Abstract
The objective of this study is to examine the formation and operation of Knowledge Networks (KNs) in the public sector. The study will describe, evaluate, and compare several empirical cases involving groups of agencies in New York State engaged in programmatic or administrative innovations that depend on the sharing of knowledge and information across multiple organizations. We will seek to identify the dimensions of success and to understand how organizational, technological, and political factors influence results. The study will produce an enhanced model of KN formation and operation in the public sector as well as recommendations to practitioners about planning and implementing knowledge networks.
This three-year study addresses the following research questions:
- What are the defining characteristics of successful knowledge networks in the public sector?
- What activities comprise the processes of planning and implementing these networks ? How does the order or combination of activities affect results?
- What organizational, technological, and political factors influence public sector knowledge networks and how can they be measured? What is their relative importance at each stage of the planning and implementation process? How sensitive are they to different environmental conditions?
Our review of existing research on these questions makes it clear that previous researchers have applied a number of disciplinary lenses and identified an abundance of characteristics, activities, factors, and conditions as relevant to effective KNs. The complexity of the environment in which KNs develop is mirrored in the complexity of the research insights, yielding an understanding of this phenomenon that is both confusing and incomplete. This complexity is especially unsatisfying for practitioners, who have little guidance from the research literature that would help them maximize their chances for developing successful knowledge networks.
This study addresses the above research questions through an in-vivo examination of actual public sector initiatives as they are being developed, together with a study of one successful benchmark initiative. Each of the seven initiatives is being studied as a distinct case, using a comparative case study design. Because of the Center for Technology in Government's (CTG's) unique project-based collaboration with New York State government agencies, the researchers in this study have exceptional access to these organizations, their staff, their partners, and their customers. We expect that the fruits of these case studies will both help clarify the factors that lead to successful KN's, as well as lead to results that can be immediately applied in government operations.
For the purposes of this research we define a knowledge network as a combination of interorganizational relationships, policies, information content, work processes and technology tools and architectures brought together to achieve collectively defined purposes. This definition is reflected in a preliminary framework that identifies the main types of influences, processes, and outcomes to be examined and posits ways in which they interact to influence the success. This framework will guide the data collection and analysis. The results of the analysis will then be used to revise and expand the framework as necessary to better reflect the results. The revised framework, and the resulting propositions about influences on knowledge and information sharing, can then form the basis for further research and serve as guidance for building and operating future KNs in the public sector.
To date, the study has produced a preliminary model of knowledge network formation and operation, and collected early data at the individual, project, and organizational levels.
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