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Because of the scarcity of research on knowledge internalization, a powerful means for acquiring tacit knowledge which is an intellectual asset critical to sustainable competitive advantage of an organization, this study develops a construct of knowledge internalization and examines its nomological validity. We define knowledge internalization as the process in which an individual relies on various cognitive mechanisms to transform his or her declarative knowledge into actionable procedural knowledge. Analyzing data collected from 259 knowledge workers, we found that knowledge internalization is a second‐order formative construct comprising organization and structure, mental models, efficiency, automaticity, and metacognition dimensions. The effect of knowledge internalization on intention to share knowledge is fully mediated by expert power and knowledge self‐efficacy. The effect of knowledge internalization on expert power is partially mediated by knowledge self‐efficacy. This study contributes to the literature by offering an elaborated construct of knowledge internalization and establishing its nomological validity in the knowledge sharing phenomenon. The developed measure of knowledge internalization can be tailored to assess employees' tacit knowledge in organizations. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Much of the current knowledge pertaining to information technology (IT) and decision making is based on decades old technologies that revolved around a central computing function and application‐specific systems. The purpose of this research is to examine the IT decision‐making relationship within the emerging organizational computing (OC) environment permeated by spontaneous utilization of both application‐and nonapplication‐specific computing and communication technologies. Specifically, this study seeks to explore managers' perceptions of the emerging OC environment as a facilitator of their decision‐making activities. To achieve a higher level of clarity than previous works, a two‐dimensional research framework is developed with the IT dimension consisting of computing and communication, and the decision‐making dimension differentiated between operational and managerial decisions. A survey instrument was constructed that measured the computing and communication dimensions of information technology use and their perceived effects upon operational and managerial decisions. The major findings of the study confirmed that managers recognize the value of general, nonapplication‐specific information technologies in decision making, and that this recognition is highly associated with how intensively these information technologies are used. Additionally, it was found that the two dimensions of IT differ in their relationships to decision making, and that IT usage relates to managerial decisions differently than operational decisions. These study findings have significant implication for practice and research, especially in the context of information resource management in which the primary purpose of the IS function is the delivery of general information service to users rather than the development of specific IS applications.

Business Process Reengineering (BPR) has been a major catalyst of the pervasive organizational change we have witnessed over the past decade. Although one can speculate on the reasons for the popularity of this phenomenon, it is important that we carefully examine its underlying antecedents for initiation, implementation, and ultimately success, if we are to add value to practitioners of this concept. This study empirically examines the importance of facets of the organizational structure, IT knowledge resources and infrastructure, and the IS function in the initiation of BPR. Data from 313 corporations were gathered using a carefully validated survey, and initiators were compared with noninitiators. The results strongly suggest that client‐server architectures, the strategic integration of IS, and cross departmental interaction are among the more important factors facilitating initiation and can be important inputs in a BPR decision‐making process. The study attempts to build a contingent theory for BPR, and the more sustainable notion of fundamental process change.

In recent years, the decision to outsource information systems (IS) functions has become a viable strategic alternative in managing the increasingly complex IS functions. In this study, the IS outsourcing phenomenon is conceptualized as a strategic decision in the organization. Drawing on resource‐based theories, resource dependence theories, and other theories of strategic management, a discrepancy model of this decision is developed. Relationships between a number of strategy‐theoretic factors and the IS outsourcing decision are hypothesized. These factors include IS resource performance discrepancies manifested in the form of gaps in information quality, IS support quality, IS cost effectiveness and financial performance, as well as the strategic orientation of the firm. Results of the study indicate that, while cost consideration and the firm's financial performance are not associated with the IS outsourcing decision, difficulties in providing good information outputs and IS support services are associated with the decision. Overall, the findings suggest that the current trend toward outsourcing represents a continuing evolution of the IS function as it attempts to fulfill its traditional mission of providing high quality information resource to the firm. When the performance of the delivered resource begins to slip in the current environment of rising expectation and technological complexity, outsourcing may become a strategic response of necessity. The paper concludes with a discussion of the implications of the results for practicing managers and suggestions for future research.