Advanced management accounting techniques were developed to provide information appropriate for decision making in changing internal and external environments. However, studies in the US and UK demonstrated that firms are slow to adopt such techniques. To examine whether and why this reluctance exists, manufacturers' adoption and utilization of advanced accounting techniques, plus perceived barriers to adoption, were examined. Data were collected from 165 New Zealand manufacturing sites, selected as representative of organizations facing major structural reform and environmental change, hence likely candidates for accounting system rejuvenation. Adoption, utilization, combinations of techniques, trends, perceived benefits, and barriers to adoption are discussed.
PurposeThe purpose of the paper is to improve traditional knowledge management models in light of complexity theory, emphasizing the importance of moving away from hierarchical relationships among data, information, knowledge, and wisdom.Design/methodology/approachTraditional definitions and models are critically reviewed and their weaknesses highlighted. A transformational perspective of the traditional hierarchies is proposed to highlight the need to develop better perspectives. The paper demonstrates the holistic nature of data, information, knowledge, and wisdom, and how they are all based on an interpretation of existence.FindingsExisting models are logically extended, by adopting a complexity‐based perspective, to propose a new model – the E2E model – which highlights the non‐linear relationships among existence, data, information, knowledge, wisdom, and enlightenment, as well as the nature of understanding as the process that defines the differences among these constructs. The meaning of metas (such as meta‐data, meta‐information, and meta‐knowledge) is discussed, and a reconstitution of knowledge management is proposed.Practical implicationsThe importance of understanding as a concept to create useful metaphors for knowledge management practitioners is emphasized, and the crucial importance of the metas for knowledge management is shown.Originality/valueA new model of the cognitive system of knowledge is proposed, based on application of complexity theory to knowledge management. Understanding is identified as the basis of the conversion process among an extended range of knowledge constructs, and the scope of knowledge management is redefined.
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