage, the study encompasses a descriptive examination of the data gathered by the investigation. This will serve as a preliminary basis for a further and more sophisticated analysis which is currently underway.

The current work aims to provide a methodology for designing and implementing gamified applications in a variety of domains. To formally support the design of such gamification applications we analyse player’s game actions, stored in big log files. For this, we use the sequential pattern matching technique to discover, extract, and finally predict behavioural patterns in terms of dynamically generated knowledge processes and patterns. The first phase of our work is the design of a methodology that will integrate all levels of data produced during gamification processes, focusing in transforming elementary raw data into high level knowledge, with added value to be used in further elaborations and new designs of applications on similar domains. We use sequential pattern mining to analyse game player’s actions, stored in big log files. For sequential pattern mining EURISKO methodology uses Process Extraction via Association Rules, based on the Apriori algorithm (GSP version). Software tools, were developed and used to discover meaningful sequential patterns in an automated way. EURISKO demonstrates achievement of the objective of using sequential pattern matching process to discover patterns occurring in sequence to be used in prediction of future events generating similar knowledge underlying processes. Processes are used in a variety of domains, where a prerequisite is the use of a gamified application layer, therefore are applicable to extraction and discovery for user analysis behaviour and prediction. We differentiate from other big data methodologies focusing only in an event level perspective by not going further into associating the existence and weight of events into predictive processes related to them. The outcomes of the application of the EURISKO methodology, are applicable in a diverse number of domains. Furthermore, the impact of adopting the EURISKO methodology is the introduction of the automated process, minimizing human intervention and saving time in the process of association of appearing underlying processes, something that used to be more on a manual manner than an automated one. Hence, the implication on practical issues can be achieved in any software gamified system that produces and is based on such big log files that our methodology uses.

The paper presents the results of the study aimed to identify the differentiation of knowledge management (KM) methods and tools depending on the certain knowledge domain. Identification and systematization of KM methods and tools was initially based on the literature review. Specifics of KM for several domains were studied using surveys, case study and interviews. New methods for the selected domains were developed with the help of design science research methodology. Then the results were discussed and reviewed through the interviews with KM experts during several international conferences. This research puts in evidence on the issue of KM methods suitable for the particular knowledge domain and type. The KM tools and methods are classified into universal, multidomain (for example, communities of practice, libraries or knowledge bases, banks of ideas), and domain-specific. Systematization of universal KM tools and methods is based on the stages of knowledge transformation process (knowledge life cycle). Domain-specific KM tools and methods are structured according to the areas of knowledge identified on the generalized knowledge map. The research focuses on a number of domains (customer knowledge, knowledge of the product / service, knowledge in operational and strategic management, knowledge for the production and design of products / services), and industries (oil and gas, software development, in the field of enterprise management). The study of KM tools and methods in different domains allowed classifying tools and methods into following groups: 1) tools and methods that were originally designed to solve problems in a certain domain; 2) tools and methods that were originally designed to work with information [+ staff practices + management practices] in a certain domain and consequently expanded to other KM domains; 3) tools and methods that actually solve KM tasks in a certain domain, but are not called KM tools. Described in the study interrelations between knowledge domains, KM methods and tools may help knowledge managers to select а proper method/tool for their business tasks. Tools and methods that actually solve KM tasks in a certain domain, but are not called KM tools; enrich the set of KM methods and tools for further research.

Nowadays, the role and importance of product and industrial design in marketing activity can be considered a key for the creative act of defining a product’s features. Over the years an increasing number of manufacturers incorporated product and industrial design in their product development process in order to keep their competitive position on the marketplace. The empirical data incorporated in this study are based on a questionnaire that was given to students during face-to-face marketing seminars. Students are undergoing a marketing bachelor’s program and they are in their first or third year of study. The key question raised at this point is: What is the role of product and industrial design in product’s development process, what is the role of the aesthetic emotion? The research approach used emphasizes the role of product and industrial design in the product’s development process. It was found that the product development process is a creative process that should focus on aesthetic emotion. This methodology highlighted the role and importance of product and industrial design in the production process. The main objectives of the study are: 1).highlighting the importance of product and industrial design in marketing activity; 2).presenting the most important factors that influence the consumer’s buying behavior; 3). analyzing marketing research results that emphasize to what extent product design and aesthetic emotion influence the buying process. The outcomes of the application underline the importance of integrating product and industrial design as well as aesthetic emotion in product development process. The topic of the paper is popular and has potential for future research as in contemporary context consumers’ needs are more and more sophisticated. They want sophisticated products in order to satisfy their needs.

The aim of this article is to examine design thinking from the perspective of social systems theory and interpret it as a way in which organizational systems may cope with the complexity of their social environment. The theoretical basis for this article is Niklas Luhmann’s theory of social systems (1995) and its more recent interpretations (Valentinov 2014a, 2014b) highlighting the precarious nature of the system-environment relationship. The specificity of complexity in user-centered design processes is characterized and design thinking methodology is analysed as providing means to meet the critical systemic requirements to reduce complexity but also remain sensitive to the critical aspects of environment. The theoretical argument is outlined and illustrated by the analysis of design thinking methodologies, frameworks and tools as presented in popular design thinking ‘guides’/’manuals’. The value of this article is that it emphasizes the role of systemic aspects of knowledge production and management within design processes. It allows to see design thinking processes as conditioned by the relationship between organizational system and its environment. The proposed interpretation may also be useful in terms of further development of design thinking methodologies and tools as well as adaptation of design thinking in areas lying outside traditional design.

Information Technology (hereafter IT) assimilation refers to the use of modern telemedicine technologies to meet the needs of patients and healthcare providers, as well as carers. The most common barriers to the effective use of technologies encompass: lack of trust, cultural differences, lack of training, bureaucracy and hierarchy, and incoherent paradigms and understandings. One way people may overcome knowledge barriers is by continuous learning (i.e. assessing the situation, consulting experts, seeking feedback and tracking progress). This study investigates how a continuous learning environment can counteract the presence of knowledge barriers, along with how this environment can, in turn, results in the creation of IT assimilation. The study uses PLS-Graph software version 3.2.6 and it involves the collection and analysis of data provided by 252 healthcare end users. Results support that continuous learning not only may help healthcare end users to create IT assimilation, but may also contribute to overcome knowledge barriers (e.g. misunderstandings and wrong statements learned from badly informed sources). The paper contributes to a better understanding of continuous learning. Although previous studies in the field of knowledge management have shown that knowledge management structures support IT assimilation, few studies, if any, have explored the relationship between continuous learning and knowledge barriers in the healthcare domain. The study provides useful insights into the possible KM approaches in the healthcare domain. This can be of use to hospitals for the implementation of telemedicine technologies and, more generally, for developing awareness of knowledge barriers and possible solutions. A limitation of the study is the relatively simple statistical method that has been used for the analysis. However, the results provided here will serve as a preliminary basis for more sophisticated analysis which is currently underway.

The aim of this paper is to explore and map the role and characteristics of narratives in the learning process for “organic cyber farmers” using the internet as a learning ecology. Though the economy of today gives much more autonomous freedom and possibility for personal projects and activity, it is impossible to experience everything one would need directly. Rather, one must leverage connections and use the tools of information technology to find new knowledge, experience. Our species has, as far as we know, always used narratives, stories and myths to make sense of the world and to organize and transfer information The first-hand experiential stories identified through the knowledge acquisition process were modelled with a Knowledge Based Expert System. Using Case Based Reasoning followed by Reductive Reasoning functionality, the most defining and informative learner expectations can be identified with the help of the KBS algorithms. Patterns can be built using ‘if…then’ rules, which become a model of the reasoning process of the organic cyber farmer when validating relevant knowledge. The presented case study provides an insight to the validation process of the relevant knowledge from narratological aspect by identifying, based on cases gathered, those attributes which make a narrative and knowledge element relevant. Further research by engaging several organic cyber farmers or potentially other DIYers in the study is suggested to test the robustness of the model built with the KBS. The DIY economy means that more and more people are turning back to their local communities, sourcing goods and services locally, which opens-up potential for today’s organic cyber farmers. The presented model highlights those attributes that are the most informative in a narrative and knowledge element accessed over the internet when looking for organic farming practices. Research in ecological economics argue the need of reinforcing transdisciplinary research in organic agriculture, they highlight the interdependency of knowledge in science and society, the co-production of knowledge between the actors of this area of agriculture: science- society and policy. The learning from this initial model can be leveraged in the design and delivery of content by professionals or farmers regarding organic farming practices, thus re-enabling the transdisciplinary co-production of knowledge between science, practitioners and policy makers in organic agriculture.

The question of knowledge has long occupied philosophers and sociologists of science before attracting organisational researchers’ attention. Knowledge creation has become a central concern in organisations and research interest in theories on knowledge-based organisations has accelerated. Many scholars concur that organisational theorists have restricted their contributions within a Cartesian epistemology that ignores the fundamental debate around the complex nature of human knowledge. Considering the current state of research on knowledge management and its positivist prism, introducing a novel perspective is timely. Instead of furthering the prevailing positivist consensus on the treatment of human knowledge in organisations, this paper invites to a reflection on its ontological and epistemological foundations. More specifically, a Marxian approach is introduced with a view to challenging the positivist philosophical underpinning of organisational knowledge. The Marxian approach developed in this paper draws on development psychology and neurophysiology and underscores the benefits of adopting these lenses for an alternative interpretation of human knowledge in organisations. Accordingly, a view has been developed that knowledge resides in action downplaying the phrase knowledge in favour of knowing. While an epistemology of possession embodied by a static view on knowledge has been widely studied in literature, its pendant, an epistemology of practice or knowing is more challenging. Consequently, this paper opens a discussion on the benefits of integrating a psychological dimension to the study of organisational knowledge and provides new insights on knowing. The philosophical discussion of this conceptual paper concentrates on contrasting the positivist perspective that underpins human organisational knowledge as it is developed in literature, to a Marxian philosophy supported by developmental psychology and neurophysiology. The paper starts the discussion on positivism and its limitations before introducing alternative views drawing on Wittgenstein, Luria, Engeström and Vygoskty. Possible methodological perspectives that can improve our understanding of organisational knowledge are also introduced. The theories and frameworks that are used to fathom organisational knowledge are often grounded in a way of thinking from two decades ago. The research designs that are traditionally retained are bounded by an area of interest and the progress made are incremental improvement of past gold standards. This paper endeavours to stimulate the on-going debate on organisational knowledge to consider alternative theoretical positions, assumptions and frameworks. It is believed that developing partnerships between organisations studies and other disciplines such as developmental psychology provides an impetus to engage in meaningful partnerships with researchers of other disciplines to advance our understanding of organisational knowledge. This paper calls for exploring the opportunities that lie in the partnership between researchers from management studies and developmental psychology to further the field of organisational knowledge. Preliminary ontological and epistemological reflections on the treatment of human knowledge in organisations can lead to the development, extension, or adoption of new frameworks and perspectives that will help make sense of organisational knowledge and its management.

Unlearning has been one of the interesting and debatable construct emerged in studies of organizational behaviour. Discussion on this phenomenon precedes from interdisciplinary realms ranging from psychology to pedagogy approaching towards arena of business studies. Studies often question the applicability of its existence and practical applications. Starting from the base of unlearning this paper attempts to enfolds the multi-foci perspectives associated with unlearning. Aiming to analyse the construct, this paper provides an insight to definitional notions, account of existing stream of work, its unit of analysis at individual and organizational level and finally discussion of routines structured on unlearning perspective. A systematic review is proposed in order to study streams of literature existing on phenomenon existing on unlearning. This systematic review will help in stating various definitional notions of unlearning, identifying the theoretical lenses applied, processes underlying the unlearning mechanism and extent of quantitative and qualitative studies carried out. As the study is conceptual in its nature, therefore it aims to contribute towards identifying and enhancing the literature of unlearning by identifying gaps and future avenues. Enlightening the applicability of unlearning in multiple sectors it enhances its dimensionality. Study can be helpful for managers and organizations, as unlearning is rooting from change management which would provide new revelations for organization as useful tools.

The purpose of this paper is to propose a conceptual design of a virtual knowledge space for use by digital humanists. Digital humanists’ work lies at the crossroads of computer science and the humanities (Stanford Humanities Center, 2017). Moving traditional humanistic material into digital forms brings new challenges for scholars of the humanities. The proposed virtual knowledge space is intended to help users make humanistic knowledge in digital media more manageable and usable. A knowledge management (KM) approach suggested by Handzic (2004) was used as a theoretical basis for designing the structure of the proposed knowledge space. According to KM, a virtual knowledge space should provide support for knowledge codification and personalisation. It should also support knowledge exploration and exploitation. Following these KM principles, the proposed design incorporates the ability to build and access knowledge repositories (e.g. digital documents, images, metadata), tools for knowledge discovery and presentation (e.g. data mining, topic modelling, visualisation), support for knowledge sharing and collaboration with other researchers (e.g. email, wikis, virtual meeting rooms), as well as for new knowledge creation (e.g. simulation games, mind mapping, brainstorming). This paper contributes a novel conceptual design of a virtual knowledge space that pushes forward the current state-of-the art in digital humanities. It integrates all relevant digital assets, services and tools that support the user experience. It is envisaged as a one-stop shop for humanities scholars in the digital production and usage of relevant humanistic knowledge. The current conceptual work implies that KM technology may change the way humanities scholars interact with their data and share their insights. In particular, the paper suggests that the proposed virtual knowledge space may serve as reference for implementing various digital humanities projects relevant to a wide range of humanities disciplines. However, these implications need to be interpreted with caution due to the current lack of empirical evidence. Future study is recommended to address this research gap.

The Netherlands is facing a number of societal developments: an ageing population, increasing life expectation, and an increasing number of seniors suffering from dementia (CBS, 2017; Alzheimer Nederland, 2017). Seniors suffering from dementia in a late stage are not able to live at home anymore, and have to move to an inpatient residential health care facility (nursing home). However, due the shifting health care concept in the Netherlands from just the focus on caregiving to housing with care (care merely as a service) and the fact that many of these inpatient residential health care facilities were built just before this shift, resulted that many of these facilities have become obsolete and do not meet the requirement of the resident anymore (Mens & Wagenaar, 2009; Stateline CBS, 2016). These inpatient residential health care facilities need to be designed in a way that the quality of life of these seniors will be improved. In order to improve these facilities, this study focusses on the spaces which are important for the resident in such a facility: the entrance, the corridor, the meeting area, the bathroom, and individual room of the resident (van Liempd et al., 2009; Nilisen & Optiz, 2013). The aim of this study is the assessment of floorplans of best practices of fourteen inpatient residential health care facilities based on seven criteria that stimulate orientation and wayfinding for seniors suffering from dementia in a late stage, in order to identify which criteria need special attention in future developments, and to determine the optimal design (typology). This study was conducted by a comparative floorplan analysis of fourteen best practices, assessed on seven criteria. The originality can be found in the overall approach of the aim and methodology by the integral approach of three research fields: architectural principles and methods, technological innovation theories, and socio-gerontological theories (Mohammadi, 2017). Based on the seven criteria, the result of this study shows that the floorplan with the typology of a corridor formed by a wall and interior elements (‘t Loug, Delfzijl) was assessed best. Furthermore, within the fourteen cases, the criteria of the sequence of spaces, the location of the entrance door and the location of the living room were applied often, and within the criteria of the length of the route, a wide range was visible. In future developments, besides these criteria, special attention needs to be given to daylight, the shape, and the activity on the route, in order to improve the orientation of its residents.

The purpose of this paper is to provide evidence about the effects of microlearning as a Technology-Enhanced Learning (TEL) approach that can help take a step forward towards technological and methodological change in the field of workplace learning. This paper contributes with a case study framed in the context of a large company in the automotive industry (SEAT, S.A.). It also aims to advance the state of the art in this area by adding evidence about the possibilities and limitations of microlearning to support employees training. The case study research methodology is used to frame the research in the particular context of a large company in the automotive industry. 51 employees participated in microlearning experience that lasted a period of two weeks. The case study is valuable because it sheds light about the effectiveness, potential for adoption, and limitations of microlearning as a TEL methodology applicable to the workplace in the automotive industry. Enhancing professional development and training processes is critical for companies, as the lack of updating current knowledge can be fateful for the competitiveness of a company in the markets. The originality of the study has to do with the evidence added to the currently limited body of knowledge regarding the effects of microlearning in workplace learning. Its originality is also related to the characteristics of the case, considering a context of a large company in the automotive sector. We believe that this study will have significant implication in training in large enterprises. The study contributes to understand what factors are necessary to improve the training structure of multidisciplinary companies.