THE IMPACT OF SOCIAL MEDIA TECHNOLOGIES ON KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT AND RESEARCH PERFORMANCE IN HIGHER EDUCATION INSTITUTIONS
THE IMPACT OF SOCIAL MEDIA TECHNOLOGIES ON KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT AND RESEARCH PERFORMANCE IN HIGHER EDUCATION INSTITUTIONS

Summary/Abstract: The impact of social media is higher than expected a few years ago. Looking at the exponential evolution of social media technologies and usage, one may say that social media is reshaping the way in which researchers interact and cooperate at institutional level and beyond. The dimensions of knowledge management (KM), such as: knowledge creation, knowledge sharing and dissemination are essential in collaborative research projects and they definitely bear upon the research performance of higher education institutions (HEIs). Traditionally, HEIs are seen as knowledge generators due to the outcomes of high-level research conducted by academics. The paper aims to explore the relationship between the following three components: KM process related to collaborative research, social media technologies and research performance of universities. The paper presents only the first stage of a wider research project regarding the similarities and differences of KM practices, as these occur in various cultural environments. An exploratory survey has been conducted in order to identify to what extent the selected variables have confirmed our first draft of the conceptual model. The survey findings have been used to upgrade and refine the online questionnaire in order to better capture the real practices. The respondents are located in different universities, public or private, situated in diverse cultural environments and allow us to explore the differences in practices cording to the differences of institutional and cultural factors. In addition, the respondents are academics, involved in research and using on regular basis various social media to interact with their peers. At this stage of the research the collected data were analysed using descriptive statistical methods mainly, and were tested some of the correlations considered relevant for the research. The preliminary research results encourage the research team to extend the survey in order to get relevant answers to formulated research questions and to draft policy recommendations tailored to the needs of different universities involved in this study.

• Details
• Contents