Faculty of Business Administration
SEMINAR SERIES No. 05/1617
Management
THE ROLE OF KNOWLEDGE IN FIRM- AND INDIVIDUAL-LEVEL PERFORMANCE
Prof. Muammer OZER
Director, Doctor of Business Administration (DBA)
City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong
Abstract

Knowledge plays an important role at every level of business research. While, companies at firm level reach out to other organizations to access to additional knowledge resources to improve their performance, employees at individual level look for new knowledge from their coworkers to enhance their performance. However, despite all the efforts to enhance knowledge utilization, past research has also noted the underutilization of shared knowledge. In this presentation, I would like to focus on two essays about the relationship between knowledge and firm and individual level performance.

A FIRM LEVEL ESSAY: At firm level, we focus on how the knowledge that firms are exposed to from their geographic and network ties with other firms relate to their innovation performance. Our empirical study with manufacturing firms in China showed that while geographic ties enhanced firms’ exploitative product innovation, they hindered their exploratory product innovation. Moreover, the results showed that focal firms’ network ties with their suppliers and buyers played significant moderating roles in these relationships.

AN INDIVIDUAL LEVEL ESSAY: At individual level, we study how the knowledge that employees receive from their coworkers impact their performance. The results of an empirical study with software developers indicated that employees benefited from the knowledge that they received from their coworkers. Moreover, this relationship was stronger when the employees had high rather than low task autonomy, when they had high- rather than low-quality social exchanges with their supervisors, and when the firms used formal knowledge utilization processes.

Date: 9 November, 2016 (Wednesday)
Time: 15:30~17:00
Venue: Faculty of Business Administration, E22-2007

A Short Biography of Prof. Muammer OZER
Professor Muammer Ozer is Director of Doctor of Business Administration program (DBA) in the College of Business (CB) of the City University of Hong Kong (CityU). The DBA program is one of the most prestigious and recognized DBA programs in the world and is designed for senior executives who are interested in engaging in rigorous business research with practical and societal impacts.

He is a professor of management. He holds BS and MS degrees in Engineering from the Istanbul Technical University, an MBA degree from the Saint Louis University and a Ph.D. degree in Business Administration from the University of Pittsburgh. He is also a graduate of an executive education program of Harvard Business School.

His research focuses on the strategies, behaviors, and performance of individuals, teams, and firms within the context of innovation and technology management, information technology, and international business. He was the editor of a highly acclaimed special journal issue about New Product Development in Asia. His research publications have appeared in such leading international journals as Journal of Applied Psychology, Journal of Product Innovation Management, Research Policy, and Strategic Management Journal, among many others. His research on the role of the Internet in new product development has been considered to be a “pioneering” work in the research community. He has been an editorial board member and an ad hoc reviewer for leading international journals as well as a pre-publication book reviewer for major publishing companies.

He is the winner of the 2015 City University of Hong Kong Teaching Excellence Award. He is also the winner of the 2009 City University of Hong Kong College of Business Research Excellence Award as well as the 2012 City University of Hong Kong College of Business Teaching Excellence Award. This makes him the first and the only person at the City University of Hong Kong and the College of Business to receive both of these awards. He is also the recipient of numerous research grants from various prominent institutions such as the Institute for Industrial Competitiveness and the Jagdish Sheth Foundation.

 

ALL ARE WELCOME!