This project examines the effects of various social, cognitive, affective, and technological factors on willingness to share and use organizational information and knowledge. Perception of shared information and knowledge usefulness is also explored.

Social factors refer to attributes of interpersonal networks, and are structural in nature (i.e., relationship length, tie strength). Cognitive factors focus on attributes of interpersonal connections (i.e., shared language, shared vision, homophily, trust). Affective factors refer to individual emotional competencies (e.g., emotional intelligence) and technological factors to modes (verbal or in-writing) and methods (e.g., in person, email, video-conferencing, etc.) of sharing.

This multidisciplinary research study seeks to better understand how individuals use drawing as a means of communicating or sharing complex and abstract concepts. Since 2013, we have collected and analyzed more than 1300 drawings of “knowledge” from participants aged 5 to 100+ at five locations, including the University of Toronto, Ontario Science Centre, and Toledo Museum of Art. Findings from this research have been published in peer-reviewed journals, conferences, and were exhibited as part of a museum exhibition at the !dea Gallery in the Ontario Science Centre.

A deeper and more nuanced understanding of information and knowledge sharing practices is particularly pertinent in the context of succession planning and knowledge continuity management. The imminent retirement of highly skilled, senior professionals in the Canadian (and North American) labor force signifies a critical need for planning their succession and effectively sharing their knowledge with successors. Without proper planning public and private organizations face high risks of information and knowledge loss, which are costly, in the form of re-engineering costs, decreased performance, lower productivity, and subsequent loss of operational efficiency.

This research project aims to develop a holistic knowledge continuity management framework, which will effectively assist in identifying, capturing, storing, and transferring critical organizational information and knowledge between incumbents and their successors.

In this project we are interested in understanding two core questions related to tacit knowledge, within particular performance domains. 1. Assessment: What is someone’s level of developed expertise, or developed level of performance? 2: Identification: What distinguishes successful and less successful individuals (e.g., experts vs. novices)? To address these questions we employ cognitive tools (lo-fi simulations in the guise of Situation Judgment Tests) and motion capture tools.

The ability to perceive, use, understand, and manage emotions plays a significant role in many aspects of organizational life. The goal of this project is to better understand the causal role of both trait- and ability-based emotional intelligence on organizational information and knowledge sharing. To uncover potential relationships we employ a validated emotional intelligence training program together with performance, self-reported, and multirater assessment instruments.

The goal of this project is to better understand the causal role of ability and integrity-based trust on willingness to share and use information/knowledge. We are also interested in the causal role both types of trust have on an individual’s perception of the usefulness of that knowledge. To do this, we employ methods to experimentally control levels of ability and integrity-based trust. The effect of the experimental manipulations are evaluated using performance as well as self-reported measures.