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Background: Practitioner educational psychologists (EPs) are required to engage in evidence-based practice (EBP). The enactment of this can be challenging due to a number of reasons: the complexity of individual problems within practice; great volume, range and formats of potentially relevant research evidence and theory; and narrow interpretation of EBP being synonymous with academically-validated research. Methods/ participants: The first paper details an evaluative systematic literature review (SLR) which focused upon the representation of EBP within empirically substantiated investigations and evaluations for practitioner EPs in the United Kingdom. Fourteen papers met search and inclusion criteria. The second paper explored how three local authority educational psychology services implemented evidence into practice using a 'task-and-finish' group process. Interviews with Principal EPs of the services were also analysed. Analysis/ findings: Papers in the SLR represented EBP across three domains: EPs' understanding of EBP, methods for developing EBP, and directly contributing evidence for practice. Paper Two evaluates the process and outcomes of a task-and-finish group that took as its starting point a significant piece of research relevant to educational psychology practice. Conclusion/ implications: Paper One highlights the identified ways in which EPs can work across the 'research-practice' gap; implications for EP training are signalled. Paper Two demonstrates how EPs can take forward in practice the recommendations of published research. Paper Three outlines dissemination of the findings of this research.

First essay: Systematic literature review on the practice of secondments is presented, as this has been studied in various fields, such as in health sciences, education, business and management and politics. The main purpose of the literature review is to synthesise the current state of knowledge in the practice of secondments by answering the following questions: a) where is the practice of secondments being used (organisations or business); b) what are the different types of secondments; c) who do secondments affect; and d) how they affect each party. I further identify shortages in the current literature of secondments, which provides fruitful avenues for future research. Second Essay: It is suggested that secondments where the host organisation employs full time but temporary employees from a different organisation can improve hosts' ability to select novel ideas. Seconded employees are conceptualised as dual identity by being, simultaneously, external experts and temporal insiders at the host organisation. This dual identity allows them to infuse the host organisation with continuously updated tacit knowledge, which then helps permanent employees to better comprehend and, subsequently, promote novelty. These predictions have been tested using the secondment program at the National Science Foundation. Leveraging a number of program features, treatment and control groups have been constructed, which yield estimates supporting my arguments. Permanent employees grant more novel awards when they interact with seconded academics. The effect is substantially stronger when secondees and permanent employees share common knowledge maps. Third essay: Seconded employees who join a different organisation than the organisation of their origin for a temporary period, have been found to face several challenges in their integration into the host organisation. These challenges are mainly attributed to their poor integration of the host organisations or cultural differences between the host and the home organisations. Utilising insights from the Human Capital Theory, it has been suggested that secondees' difficulty in becoming adapted to the host organisation's environment is related to the lack of firm-specific knowledge on the host organisation's unique organisational routines and procedures. However, permanent employees of the host organisation hold relevant organisation-specific knowledge. Therefore, grasping on the literature on workgroups and social learning theory, I found that when seconded employees interact contently with permanent employees, by working under the same group with them, the latter facilitate a quicker and easier integration for their seconded colleagues. To support these theoretical findings, a qualitative design with in-depth interviews has been used with both seconded and permanent employees of the National Science Foundation. The qualitative findings are being complemented by quantitave evidence on awards granted by rotators at the NSF, which confirm the qualitative results.

The research underpinning this work takes place in the context of the United Kingdom heritage railway industry with the focus of the study being how competence can be managed effectively in a predominately volunteer environment. Aspects such as the volunteer culture, motivations, the prevailing language, the diversity of skills, qualifications and learning abilities are all taken into account and considered as key factors to be addressed in managing competence effectively. In particular, the impending "cliff edge" associated with the founding generation of volunteers leaving the heritage railway industry has provided the impetus for carrying out this work. There is an urgent need to capture and transfer their knowledge in a way that can be interpreted and understood by today's generation of volunteers. Furthermore, the cost constraints affecting the industry, especially in the light of the impact of Covid-19, mean that a process to manage the transfer of competences across heritage railways is urgently required, thereby ensuring that scarce resources can be shared and applied at different heritage railway settings. Providing effective solutions to these issues will be critical to ensuring the future viability of the industry. As reality with respect to competence exists through people's claims, the ontological position for this research is subjective (specifically, materialism), where reality is considered to shape the values, beliefs and understandings of those involved in managing, operating, maintaining and regulating heritage railways. Given the subjective constructs at the core of competence management, the epistemological position is interpretivist, an approach which acknowledges that findings can be generated through the analysis of data in a way that is able to reveal the truths therein. This approach also best enables the inclusion of the many physical entities found within the UK heritage railway environment, as well as its people. Such material elements include the assets of the railways, from infrastructure to the various locomotives and rolling stock that are operated. They also include the rules, processes and procedures that are documented and used to manage the day to operation of the railway, including competence management. The research questions were explored through the author's own involvement in both the UK heritage and main-line rail industries, where personal experience has been applied to inform the research methods. The key methods employed were interview, both formal (digitally recorded and transcribed as "verbatim with dialect") and informal, of workers at a selection of UK heritage railways, observation and reflection. Thematic analysis of the results has been compared through practice analysis (questionnaires) with how competence is currently managed to develop a new understanding of the factors to be taken into consideration for an approach to competence management that "makes sense" to volunteers, thereby assuring safety whilst maintaining staff engagement and the viability of the industry. This research has shown that there is currently no common industry-wide recommended approach to competence within this context, even though existing legislation places a legal obligation on UK heritage railways to manage competence in the workplace. Although there is an understanding by both volunteers and permanent staff of the need for effective competence management, variations in how this is understood and articulated suggests this is a complex phenomenon with a number of contributory aspects and barriers, and that any underpinning processes must be appropriate to the unique nature of the UK heritage railway industry and the associated risks. Volunteer motivation and engagement is key to the future viability of the industry and competence must be managed in such a way as to ensure that this is maintained and, where possible, enhanced. It could be suggested that for each railway to be developing their own systems in isolation is a missed opportunity in terms of sharing best practice and ensuring consistency, an ever more important factor as many volunteers work on more than one railway, and in terms of resources is unlikely to be a viable approach in the longer term. The unique contribution to knowledge from this research into competence management within the UK heritage railway industry is an understanding of how heritage railway volunteers actually make sense of competence management as revealed through thematic analysis of detailed interview transcripts. Much of this knowledge is also applicable and transferable to many other areas within the growing UK volunteer sector where increasing numbers of people are engaged on this basis, often to provide vital public services. This research matters because it identifies real themes, from volunteers actively engaged in running the UK's heritage railways. Further work is required to formulate a new approach for a competence management system that will address the issues highlighted by this research, and that is appropriate to the unique heritage railway environment, with a trial implementation and assessment on a UK heritage railway. In this way, the aspiration is that a new approach to competence management can be adopted and applied on an industry-wide basis, potentially under the auspices of the Heritage Railway Association.

Routines are dispositions to behave according to established sets of rules that are also repositories of the organisational memory about "how things get done". Franchise systems are organisational forms which expand through the replication of routines by new units owned by franchisees. Drawing on insights from the literatures on organisational learning, organisational evolution (under generalised Darwinism), and cognitive psychology, this thesis identifies the building blocks for a conceptual explanation of routine replication in franchise systems. It then proposes an original case study of Yázigi, a large Brazilian franchise system of language schools, which is used to develop a novel process model that captures how knowledge is transferred for and through the replication of routines within an expanding franchise system. Four principal lessons are derived. First, when direct knowledge transfer is not available, artefacts, most notably template representations of routines, are essential. Second, intermediaries, as agents of routine compilation who direct participants to template representations, are crucial to the process of routine replication. Third, just as routines are analogues of habits, routine compilation seems to reproduce habit compilation. Finally, existing learning-related habits of thought may work in favour of or against the adoption of new habits in the replication process. This thesis outlines the prescriptive implications of these lessons for franchise practitioners and details opportunities for future research.

The Gulf region has enjoyed near instant wealth thanks to natural resources but remains reliant on foreign workers to impart the knowledge required to generate endogenous talent. Despite efforts by the United Arab Emirate (UAE) government to absorb this knowledge and develop Emirate talent, the reliance on foreign workers is as prevalent today as at any time over the last forty years. The UAE has excelled at attracting international talent but has failed to utilise the available knowledge for their talent development. For managers in the region, this knowledge is often transferred through management training, and management training is a significant part of Human Resource activity. However, this often fails for many reasons, not least, the cultural differences that exist between the knowledge supplier and the knowledge recipient. Local managers lack a suitable model that could where the knowledge transformation is breaking down and what elements of national culture influence this knowledge transformation process. Research has shown that there is a link between national culture and knowledge transfer. Building on existing work, this research explored the impact that national culture has on the transfer of knowledge within the management training context. While there is extensive information covering national culture and knowledge transfer within the management training context within the Gulf region, particularly the UAE. Consequently, this research will go some way to addressing these theoretical gaps in the literature. The theoretical framework developed to facilitate the research process provides the basis for a model that learners, trainers and training managers can use to help design, needs analysis and gauge training suitability. This model, and the research findings, will add significant practical advice at all levels and will enhance training quality, increase inclusivity, and could influence knowledge transference between international talent and local talent within the Gulf region.

Many countries and organisations around the world put forward important plans to source new knowledge that would help to accelerate their economic growth and competitive advantage. Within these plans, recruiting expatriate staff has been seen as an important means to acquire external knowledge. However, it has also been argued that overreliance on expatriate staffing may not be healthy for economic development, especially when local staff are left with very limited positions. In recognition of this issue governments, particularly those located in the Middle East, have established so-called "localisation", which refers to the replacement of expatriate staff by a local workforce. In this regard, since the 1970s the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries including Oman have set several plans to achieve localisation, but clearly these plans have not been entirely successful in terms of the targeted percentage of localisation. Scholars who have investigated this issue argue that the lack of skills and professionalism in the local workforce is one of the main obstacles for addressing this challenge. Therefore, based on the Ability, Motivation, and Opportunity Seeking (AMO) theory, this thesis contributes to the localisation and knowledge transfer literatures by developing a conceptual framework that aims to explore the extent to which transferring knowledge from expatriate managers to local staff in manufacturing companies, through certain mechanisms, helps to achieve successful localisation. Based on a positivist research philosophy and a quantitative approach, the current thesis has employed a self-administered, face-to-face questionnaire to collect data. The 327 completed questionnaires have been analysed to examin the hypotheses of the present study using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM) via Warp PLS V 6.0. The results have identified the essential factors for achieving successful localisation. First, the study has identified three essential competences for expatriate managers to transfer knowledge, namely: expatriate ability to transfer knowledge; expatriate motivation to transfer knowledge; and expatriate opportunity to transfer knowledge. Second, the study has shown that to achieve effective knowledge transfer and successful localisation, locals must have high absorptive capacity. Third, to enhance expatriate manager competences, the study has identified two essential sets of features to consider, the organisation characteristics and the knowledge characteristics. These findings thus provide several insights to the manufacturing companies seeking to achieve successful localisation. In terms of the practical implications, the current thesis has identified the key factors for achieving successful localisation. The first competence is that expatriate managers should have the ability to transfer knowledge. The second competence is related to expatriate manager motivation to transfer knowledge. The third competence is opportunity seeking to transfer knowledge. It has been proposed that in order to accomplish optimal performance of knowledge transfer, it is vital for expatriate to seek the opportunity to interact with the local staff. In this regard, opportunity seeking by expatriate managers would help knowledge seekers to get constant feedback as well as opportunities to clarify any ambiguity. In addition, it is critical for companies to acknowledge the absorptive capacity of local staff as an important factor for achieving successful localisation. In this vein, the findings of the current study have demonstrated that low absorptive capacity has adverse impacts on achieving successful localisation. Apart from the importance of knowledge-sender and knowledge-receiver competences, it is crucial to recognise the impact of organisational characteristics and knowledge characteristics on the competences of expatriate managers to transfer knowledge. With respect to the former, expatriate manager competences in transferring knowledge are influenced by organisational commitments to facilitate the process of knowledge acquisition and dissemination. As far knowledge characteristics, it has been concluded that in order to have effective knowledge transfer, companies are advised to provide important knowledge in explicit forms, such as blueprints and manuals, and to make them available and easily accessible to knowledge providers and seekers alike.

United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) World Heritage Committee provides a specific set of guidelines for managing cultural world heritage (UNESCO 2013a) in which community involvement is considered as an essential part of it. Interaction with local communities inhabiting in the World Heritage Sites results in knowledge exchange in their management processes. In traditional (top-down) decision making processes, the direction of knowledge transfer is normally from professionals to lay people and defined as informative. In contemporary participatory decision-making processes, knowledge transfer is multi-directional and reciprocal. Public participation is discussed widely in the literature in terms of its means and degrees focusing on the interactions between the public and the professionals or authorities using scales for the quantity and the content of these interactions. However, the literature is deprived of discussions on the information transfer from these interactions to the decision-making processes. Rather than examining methods for community participation or discussing degrees of participation, this research approaches cultural heritage management from a rather unconventional way, questioning the levels of local knowledge transfer into actions and interventions in the context of World Heritage Sites management plans. Therefore, its aim is to propose a transferable method for gauging knowledge transfer from communities to site management plans in participatory heritage management processes of WHS. To do so, it analyses two types of data: (i) community meeting reports, and (ii) site management plans; and examines how much the former informs the latter through a mixed methods approach, starting with a full qualitative analysis and finishing with a semi-automated method called 'Audit Design'. The method is developed and deployed to two case studies in Turkey, which had changes in its legislative approach to community participation in world heritage management from 2005. The Diyarbakir Fortress and Hevsel Gardens Cultural Landscape WHS (case study 1) is used to develop and validate a semi-automated method which is subsequently deployed and tested in Bursa and Cumalıkızık: The Birth of the Ottoman Empire WHS (case study 2) to assess its potential and transferability to different contexts. This semi-automated method is born out of a variety of techniques including qualitative social research, Natural Language Processing (NLP) and knowledge representation methods. The Framework Method is used to summarise and display the data in thematic matrices so an analytic framework can be developed. These matrices are created automatically using information extraction techniques from NLP. Finally, to make inferences about the levels of knowledge transfer from community meetings to the site management plan, a rule-based method from the knowledge representation domain, comprising an inference mechanism with if-then rules is employed to extract and gauge knowledge transfer from community focus group meetings into site management plan actions. Results from both case studies showed that Audit Design has great potential to scrutinise community involvement in the development of management plans for World Heritage Sites as it can quickly assess and gauge knowledge transfer with some nuances expressed in terms of percentages of transferability. These nuances can be used to establish benchmarks for comparisons as well as benchmarks of acceptance either in Turkey and/or UNESCO to better ensure the involvement of communities in the development of values and the management of WHS.

Complex supply chains span the world connecting a heterogeneous network of firms. Digitisation offers them the opportunity to improve by leveraging, for example: leaner interfirm workflows, swifter data sharing, smarter analytics and knowledge management, greater automation, and empowered decision-making. However, an onerous organisational development and change programme is required to adopt such innovations and move towards a digital enterprise. Research into organisational change tends to be set within the confines of a single firm. Occasionally, it includes clusters of collaborating firms, but rarely does it cover the whole of an extended enterprise supply network. An exception is the supplier development process; yet, studies into its use for digitisation are very shallow. Moreover, research into the adoption and diffusion of enterprise-wide digital technologies has, to date, mostly had to consider them as piecemeal appendages. Suppliers will have choice and may be supportive, ambivalent, or outright hostile to the extent or pace of digital transformation. They may adopt different strategies in response to the investment, capability development, open access, and other such demands placed upon them by the focal firm. This 3-year longitudinal research programme studies Rolls-Royce and a tiered cross-section of 24 of its suppliers, in the aerospace sector, as they confront and embark upon the journey towards a digital enterprise. Literature is synthesised to create a 9 step process, with 28 implementation guidelines, which is given the descriptive title of supplier development for digital transformation (SD/DT). The SD/DT process begins with a strategic review and ends by embedding practices into routine business. The guidelines are used to initiate action research cycles which coalesce around 21 workshops held at various international locations. A theoretical framework is established using a combination of institutional and organisational learning theories. Close to 100 interviews are conducted with buyers and suppliers. Furthermore, supplier scorecards capture quantitative data on a quarterly basis across the supply base. Data is triangulated between supplier outcomes and their relative absorptive capacity. Digital minimum standards are created which provide a shared vision, common vocabulary, and framework for heterogeneous change management. Two interim waypoints are set on the journey towards a digital enterprise and progress is measured for the 24 suppliers in the cohort. Overall, an encouraging success rate is achieved. Also, the use of supplier scorecards to operationalise and measure relative absorptive capacity shows promise. There are only 3 suppliers for whom the results do not triangulate. Transferability is explored together with recommendations for further work.

To remain abreast of ongoing rapid transformations in the industry, incumbent automotive manufacturers have been establishing so-called corporate innovation subsidiaries in prominent innovation clusters, such as Silicon Valley, Tel Aviv, and Beijing, since the mid- to late 1990s. This study is concerned with the transfer of knowledge from these innovation subsidiaries into their respective headquarters. Reviewing previous work in the field of international business, particularly the topics of internationalisation, transfer of knowledge, and subsidiary-headquarters relations, shows a clear gap in the literature: a lack of a holistic approach to reverse, intra-firm knowledge transfer, considering factors not in isolation, but on an aggregate level, including interactions between them. To address this gap, an initial conceptual framework is developed, providing an integrated overview of the factors affecting knowledge transfer. This framework is modified through two phases of in-depth qualitative case studies of automotive corporate innovation subsidiaries. Results reveal that, while the conceptual framework developed from the literature is highly applicable to the research context, there appear to be deeper, underlying issues at work that pose a fundamental obstacle to knowledge transfer from innovation subsidiaries to their headquarters: • Knowledge transfer is not linear as previously suggested by the literature; • Roles of actors are less clear-cut than previously suggested; • Considering global networks of subsidiaries brings added complexities. This study makes two contributions. Firstly, a holistic conceptual framework for knowledge transfer from corporate innovation subsidiaries to their headquarters is developed, illustrating the various factors affecting this transfer, as well as their interconnections. Secondly, by considering not only the dyadic knowledge transfer between a single corporate innovation subsidiary and its headquarters, but by discussing global networks of such subsidiaries, this study contributes to the literature on global innovation (manufacturing, engineering, and R&D) networks.

Work on academic mobility has primarily explored the movement of people and the production and circulation of ideas, concepts, and innovations in scientific research. The movement of knowledge for the purpose of HE teaching and learning, however, remains under-researched. Aiming to respond to this lack of attention, this thesis investigates how international academic staff transfer ideas and academic perspectives acquired in non-UK pedagogic environments to students at UK universities. The thesis examines the opportunities and challenges migrant academic staff face in engaging in such knowledge transfer while adapting to UK HE, exploring three research objectives: (1) to analyse the experiences of migrant academic staff in the UK with regard to the transfer and adaptation of international ideas and concepts in their teaching and learning practice; (2) to examine the impact of "foreignness as a teaching resource" (Alberts 2008: 198) on UK students taught by international academics; and (3) to assess to what extent UK universities recognise and support non-UK academics as a valuable resource in teaching and learning. To address these objectives, I utilised a multi-method approach comprising 41 semi-structured interviews with international faculty, senior management and professional development staff, and a questionnaire survey with 185 undergraduate students. The fieldwork was conducted at three research-intensive case-study universities in England, from December 2014 to January 2016. The thesis significantly advances knowledge on geographies of education and migration studies in several ways. First, it highlights the uneven geographies of knowledge transfer in HE teaching and learning. Second, student encounters with migrant academic staff may drive change in certain UK undergraduate learners through developing intercultural respect, stimulating open-mindedness, expanding horizons, and promoting tolerance of otherness. Third, the case-study universities only cursorily capitalised on migrant academics' insights about other knowledge environments in relation to pedagogic approaches and knowledge claims, and therefore the thesis points to the need for further progressive debates about how best to mobilise and support international best practice. In doing the above, the thesis advances a new conceptualisation - double-being, double-thinking - that emphasises the disparate knowledge environments that migrant academics straddle. Thus, the thesis opens up a new research agenda in emerging scholarship about the internationalisation of higher education through migrant academic staff.

The publicity surrounding the discovery of the Higgs boson hints at the enduring status of curiosity-driven research in modern society. However, the contemporary governance of scientific research emphasises efficiency, impact and social responsibility. In this context, the value and importance of the Higgs boson demands justification. This thesis therefore examines the ways in which members of the particle and high-energy physics community account for themselves and their scientific contributions at the nexus of science, policy and society. The qualitative evaluation of the outcome and performance of scientific research inevitably references researchers' accounts of their actions. Hence, the aim of this thesis is to develop an analytic framework that can unravel the construction of the value of research and examine the characteristics of the justifications offered. The methodology of this thesis is inspired by the Analysis of Scientific Discourse (ASD) proposed by Nigel Gilbert and Michael Mulkay (1984). ASD considers scientists' texts and talk as activities in need of explanation rather than resources for explanation. As a result, I analysed the patterns, discursive strategies and storylines of the naturally occurring talk I generated from the qualitative interviews with the UK and European particle physicists, and with the staff members of CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research. Moreover, I compared the discursive characteristics of the naturally occurring talk with that of the working documents of the European Strategy for Particle Physics (2006, 2013). I argue that the discursive pattern presented when justifying the value and importance of particle and high-energy physics indicates a hierarchy of interests among the European particle physics community. Despite explaining the impacts and societal benefits of their research, the data sources (documents and interviewees) constantly emphasised the curiosity-driven purpose of research. Moreover, this emphasis on the non-applied purpose of research is justified by the commonplace narrative arc about the linear impact of 'basic research' on technology, economy and innovation. Nevertheless, the contents of the narrative arc are seldom supported by the interviewees' or the authors' direct experience in delivering these impacts. When the staff-members of CERN were asked to reflect on their policy-related practices at CERN, they tended to disagree with particle physicists about the efficiency and productivity of the non-applied purpose of research for delivering impacts. In other words, the linear impact of particle and high-energy physics research is more of a strategic representation of the research community than a common reflection of the community members on their practices and experiences. I suggest that the findings of this thesis can provide an alternative perspective on the dilemma of evaluating particle physics research as well as other curiosity-driven research. Based on the constructivist account, I regard value as more than an objectively evaluated economic variable. That is to say, value results from continuous social interactions and can therefore be studied as discourse and action. In the context of this thesis in particular, I have found that pragmatic policy expectations have become a space that the curiosity-driven particle and high-energy physics community tend to practise and discourse on when responding to questions about the value of its research. To date, there has been no systematic evaluation of the curiosity-driven research community's discursive response to policy agendas on impact and social responsibility. Therefore, the findings of this thesis-that the discursive arrangement of the particle physics community prioritises its community's epistemic values over the public interest when communicating outward-addresses a gap in the Science Policy Studies and Science and Technology Studies literature.

This thesis covers topics ranging from cure cycle optimisation to knowledge management, in-process XCT Scanning to lessons learned, dielectric monitoring to procurement of large equipment. Tying these seemingly disparate themes together is a simple aim-to contribute to an improvement in the efficiency composites manufacturing, through better understanding of both the physical and managerial aspects of such. Tracking the volume of defects during cure of a sample with a newly developed method for in-process XCT Scanning-using industrial equipment only-contributes to our understanding of the level of accuracy required in layup. Using dielectric monitoring to optimise, follow and control the cure cycle used can result in lower energy-or faster-cure without compromising on the final product. And understanding of how knowledge transfer differs in industry and academia, and the business processes required to make use of these new technologies, can help to bring these benefits to companies, particularly the small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) who often lack a specialised research and development department, but can benefit from flexibility far beyond that of a corporate behemoth. Knowledge transfer studies, carried out with companies and academic institutions in the UK and Canada, provide an understanding of how these organisations learn. A combination of simple but illuminating opinion questions, knowledge network analysis and a new tweak on the classic skills matrix-with a check that helps to balance out individual bias; these studies themselves have proved useful to many of the participating organisations. With this in mind, a combination of original, practical research and reference to that which has been done before was used to produce a demonstration of knowledge transfer aimed at SMEs, taking that which had previously been almost exclusively in the academic realm and aiming squarely at the industrial sector. This tool, showing the potential benefits (and issues) of using dielectric and DC cure monitoring in industrial processes was supplied to volunteer companies for their feedback. Combined with the real, practical demonstration of using this technology with industrial equipment to achieve more efficient cure of a composite part of varying thickness, a step forward has been made on the journey from laboratory to factory.

This study explores Knowledge Transfer (KT) in practice along with Knowledge Management (KM) and Organizational Learning (OL) in the professionalized context of an NHS Trust. This research studies how KT-practice unfolds through relational interactions among varying actors in a healthcare-setting. The scope of the research inquiry centres on the use of the Electronic Patient Record (EPR). This exploration addresses a multidisciplinary transversal inquiry that draws from within the everyday experience of the EPR project. Intrinsically, this study addresses the following research inquiry: "How do different actors perceive and conduct the Knowledge Transfer practice, from different managerial, technical and professional perspectives?" Through developing this question and pursuing answers for it, this research delves into the relational interactions between human artifacts and practices, where collective knowledge is co-produced in the healthcare-situation. In so doing, this thesis draws on Systems Thinking, Communication and Practice-Theory. Accordingly, this study is intended to contribute to a better understanding of how healthcare-settings are (re)arranged through the professional and the informational practices supported by a communication technology. This research aims to unleash a dynamic conflictive view into the KT-practice that incorporates information systems, professional practices and business orientation. Since healthcare faces continued uncertainty, this inquiry aims to account the KT-practice in action, in order to render the contingency of healthcare context in the deeper-and-broader analysis of its sociotechnical complexities. This research carries out this KT-practice accountability through a multiple-perspective analytical lens and a qualitative case-study approach, with a focus on the EPR-project in the healthcare. Each perspective informs about specific dimensions of knowledge-in-practice in the healthcare, by which the KT-practice is enacted in the course of this research. The study finds that the EPR-design dismissed many contingent issues such as professional boundaries and inter-professional conflicts. Some actors were not entirely aware and not necessarily willing to use the EPR as part of their daily routines. For example, doctors engaged a pragmatic attitude when using their position to delegate mundane tasks to nurses. In cross-functional teams, coordination between nurses and doctors often depend on existing relationships rather than on the contingent relationships entailed by the EPR project. Therefore, this study found that the circulation-of-knowledge in the healthcare is not conflict-free. Gradually co-produced by humans and the EPR, what this context requires is facilitating and enhancing the interactive networks at play rather than implementing and transforming-through advanced technology. In other words, the operations of the EPR were designed to integrate 'knowledge' through isolating knowledge-in-practice from the context. These operations were also engineered through extracting 'objectively' the knowledge-in-practice from the core of the daily relational interactive networks of processes, activities, capacities, professionals and occupations. This research found that the transformational strategy of the EPR was not able to meet and fulfill the needs, interests and expectations of the much more complex reality of the professional practice. Through connecting the dots of this reality differently, this dissertation elaborates an empirical philosophy around three 'onto-epistemological' propositions regarding different understandings of the knowledge-in-practice. These propositions synthesise together the possibility of the implementation and KT-processes, the potentiality of the material, and the intentionality of humans and their roles in contemporary networked societies. As a central contribution to transdisciplinary studies of KM, this research thoroughly examine the multi-faceted views of the KT practice and the medical practitioners, as well as how these professionals perceive knowledge-in-practice in their healthcare setting. Relevant to KM, the empirical research of the thesis fills an epistemic gap between how knowledge is actually managed and how knowledge could be managed. It illustrates how the networks of the EPR become animate. It clarifies how the EPR turns into a channel for information flows that are shaped by the socioeconomic dynamics following different perspectives. This research also demonstrates how the craft knowledge is produced on an everyday basis among professionals and technologies along the empirical threads of multiple perspectives from the micro- to the macro-levels. In conclusion, the onto-epistemological propositions of this doctoral thesis further the current understanding on the transformational agency of knowledge-in-practice in the healthcare. This creates an agency that is able to integrate activities to help utilise the EPR to upgrade the NHS organisational innovation. In brief, this research extends the knowledge-circulation studies by articulating the transformational agency of knowledge-in-practice to generate a new prospect of navigating complexity of healthcare in a time of uncertainty.

This Doctor of Business Administration (DBA) thesis is about identifying the key factors which affect knowledge transfer between individuals in private sector companies in Saudi Arabia and Qatar. A DBA differs from a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in its application to live issues rather than the mainly theoretical academic approach in the PhD; is normally business based; and has the potential to make improvement to practice. It is widely recognised that knowledge transfer is fundamental to organisational success and in providing a source of strategic competitive advantage. Middle East countries offer Western businesses growth potential but it is often associated with Localisation of jobs. Successful knowledge transfer could be an important differentiator in achieving Localisation. The aim of this exploratory study was to investigate knowledge transfer between Western Expatriates and Nationals to provide an understanding of the strategic context; to identify the individual key factors involved; to create practitioner guidelines; and to contribute to the academic literature. A qualitative field study, adopting multiple case research design, was used to investigate one company in Saudi Arabia and 2 companies in Qatar. Semi-structured interviews with 31 individuals, based on an existing conceptual framework, were the primary source of data. Direct observation and documentary evidence were secondary sources of data. This study appears to be the first to investigate and compare Expatriate and National knowledge transfer experience in two GCC countries. The main findings were that individual knowledge transfer was being undertaken in the strategic context of Saudisation and Qatarisation. Like other studies, organisational culture and leadership positively and negatively affected knowledge transfer. The positive motivators for Nationals appear to be money, recognition, ambition and self-fulfilment. Their negative motivators seem to be a sense of entitlement and under-confidence. For Expatriates, positive motivators were largely absent whilst a fear of conflict and job insecurity were key negative factors. Expatriate job insecurity led to a Deter-Defer-Delay strategy for knowledge hiding which extends the literature of this emerging concept. Mutual cultural stereotyping also appears to inhibit individual knowledge transfer. The overall practitioner conclusion is that companies should consider how to demonstrate commitment to Localisation through locally adapted policies and leaders should provider commitment and time for knowledge transfer. Nationals need to be selected with values aligned to the company and expectations managed. Expatriates need to be selected and trained to be more culturally aware; have more job security and more organisational support. Future research into Expatriate Deter-Defer-Delay strategies and the testing of the revised conceptual framework, on a longitudinal basis, in other GCC countries, is recommended.

Innovation programmes require organisations to transfer both technology and knowledge to the diverse actors who operate within innovation eco-systems. The changing relationship between science and society has witnessed the growth of public private partnerships (PPP) to create new knowledge, while also triggering the emergence of a new role for universities as catalysts for innovation. This brings many challenges, stemming from the inherent nature of knowledge and the complex interactions involved with inter-disciplinary knowledge transfer. Concurrently, these public-funded programmes come under increasing scrutiny to demonstrate greater societal and economic impact as a return on research investment. Knowledge generated within the UK low carbon energy innovation system has the potential to facilitate the achievement of national emission targets. However, while knowledge may be successfully created, there is no guarantee that it will be disseminated and utilised in a way that contributes to the achievement of knowledge-related objectives. Current literature concentrates on the micro level inhibitors and enablers of knowledge transfer; however, a gap in empirical work which investigates system level knowledge interactions is evident. Research and practical application in this field has historically centred on technology transfer whilst under-emphasising the crucial role of knowledge within this complex, socio-technical innovation system. The overall aim of this qualitative study is to achieve a better understanding of the influences of knowledge transfer across a defined innovation system. This is achieved through the perceptions of participants via two case studies; one in a PPP and one in a University. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with twenty-eight participants, along with document analysis and participant observation at workshops, to investigate the participant perceptions. A three tier (macro-, meso- and micro-level) data analysis approach was adopted to reflect the systems level interactions. The study found that knowledge transfer is often perceived as the dissemination of information via explicit forms of knowledge, which may or may not be used by stakeholders to achieve innovation objectives. The main barriers to stakeholders utilising knowledge included: accessibility to knowledge; fit-for-purpose knowledge; stakeholder motivation/ability to use the knowledge; and viewing knowledge as an object. While there is an emerging impact agenda in academia, cultural and normative influences direct researchers towards traditional academic outputs (e.g. publications). Knowledge utilisation by stakeholders was found to be maximised through relational, stakeholder driven models, which view knowledge as a process. Knowledge utilisation was context specific, and, due to complex system influences, was never guaranteed to occur. Although planning for knowledge utilisation was undertaken at both the PPP and the University, implementing and measuring results was found to be difficult due to dynamic system influences such as understanding stakeholder motivations, resourcing constraints and complexity in the desired project outcomes. This makes adaptability and responsiveness important qualities for knowledge producers, while also necessitating specific skill sets. Based on this work, a set of principles were developed which should guide more effective utilisation of knowledge and promote more impactful research outcomes.

Printed electronics (PE) is a disruptive but growing technology that is beginning to integrate its way into viable applications for product design. However, the potential for future impact of the technology on product design and the designer s role and contribution to this has yet to be established. Interest is increasing in the potential for product designers to explore and exploit this technology. Technologies can be seen as being disruptive from both a business, and an adoption point of view. For a business, changing from one technology to another or incorporating a new technology and its production processes can be difficult if they already have their suppliers established and existing relationships in place. Understanding and adopting a new technology can be challenging for a business and individuals working within an established industry as it can cause many questions to be raised around its performance, and direct comparison with the technology they already have in place. However, there have been many technologies that could be seen as disruptive in the past, as they offered an alternative way of working or method of manufacture, such as Bluetooth, 3D printing, and automation (manufacturing/assembly/finishing), etc., and their success has been dictated by individual s perception and adoption of the technology, with their ability to see the worth and potential in the technology. Cost comparison is also an important aspect for a business to consider when choosing whether to change to a new technology or to remain with their existing technology, as changing can disrupt the manufacturing line assembly of a product, and direct cost comparisons of components themselves, such as the cost of buying silicon components in bulk verses printing the components. The new technology needs to offer something different to a product to be worth implementing it in a product, such as its flexible form or lightweight properties of printed electronics being of benefit to the product over what a silicon electronic component/circuit could offer (restricted to rigid circuit boards), the functionality/performance of the components themselves also need to be considered. Performance, availability and maturity of the technology are some of the essential aspects to consider when incorporating a new technology into a product and these can be evaluated using a Technology Readiness Level (TRL) scale. Interest in the stage of development for a technology lies not only with designers; industry and academia also contribute to knowledge by playing a central role in the process of determining a TRL scale that is universally recognised. However, a TRL separation issue occurs between academia (often the technology only reaching an experimental proof of concept stage, a lower number on the TRL scale indicating that the technology is at an early stage of development) and industry (not considering technology for commercialisation until it reaches a stage where there is a demonstration of pre-production capability validated on economic runs, a much higher number on the TRL scale - indicating that the technology is at a much more advanced stage of development). The aim of this doctoral research was to explore the contribution of PE to product design. The researcher experienced the scientific development of the technology first-hand, and undertook a literature review that covered three main topics: 1) printed electronics (the technology itself), 2) impact (approaches to assessing impact and methods of judging new technology) because together they will identify the state of the art of printed electronics technology, and 3) education - educational theories/methods for designers - studying how designers learn, explore different methods in educating them about new technologies, and start to find appropriate methods for educating them about printed electronics technology. A knowledge framework for PE technology was generated and utilised to produce a taxonomy and TRL scale for PE and confirmed by PE expert interview. Existing case studies in which PE technology had been presented to student designers were investigated through interviews with participants from academia and industry to solicit perception and opinions on approaches for the effective communication of PE knowledge to student designers within an educational environment. The findings were interpreted using thematic analysis and, after comparing the data, three main themes identified: technical constraints, designer s perspective, and what a designer is required to do. The findings from the research were combined to create an educational approach for knowledge transfer aimed specifically at meeting the needs of product designers. This resulted in the need for PE technology to be translated into both a visual and written format to create structure and direct links between the technological elements and their form and function in order to facilitate understanding by designers. Conclusions from the research indicate that the translation of this technology into an appropriate design language will equip designers with accessible fundamental knowledge on PE technology (i.e. electrical components: form, function, and area of the technology), which will allow informed decisions to be made about how PE can be used and to utilise its benefits in the design of products. The capabilities and properties of this technology, when paired with product design practice, has the capacity to transform the designs of future products in terms of form/functionality and prevailing/views towards design approaches with electronics. If exposed to a variety of PE elements ranging across different TRLs, designers have the capacity to bridge the TRL separation issue (the gap between academia and industry) through their ability to create design solutions for an end user and provide a commercial application for the technology.

During the recent period of severe and volatile world economic conditions, Japanese Sogoshosha general trading houses have had a consistently dominant presence in the trading industry all over the world. Because of a lack of academic research on the Sogoshosha, however, little is known about how this has been achieved. The aim of this research is to explore their dominant presence in the global economy and, specifically, the impact of internal and external partner networks on the Sogoshosha's social capital and subsequent contributions to core competence, knowledge transfer, and organisational ambidexterity. Following the positivist paradigm, a model of the relationships between these constructs was developed, based on the extant literature and further informed by interviews with relevant employees of the Marubeni Sogoshosha. A questionnaire survey of Sogoshosha employees was then undertaken and the data obtained, used to validate this model for both Sogoshosha and external partners. The findings suggest that increasing knowledge sharing with internal partners and generating social capital from external partners have enabled the Sogoshosha consolidate and extend their core competencies, whilst maintaining current business and creating new projects in a balanced manner, through their ambidextrous operations. In addition to theoretical contributions, the findings of this research lead to a greater understanding of the workings of Sogoshosha and provide practical guidelines for improving organisational performance through the effective use of internal and external networks for the Sogoshosha and other Asian business practitioners.

This thesis examines the relationship between social science knowledge and public policy making by focusing on the knowledge transfer work of a group of academic social scientists with experience of public policy engagement. It contributes to knowledge transfer and utilization theory by focusing on the critical role played by knowledge producers as agents who can respond creatively and strategically to the political context, thereby highlighting the agency and political dimensions underemphasized in the existing literature. It develops a typology of policy-engaged academic social scientists to link their orientation toward the public policy field with the type of knowledge transfer work they undertake. It conceptualizes the knowledge transfer activities of the academic social scientists as 'relational' and 'epistemic' knowledge transfer work to stress their agentic effort in managing the relationship with actors in the public policy field and in translating and transforming knowledge. Four types are identified based on their beliefs about the role of academics in public policy making and their orientation toward the public policy field. The analysis shows significant variation in the 'relational' and 'epistemic' work that each type undertakes and in their perceptions of the outcomes of their engagement. The thesis does not challenge findings that the utilization of social scientific knowledge in public policy making is constrained by political and organizational context but suggests that the work of academic social scientists is an important influence. Social scientists who distance themselves from the public policy field may be less able to influence whether and how their knowledge is used, whereas those who adopt an interactive approach to knowledge production are able to exert some influence through processes of co- production and negotiation. Those who are most able to influence knowledge utilization do so by developing extensive political networks and transforming knowledge into policy proposals and implementation strategies.

This thesis explores the influence of social capital on knowledge transfer among Nigerian Small Medium scale Enterprises' (SME) managers. It aimed to address a number of important gaps recognized in the literature, particularly because there is limited research in this area as regards developing countries in disparity to developed countries. Specifically, the study attempts to shed light on how Nigerian SME managers perceive social capital, how social capital develops in Nigerian SMEs, how Nigerian SME managers transfer knowledge among each other and how social capital influences knowledge transfer within the context of Nigerian SMEs. Extant literature has focused more on how social capital influences knowledge transfer within the context of multinational corporations in developed economies with limited focus on SMEs and specifically, SME managers in developing ones. This study contributes to addressing this critical gap in literature by adopting an SME perspective to exploring how social capital influences knowledge transfer among Nigerian SME managers. A qualitative research method is adopted, involving semi-structured interviews of 26 Nigerian SME managers in Nigeria. Thematic analysis has been conducted using NVivo to identify relevant themes and subthemes in relation to the focus of the study. A conceptual framework was developed to illustrate how Nigerian SME managers develop social capital by leveraging on building synergy, attending business events, deliberately targeting proven knowledge sources, developing passionate personality, leveraging on shared values, volunteering and referrals. However, for SME managers to develop social capital, they must initiate interaction, position themselves to be seen and find ways to network. This conceptual framework not only highlights how Nigerian SME managers perceive social capital, it went further to highlight the different social capital triggers from the perspective of Nigerian SME managers. 5 Overall, this study reveals that weak ties can also access tacit knowledge transfer, if the knowledge seeker leverages on referrals which provide the privileges of strong ties. Moreover, this study found that tacit knowledge can be transferred in a large network with weak ties when the nature of the discussion is intense. This happens among SME managers in large WhatsApp groups, where SME managers barely know each other.

The purpose of this thesis was to explore how knowledge gained during taught Masters in Human Resource Management (MSc HRM) programmes was transferred into working organisations, whether knowledge gained from academic study could be transferred if individuals were motivated to transfer and if organisations had a culture that was receptive to transfer. The term knowledge transfer was defined as sharing of information between one individual and another individual or group. This study looked at the perceived value of Human Resource (HR) knowledge within organisational contexts, with a focus on how knowledge flowed and what facilitated or blocked that flow. A ‘two-tailed’ case study approach was taken using a social construction methodology and was applied across three University Centres, utilising students studying on MSc HRM programmes and their respective work organisations, plus Operational Managers within the same geographical boundaries. Data was gathered using qualitative methods and analysed thematically. A key finding of this study was that knowledge gained from MSc HRM programmes is valued within organisational contexts. HR professionals effectively transferred knowledge into their organisational functions and amongst workplace communities and via wider networks, in a homogenous manner. However, the study also found that transfer of knowledge across work boundaries, via heterogeneous workplace communities, was less effective. Individual willingness to transfer knowledge was found, but issues linked to organisational culture such as politics, power and structure was found to influence the extent of knowledge transfer activities. It was evident that in order for knowledge transfer to be effective an organisational culture based on mutual support and understanding was required. If an organisation had a culture focused on Key Performance Indicators (KPI) that reinforce knowledge transfer across team boundaries then heterogeneous workplace communities emerged. Organisations that deliberately focused on knowledge transfer evidenced a greater ability to transfer knowledge across organisational functions; this strategy was beneficial to organisational growth. This study concluded that building on workplace communities and managing a deliberate introduction of heterogeneous workplace communities enabled MSc HRM acquired-knowledge to be transferred cross organisationally. Although this study focused on the transfer of knowledge from MSc HRM programmes the concept behind using workplace communities to transfer and build knowledge could potentially be transferable to other disciplines. Two further areas of research were identified: firstly, action research within University Centres to ascertain the benefit of cross-discipline teaching, secondly, analysis of an organisation with a heterogeneous community design.

This thesis is concerned with identifying cost engineering requirements of start-up SMEs in the manufacturing sector and developing a solution to address a number of their major requirements. The focus of the thesis is on cost reduction at the product development stage of a novel product. The aim of the thesis is to develop a cost reduction framework for SMEs developing a novel product in order to transfer necessary cost engineering knowledge to an SME in a structured way. A literature review has been completed to identify potential areas for cost reduction and build an understanding of SMEs' characteristics in cost engineering requirements. The review confirmed the finding that SMEs lack cost engineering knowledge. Therefore, cost reduction best practices were identified through literature review and analysed for relevance for SMEs. Collaborating with a start-up SME developing a novel product helped to identify SMEs cost engineering requirements. By close observation and participation of the SME, areas lacking knowledge were identified. In addition, potential cost reduction opportunities were examined. Due to the nature of cost reduction activities, it was required to study day to day activities of the collaborating company and become familiarised with development, production and business plans for the product. The identification of the requirements and development of the AS IS model of the SME helped to build an understanding of characteristics and requirements of start-up SMEs. Based on these the cost reduction framework was developed. The framework includes best practice tools and methods which comply with start-up SMEs' characteristics. Where a suitable method could not be identified, the method was developed in this research to address their requirements. The framework was implemented in the collaborating company and was validated by presenting the results to internal and external experts from industry and academia. Keywords: Start-up SME, Cost Engineering, Manufacturing, Novel product, production cost.

Design fixation is a phenomenon experienced by professional designers and engineering design students that stifles creativity and innovation through discouraging ideational productivity, fluency and diversity. During the design idea and concept generation phase of the design process, a reliance on perceptual surface feature similarities between design artefacts increases the likelihood of design fixation leading to design duplication. Psychologists, educators and designers have become increasingly interested in creative idea generation processes that encourage innovation and entrepreneurial outcomes. However, there is a notable lack of collaborative research between psychology, education and engineering design particularly on inductive reasoning of undergraduate engineering students in higher education. The data gathered and analysed for this study provides an insight into property inference decision-making preferences and decision switching (SWITCH) patterns of engineering undergraduates under similarity-based inductive judgements [SIM] and category-based inductive judgements [CAT]. For this psychology experiment, property induction tasks were devised using abstract shapes in a triad configuration. Participants (N = 180), on an undergraduate engineering programme in London, observed a triad of shapes with a target shape more similar-looking to one of two given shapes. Factors manipulated for this experiment included category alignment, category group, property type and target shape. Despite the cognitive development and maturation stage of undergraduate engineers (adults) in higher education, this study identified similarity-based inductive judgements [SIM] to play a significant role during inductive reasoning relative to the strength of category-based inductive judgements [CAT]. In addition to revealing the property inference decision-making preferences of a sample of undergraduate engineers (N = 180), two types of switch classification and two types of non-switch classification (SWITCH) were found and named SIM_NCC, SIM-Salient, Reverse_CAT and CAT_Switching. These different classifications for property inference switching and non-switching presented a more complex pattern of decision-making driven by the relative strength between similarity-based inductive judgements [SIM] and category-based inductive judgements [CAT]. The conditions that encouraged CAT_Switching is of particular interest to design because it corresponds to inference decision switching that affirms the sharing of properties between dissimilar-looking shapes designated as category members, i.e., in a conflicting category alignment condition (CoC). For CAT_Switching, this study found a significant interaction between a particular set of conditions that significantly increased the likelihood of property inference decisions switching to affirm the sharing of properties between dissimilar-looking shapes. Stimuli conditions that combined a conflicting category alignment condition (where dissimilar-looking shapes belong to the same category) with category specificity, a causal property and a target shape with merged (or blended) perceptual surface features significantly increased the likelihood of a property inference decision switching. CAT_Switching has important implications for greater ideational productivity, fluency and diversity to discourage design fixation within the conceptual design space. CAT_Switching conditions could encourage more creative design transformations with alternative design functions through inductive inferences that generalise between dissimilar artefact designs. The findings from this study led to proposing a Cartesian view of the concept design space to represent the possibilities for greater movements through flexible and expanding category boundaries to encourage conceptual combinations, greater ideational fluency and greater ideational diversity within a configuration design space. This study has also created a platform for further research into property inference decision-making, ideational diversity and category boundary flexibility under stimuli conditions that encourage designers and design students to make inductive generalisations between dissimilar domains of knowledge through a greater emphasis on causal relations and semantic networks.

This thesis explores the scope for the transfer and integration of human resources management (HRM) knowledge to provide the basis for the development of more productive and efficient supply chains, in the specific case of the aftermarket distribution channels of multinational companies in the automotive industry in China. Most studies of human resources management, supply chain management, and knowledge transfer have focused on internal transfer within multinational companies and there has been more limited research on the transfer of such knowledge across organisations in the supply chain, particularly in relation to distribution channels. Thus the starting point for the research was to understand the preconditions, mechanisms and effects on the distribution supply chain of the transfer and integration of HRM knowledge. To explore these issues the thesis compares and contrasts a poorly performing supply chain (that is Company J's supply chain) with two more successful supply chains in the automotive aftersales market (that is those of Company M and Company S). The aim was to identify whether the poorly performing supply chain could learn from the other two cases through a detailed exploration of the motivators and mediators that facilitate or hinder processes of HRM transfer and integration, and the outcomes of these processes on the performance of the supply chains and the manufacturers and distributors within the supply chains. A qualitative research approach was utilised. Data was gathered through one-on-one, semi-structured interviews with senior-level management, mid-level management, and frontline staff from the manufacturers and wholesale distributors in the three automotive aftermarket distribution channels and analysed using computer-assisted coding software, NVivo. In line with the extant literature, the thesis findings support the proposition that a relational supply chain network based on trust facilitates HRM knowledge transfer and integration, and provides a basis for competitive advantage in the supply chain. At the same time the findings suggest some important extensions to current knowledge and understanding of the processes and impact of HRM knowledge transfer. Firstly the research found that consideration should be given to recategorising the classic division between tacit and explicit knowledge with respect to HRM into fundamental and differential categories, in order to more clearly differentiate the type of strategic HRM knowledge transfer that could provide the basis for competitive advantage. Likewise the study found that it is not the mechanism of transfer- whether through systems or by inter-person channels- that should be the criteria to categorise knowledge, as a blended approach involving both types of transfer mechanisms was associated with better transfer effectiveness. Third the type of HRM to be transferred needs to fit the specific needs of distributors within the supply chain; in practice the best fit for this part of the supply chain can be considered a mix of paternalistic and transaction HRM, rather than the so-called 'best' practice HRM. Finally although there was potential in principle for the underperforming supply chain to learn from the experiences and practices of the higher performing supply chains, the extent to which Company J was likely to be able to emulate the more successful chains was constrained by significant internal barriers to learning (for example the pressure for short-term gains and the time needed to build trust, the lack of internal HRM expertise and the lack of local decision-making authority). However, an even more major constraint on the learning process came from the dynamic changes in the aftermarket distribution system that had the potential even to disrupt the trust-based partnerships in the exemplar supply chains. Thus the scope for applying the lessons from past practice, which has been the major focus of the comparative investigation of the three supply chains, may be limited by both the variations in internal conditions and by the fact that the key challenges for future development may be different from those faced in the automotive aftersales market in the past.

This research examines the communication processes operating within social networks in the context of Brazilian Initiatives focusing on Information and Communication Technologies for Development. Conceptually, the thesis explores three bodies of literature in the Brazilian context: development theory, digital ICT in development practices, and partnership collaboration. It draws on this literature to build a framework to understand the processes involved at the intersection of these three areas, particularly drawing on concepts borrowed from systems (Bateson, 1979; Maturana and Varela, 1992; Luhmann, 1996; Capra and Luisi, 2014) and complex network theories (Granovetter, 1973; Watts and Strogatz, 1998; Barabási, 2003; Benkler, 2006).The main question that the thesis seeks to answer is: What role do individual actions play in forwarding or hindering effective collaboration at the unfolding network interaction patterns of ICT4D initiatives? Through an explicitly systemic and participatory approach, the thesis focuses on the on-going dialogue among partners in the organizations in which I worked, as well as their interpretation of these processes, through qualitative methods including participant observation, focus-group discussions and individual semi-structured interviews. Proxys for data collection and analysis were derived mainly from three aspects: (1) the network topologies; (2) the communication level; and (3) knowledge production and exchange. This research contributes empirically to discussions on the use of systemic approaches and social network mapping methodologies applied to ICT4D partnerships. It concludes by testing such approaches in practice through the suggestion of an adaptable framework for effective collaborative action. This framework accounts for the diversity of contexts and also the small amount of time that ICT4D initiatives usually make available to discuss their partnership mechanisms. The hope is that this will empower practitioners, researchers and decision-makers with knowledge around the emergent networks of the initiatives into which they are inserted, so as to harness their creative potential towards project's successful outcomes.

Despite an overall reduction in UK teenage conception rates since the 1999 Teenage Pregnancy strategy, rates remain high and sexually transmitted infections remain a public health issue. School sex education remains a primary source of sex and relationships information for young people, but there is varied quality in provision and limited opportunity to accommodate individual differences (such as gender and age). Young people can benefit from parental support in learning about sex and relationships, but parents can feel embarrassed and underequipped to talk with their children. There is clear scope to integrate socio-cognitive theory into provision to improve education and support to ultimately improve contraception use. Approaches to intervention development can be characterised as being rooted in a singular or expanded theory ('theory led'), or focused on the problem and allowing the application of multiple theories ('intervention led'). This portfolio presents seven outputs within the theme of sex education, each offering insights into how to improve adolescent sexual health. Two articles are presented within the 'theory-led' strand. The first article (Bayley, Brown, & Wallace, 2009) explores under 16s attitudes to emergency contraception within a Theory of Planned Behaviour (Ajzen, 1991) framework. Focus groups with 13-16 year olds (n=48) suggest that practical factors and attitudes may be more significant barriers for teenagers ambivalent about pregnancy, and that confidentiality is a concern for all young people. The second article (Bayley, Baines, & Brown, 2017) integrates these findings into an extended TPB survey (n=1378) on under 16 attitudes to condoms, the contraceptive pill and emergency contraception. Findings suggest three distinct predictive models of intention (36%, 18% and 23% respectively), with attitude, gender and anticipated regret common to each. Girls appear more strongly motivated and year 10 is a crucial stage for intention. Four outputs are presented under the 'intervention-led' strand. Output 3 (Newby, Bayley, & Wallace, 2011a) describes the process of using an Intervention Mapping (Eldredge, Markham, Kok, Ruiter, & Parcel, 2016) approach to develop a parents' sex and relationships communication programme ("What Should We Tell the Children?"). In reflection of the challenge of recruiting fathers to this programme, Output 4 (Bayley, Wallace, & Choudhry, 2009) explores how to improve fathers' engagement in parenting support. Results of focus groups, questionnaires and interviews (n=38) suggest practical difficulties, female oriented services and lack of organisational support present barriers to fathers' access. In reflection of difficulties attending a group programme and the need to improve access, Output 5 (Bayley, Baines, & Brown, 2015) demonstrates the process of converting the group based "What Should We Tell the Children?" programme into an online Serious Game. Drawing this learning back into school based provision, Output 6 (Brown, Bayley, & Newby, 2012) applies Intervention Mapping to the development of a serious game for use in the classroom to prevent sexual coercion. Each of these outputs highlights a range of challenges and opportunities for generating real world benefit or 'impact'. The final output (Bayley & Phipps, 2017a) draws together this learning into a new concept of 'impact literacy', emphasising the need to understand the how, what and who of impact to drive research into practice. The learning is also synthesised into two new models of impact literate health psychology interventions, combining best practice across theory, intervention and impact models to guide subsequent development and implementation.

Persistent differences in corporate commitments to sustainability have led to an increasing debate. However, reasons behind such differences still lack a generic theorization. To address this research gap, the purpose of this study is to: 1) explicate key organizational functions and process underpinning dynamic capabilities for corporate sustainability; 2) explore the relationship between supply chain knowledge transfer and the development of dynamic capabilities for corporate sustainability. For such a purpose a theoretical framework is established with proposed hypotheses deriving from existing literature. Then a two-stage, mixed method is designed to test the model. In Stage One, a case study and a large-scale archival analysis are performed to elaborate the microfoundations, i.e. key organizational functions and process underpinning dynamic capabilities for corporate sustainability. In Stage Two, a largescale survey is conducted among about 2,500 CILT members. The validity and reliability of the collected data are then verified through a series of tests. Finally the empirical data are fitted into a Structural Equation Model (SEM) to test proposed hypotheses. The findings of the research are twofold. The result of Stage One study suggests that three types of dynamic capabilities for corporate sustainability, namely scanning, sensing, and reconfiguration capabilities, underpin a firm’s competence to successfully respond to the environmental and social concerns of various stakeholders and mobilize internal resources to make strategic change towards sustainability. Moreover, key organizational functions and process underpinning dynamic capabilities for corporate sustainability show commonalities among firms across various industrial sectors and geographic regions. In Stage Two study, the empirical finding is that supply chain knowledge transfer positively impacts the development of firm's scanning capability and sensing capability. However, the impact patterns vary significantly between focal firms' upstream and downstream supply chain partnerships. The research contributes to knowledge from three perspectives. To theory, as an early attempt to extend Dynamic Capabilities View (DCV) to the area of corporate sustainability, the research not only introduces the concept of dynamic capabilities for corporate sustainability to the literature, but also examines how these capabilities can be developed through supply chain knowledge transfer. It thus contributes to the theories of both DCV and corporate sustainability. To research, the empirical findings of the research indicate that the effect of inter-firm knowledge transfer on capabilities development of supply chain customers tends to be underestimated by previous studies, thus providing a new potential research direction. To practice, professionals could possibly use the theoretical framework developed in the study to better understand what types of dynamic capabilities should be developed to more effectively overcome emerging sustainability challenges, and how to further develop these capabilities through supply chain knowledge transfer.

This thesis is concerned with policy space abstractions that concisely encode alternative ways of making decisions; dealing with discovery, learning, adaptation and use of these abstractions. This work is motivated by the problem faced by autonomous agents that operate within a domain for long periods of time, hence having to learn to solve many different task instances that share some structural attributes. An example of such a domain is an autonomous robot in a dynamic domestic environment. Such environments raise the need for transfer of knowledge, so as to eliminate the need for long learning trials after deployment. Typically, these tasks would be modelled as sequential decision making problems, including path optimisation for navigation tasks, or Markov Decision Process models for more general tasks. Learning within such models often takes the form of online learning or reinforcement learning. However, handling issues such as knowledge transfer and multiple task instances requires notions of structure and hierarchy, and that raises several questions that form the topic of this thesis – (a) can an agent acquire such hierarchies in policies in an online, incremental manner, (b) can we devise mathematically rigorous ways to abstract policies based on qualitative attributes, (c) when it is inconvenient to employ prolonged trial and error learning, can we devise alternate algorithmic methods for decision making in a lifelong setting? The first contribution of this thesis is an algorithmic method for incrementally acquiring hierarchical policies. Working with the framework of options - temporally extended actions - in reinforcement learning, we present a method for discovering persistent subtasks that define useful options for a particular domain. Our algorithm builds on a probabilistic mixture model in state space to define a generalised and persistent form of ‘bottlenecks’, and suggests suitable policy fragments to make options. In order to continuously update this hierarchy, we devise an incremental process which runs in the background and takes care of proposing and forgetting options. We evaluate this framework in simulated worlds, including the RoboCup 2D simulation league domain. The second contribution of this thesis is in defining abstractions in terms of equivalence classes of trajectories. Utilising recently developed techniques from computational topology, in particular the concept of persistent homology, we show that a library of feasible trajectories could be retracted to representative paths that may be sufficient for reasoning about plans at the abstract level. We present a complete framework, starting from a novel construction of a simplicial complex that describes higher-order connectivity properties of a spatial domain, to methods for computing the homology of this complex at varying resolutions. The resulting abstractions are motion primitives that may be used as topological options, contributing a novel criterion for option discovery. This is validated by experiments in simulated 2D robot navigation, and in manipulation using a physical robot platform. Finally, we develop techniques for solving a family of related, but different, problem instances through policy reuse of a finite policy library acquired over the agent’s lifetime. This represents an alternative approach when traditional methods such as hierarchical reinforcement learning are not computationally feasible. We abstract the policy space using a non-parametric model of performance of policies in multiple task instances, so that decision making is posed as a Bayesian choice regarding what to reuse. This is one approach to transfer learning that is motivated by the needs of practical long-lived systems. We show the merits of such Bayesian policy reuse in simulated real-time interactive systems, including online personalisation and surveillance.

Throughout the 1960s and the early 1970s, almost all developing countries pursued an import substitution policy that sought to develop a domestic manufacturing sector. At the same time, these governments carried out nationalisation programmes based on the view that foreign ownership of industry and assets was a drain on their wealth and hindered the economic development of the nation. Some developing countries saw foreign investment as a continuation of their colonial past and wanted to move away from it. As a result, there was a natural dislike and distrust of foreign investment. However, in the last three decades there has been a sea change in government opinions regarding foreign investment, and now many countries are actively encouraging it. In fact, some governments have paid financial incentives reaching as much as US$150,000 per employee to foreign companies to attract them to their country. These financial incentives are paid on the basis that governments believe that inward investment has positive effects on the economy, the most important of which is transfer of technology. Through improved technology a country can significantly enhance its competitiveness in the global marketplace leading to increased economic growth. With economic growth countries can also improve their social indicators such as education, health etc. Therefore, technology transfer from inward investment is viewed as the catalyst to change within a country. Despite the widespread popularity of governments seeking to attract inward investment there is no conclusive evidence that it leads to positive spillover effects in the form of technology transfer. This study seeks to fill this gap in the current body of academic knowledge, using the case of a small resource abundant country with a low population, such as the UAE, using both qualitative and quantitative research methods. The primary data was obtained through a detailed questionnaire, and provides an in depth approach to understanding the issue of technology transfer for the UAE; while the secondary data, obtained from UNCTAD and the World Bank, is more macro level in nature. The macro level data indicate that certain factors in the UAE are conducive to technology transfer taking place. The primary data seek to interrogate this for the case study presented in this study. In doing so, the primary and secondary data sets are connected in so far as to provide cross reliability through the identification of commonalities and differences of results. This study aims to provide understanding on whether FDI does indeed lead to a transfer of technology from the overseas firm into the host country economy. Understanding such a link within an academic framework allows this study to arrive at relevant policy recommendations that can be taken up by policy makers in similar contexts. The prior literature has shown that FDI both flows into countries that have proven economic growth and that FDI leads to economic growth, and therefore these factors are interrelated. This study has found that FDI can play an important role in filling domestic gaps in investment and also spur economic growth. This study develops a simultaneous regression to test the existence of a joint relationship between economic growth, which is a proxy for technology transfer, and FDI. In the case of host country factors a linear regression model is developed and tested. At a more micro level this study examined the case of Tawazun Economic Council, a high technology organisation that operates within the aerospace and defence industry cluster, in order to understand whether its investments have led to any real impact as far as technology transfer is concerned. The Tawazun Economic Council is a project with a total investment of US$60 billion, and as such allows this research to capture the impact of technology transfer in an enhanced cluster that has aerospace and defence as its core theme. The aerospace and defence sectors have leading edge technology, and therefore a high probability of technology transfer taking place. Through a survey of senior managers within the organisation responsible for strategy development, this study also found that technology transfer has taken place due to the very sophisticated off-take contracts that have been negotiated with buyers and technology suppliers. However, none of these technologies have been applied outside their narrow aerospace and defence usage. In addition, if capital abundant countries wish to capitalise on the technology transfer benefits from FDI then, future government policies should seek to protect intellectual property rights. The novel contribution of this study is that it has identified factors that are important for technology transfer from FDI to take place in capital abundant countries that have a small population. As such, the research has not only increased the current body of knowledge in this area, but has sought to provide policy recommendations that could help in increasing the level of FDI-based technology transfer in developing countries, with a particular emphasis on capital abundant and low population countries.

This research aims to understand the contributions of inter-organisational knowledge transfer to innovation in SMEs from a social network perspective. The main objective is to identify the impact of the network characteristics on company’s innovation performance. Organisations are embedded in a network of relationships with other companies. They must make the best use of all available resources in order to survive and thrive in today’s competitive environment. However, most of the previous network studies focus on large organisations and studying network effects in the context of SMEs is not well explored. This study sheds light on the relationships between different network characteristics and two different types of innovation performance in High Tech SMEs. In this study inter-organisational knowledge transfer networks were investigated from ego-network perspective. Radical and incremental innovation was identified as specific types of innovation. More specifically this research studied the impact of the structural, relational and nodal properties of inter-organisational knowledge transfer network on radical and incremental innovation performance. In addition to network characteristics, internal capabilities of companies were also identified important. Pentathlon framework was used to capture firms’ innovation management capabilities. A survey instrument was used to collect data from a sample of UK Small to Medium size Enterprises (SMEs). A new innovation measurement instrument was developed to measure different types of innovation from companies’ and customers’ perspectives. The SMEs were chosen randomly from IT and Chemical industry. Inter-organisational relationships were mapped using social network techniques. Path analysis techniques including PLS were used to test the hypotheses of the study. In addition to the statistical method, Fuzzy set Qualitative Comparative Analysis was used to shed light on different combinations (various configurations) of factors that impact on radical and incremental innovation. This study has made theoretical contributions by identifying research gaps through review and synthesis of literature in innovation and inter-organisational relationships and social network theories. Moreover, a new framework was developed based on the concepts identified in social network and innovation literature. The integration of theories and concepts regarding inter-organisational relationships, innovation and social networks with a view of better understanding of the impact of network characteristics on specific types of innovation is another contribution of this study. This research shows how different network properties can help companies to achieve ambidextrousness, which is vital for organisations’ competitive advantages and long term survival. Moreover, this study reveals that the internal capabilities (innovation management practices) of a firm play a significant role in enabling the company to benefit from its network resources. It shows how different configuration of the internal capabilities and network resources can lead to a better radical/incremental innovation performance. Findings from this research can help managers to adapt their network resources according to their strategies and the level of the innovation that they want to achieve.

The construction industry is the largest industry in the world and operates in knowledge-based project organisations. The success of projects relies on the management of both tacit and explicit knowledge. This situation calls for a method for disseminating tacit knowledge from individuals to achieve higher performance and success value in construction projects. For the purpose, this study first articulates the problems of knowledge management in the construction industry. Then, by reviewing some knowledge engineering and management literatures, this research sets a theoretical foundation of knowledge management in the construction industry. A questionnaire survey was used to investigate and examine the current situation of knowledge management in UK and China construction industry. The result of frequency analysis and nonparametric test analysis provides the perceptions on the importance of knowledge transfer, the implementation of knowledge transfer, the resources of knowledge, and barriers for tacit knowledge transfer. From the literature review, this study proposes a tacit knowledge transfer process framework (3I) and identifies a series of factors correlated with effectiveness of knowledge transfer. This thesis also identifies four main independent variables - organsiational culture, organizational structure, IT technology and No-IT technology, and investigates the relationship between organisational elements with these factors and the performance of knowledge transfer. The findings are based on three case studies and responses of questionnaire survey and interviews. The results reveal that there are significant relationships between some of the variables and either the creation of knowledge assets or performance of knowledge transfer. Therefore, it is necessary for construction organsiations to consider these elements in developing and implementing a knowledge management strategy/system in a construction organisation. This study proposes a practical methodology to transfer knowledge by using an integrated system (TKTMS). The TKTMS can be an effective tool for all project members to transfer tacit knowledge across firms' boundaries and accelerate the speed of knowledge creation, share and transfer in the construction industry. The integration of the function model (IDEF0) with the information model (IDEF1) is applied to understand the necessary function/information for consideration in the 3I model and implement TKTMS.

The aim of this thesis is to identify the key roles of expatriates in a major Japanese MNE and factors influencing formation of their roles. It also examines to what extent expatriates have discretion in forming their roles. The thesis uses empirical data from 109 interviews and 5 years of action research (44 advisory board meetings and 144 Human Resource Management (HRM) workshops, 19 research sites in 9 countries and 17 additional meetings on specific topics) that enabled the researcher to carry out insightful and in-depth analysis with cross-national and multi-layer perspectives. The study applies organisational design theory to unveil the mechanisms of role formation, significantly expanding the understanding of these issues in Japanese business and the international business literature. The findings suggest that the process of role formation of expatriates can be explained by combining contingency theory and strategic choice theory in a framework that argues that the roles of expatriates are the result of a political process of organisational design (Child, 1997). This includes adaptation to the environment (Lawrence and Lorsch, 1967) but also the relationship between organisational agents and the environment in the process of strategic choice (Child, 1997). The major contribution of this study is to provide evidence that expatriates are not merely agents of HQs in international business as traditionally understood, but that their role is more complex and multifaceted. The study empirically identifies five key roles of expatriates - two more than previously identified in the literature - and unveils six contingency factors and two strategic choice factors influencing role formation. The thesis demonstrates that expatriates strategically select their roles, although internal and external factors can act either as enhancers or obstacles to their making of choices and role formation.

This study investigates how knowledge is transferred in the Nigerian public service, the features of its bureaucratic culture, as well as, the effects that this culture has on knowledge transfer. The motivation to undertake this study is borne out of the identified gap in the literature, which bothers on the dearth of studies in the area of knowledge transfer, as well as, the specific features inherent in that of the Nigerian public service bureaucratic culture. Qualitative and quantitative research methods (i.e. semi-structured interviews and survey) are combined in gathering data for this study. Both the interviews and survey sample frames undertaken with key players of the public service covering the three cadres, (senior, and junior and management/directorate staff), were representative of all the aspects of the public service covered. Seven ministries out of a total of seventeen in the Bayelsa state public service forms the sample frame used for this research The overall empirical results indicate that there is knowledge transfer in the Nigerian public service in view of the available mechanisms used for the transfer of knowledge. In addition, the Nigerian bureaucratic culture has more negative effects than positive on knowledge transfer. The application of Hofstede’s theory reveals a high level of inequality, masculinity and autocracy as features of the Nigerian public service bureaucratic culture. The study also reveals that there is the use of very high sounding military fashion language in the public service, due to the long period of military rule. This research finds that there is reasonable awareness amongst public servants about knowledge and its sources that is needed to run the public service, but that access to knowledge, particularly tacit knowledge by authorised staff is difficult. Public servants agree that certain kind of knowledge transfer activities persist, although the terminology is relatively new to Nigeria. They agree that under the current democratic environment in which the public service operates, government should make concerted efforts to establish a knowledge transfer culture so as to make knowledge readily available. It recommends the entrenchment of a leaning, training and collaborative culture, as well as, the de-emphasising of hierarchy and creation of a more flexible public service. The contribution of this study to knowledge is in the area of putting in place a framework for the effective implementation of knowledge management practice (transfer) in the Nigerian public service.

Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) are widely recognized as an important part of the economy, particularly important in countries like Mexico, where SMEs make up almost 90% of the industry. However these SMEs do not consider their impact on the environment and surrounding communities to be a priority, and lack the proper information with regards to how to reduce it. The research presented in this thesis sets out to explore the implementation of Sustainable Design in Mexican SMEs, through the use of a guidebook in the form of a web based tool. This tool, tailored to the specific needs of the Mexican SMEs' aims to deliver·· clear and concise information, raise awareness and improve their environmental and social performance. Through a series of studies it was possible to identify that the socio-cultural and political context of the Mexican SMEs have an impact on the implementation of Sustainable Design. As well, these studies analyze if the proposed prototype tool is capable of working without external support. The findings from the studies were used to develop a theoretical framework for the future development of Sustainable Design information tools aimed at Mexican SMEs.

This thesis investigates how Knowledge Transfer (KT) Policy in Scotland is understood, translated and put into practice by managers and academics in a new university in Scotland. KT Policy has entered the higher education arena as the ‘third sector’ alongside teaching and research: it puts new demands on universities, and could be said to attempt to redefine the relationship between the university and wider society. The (relatively few) studies of KT Policy highlight the problematic nature of the term ‘knowledge transfer’ and there is a substantial literature that illustrates the difficulty of ‘translating’ policy into practice. In understanding KT and its implementation, this thesis argues that account needs to be taken of the fact that in the expanded UK higher education (HE) sector there is no single idea of a university and thus the reception of KT policy needs to be understood in ways that are sensitive to the various (and possibly conflicting) meanings attached to the policy by managers and academics. The thesis adopts an interpretive methodological approach that draws on critical discourse analysis (CDA) to uncover the meanings attached to KT Policy as it is translated and enacted. KT policy is viewed as a ‘text’ that can be read in a variety of ways, and that is amenable to alternative readings that may be at variance with those encoded by policy-makers. Research methods include document analysis, semi-structured interviews, and observant participation. The findings illustrate how managers and academics attach multiple and conflicting meanings to KT policy, with quite significant implications for policy implementation. The different meanings of the policy are explained in terms of contrasting managerial and academic discourses. This study adds to knowledge about KT and also adds to knowledge about policy and its reception when it enters the university environment. Analysis of how policy is received and communicated using a CDA approach illuminates the university as a space through which ideas flow and are shaped by the meanings attached to them in that process. This case of translation of KT policy has more general applicability in terms of its illumination of the enactment of meaning in different ways in different institutional cultures.