Increasing Research Productivity: The Impact of Knowledge Management Applications in University Research Environments

Abstract

Scientists and universities strive to produce a large volume of high‐quality research. Universities supply the resources to enable scientific inquiry, such as the recently developed knowledge management (KM) tools. The use of KM platforms varies substantially in different environments. We examined the association between the use of KM tools and research productivity among four state universities in New York using analysis of variance techniques. We found a significant positive association. Important limitations are noted, and implications for both the study and the use of KM tools are discussed. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Measuring the Value of Knowledge Management Practices at Government Research and Development Centers

“…As noted in interviews and visits with center personnel and technology transfer officers, administrative delays at research and development centers and national laboratories could add 2 additional years, notionally taking 2–7 years to process a patent. Similar findings were noted on the academic side (Hossain et al ., ; Feeney and Welch, ). Therefore, patent rates were determined inapplicable for this study and are provided as consideration for future work.…”

“…United States government research and development centers and national laboratories, referred to as centers in this study, provide products and services to customers such as the military services, the intelligence and academic communities, other federal agencies, and external customers such as industry partners and international organizations. For this study, the number of publications was selected as the productivity measure (Hossain et al , ). Using statistical analysis, conclusions were made about the relationship between KM practices and productivity and its consequence on the management of assets.…”

“…The goal of this investigation was to examine the effects of KM at centers that employed recognized KM practices, experienced a common trigger point in their KM program, and possessed the measurable data needed to analyze productivity. Other investigations have examined the effects of KM tools on productivity at academic institutions (Hossain et al ., ) and practices within the corporate sector (APQC, ). The views expressed in this paper follow the suggestions of Alavi and Leidner () that KM practices are “centered on building core competencies, understanding the strategic advantage of know‐how, and creation of intellectual capital” (p. 11) and that these practices have a profound effect on production.…”