International doctoral students as knowledge brokers: reciprocity,trust and solidarity in transnational networks

In this article, we examine the role of brokerage, the knowledge that brokers transfer and the social conditions of that transfer. Previous research suggests that highly skilled migrants spanning multiple locales have the advantage of being able to transfer knowledge as they move from one place to another. In this study, using a network perspective, we look at the activities of international doctoral students in their transfer of knowledge and illustrate the underlying social conditions of knowledge transfer through transnational friendship networks. Using a qualitative methodology, we examine the research questions and 35 in‐depth interviews, as well as egocentric network analysis conducted in Germany. In the findings, we explore the social conditions of knowledge brokerage, including trust, reciprocity and solidarity. Finally, we discuss the implications for further research on knowledge sharing among brokers and international students.     

Mobilities and Knowledge Transfer: Understanding the Contribution of Volunteer Stays to North–South Healthcare Partnerships

In this paper, I review recent literature on the relationship between human mobility and knowledge transfer processes, and apply some of the more theoretical ideas to an evaluation of the kinds of mobility in which UK participants engage in the context of North–South healthcare partnerships (HCPs). Much of the contemporary research on highly skilled mobility highlights the role that short stays and circular mobility play in knowledge transfer processes. I consider the value of short stays in the travel–mobility–migration continuum and the contribution they make to the transfer, translation and effectiveness of knowledge. Healthcare partnerships are best conceptualized as knowledge networks, with various forms of mobility (both physical and virtual) playing a critical role in network‐generation, evolution and impact. I outline the findings of two studies. The first is an evaluation of HCPs (Ackers and Porter, 2011) and the second an in‐depth ongoing evaluation of one HCP known as the Liverpool–Mulago Partnership or LMP¹ (Porter et al., 2011). The results raise questions about the relationship between the different types of mobility that participants in HCPs (predominantly professional volunteers) engage in, particularly the duration and repeated quality of stays, and knowledge transfer processes. Williams argues that “there are still major gaps in our understanding of the specific contribution of international migration to knowledge transfer, of the processes involved, and of the conditions that facilitate this” (2006 588). In this paper, I begin to close some of these gaps and advance our understanding of the relationship between different forms of mobility and knowledge transfer processes, in the hopes that this will build the evidence base supporting the contribution of North–South HCPs to the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals ² .     

The inner circle: Building bridges or boundaries between researchers and practitioners

An epistemological and methodological approach, The Change Laboratory, is analysed to determine which forms of distributing knowledge are apparent during cross-cultural research. Distributing knowledge is intricately related to methodological design, to researchers’ and practitioners’ life experiences and to roles of power. The article concludes that research conducted across cultures necessitates careful analysis of the power found within forms of distributing knowledge. This power is derived from a tacit belief that certain knowledge is only available to those within a given circle or that it is available to those outside a given circle without alteration.     

Conceptualizing ethical knowledge and knowledge transfer in public relations

In a survey with 350 public relation practitioners, this study examined practitioners’ conceptualizations of ethical knowledge and ethical training through a knowledge management framework. The findings show that practitioners characterized ethical knowledge as a form of tacit knowledge that is personal in nature. However, ethical knowledge in public relations is tacit only to the extent that it is a personal body of knowledge grounded in individual actions and experiences. As a professional construct, ethical knowledge in public relations is explicit in that it is a tangible form of knowledge that could be communicated and shared in the workplace.     

Psychosocial Factors of Migration: Adaptation and Application of the Health Belief Model

Psychosocial factors influencing behaviour play a central role in health research but seem under‐explored in migration research. This is unfortunate because these factors, which include knowledge, attitudes, beliefs, intentions and personality traits, provide essential and potentially effective handles for linking migration and migrant‐integration policies. We demonstrate that the health belief model (HBM) conceptualization of behavioural intentions contributes constructs that can further our understanding of migration intentions, thereby broadening the foundations for migration policies. We adapt the HBM to migration behaviour and then test it empirically by using survey data on international migration from West Africa and the Mediterranean region to the European Union. The results confirm that indicators of “perceived threat to living conditions”, “perceived benefits” and “perceived barriers to migration”, “cues to action” and “self‐efficacy” contribute considerably to the explanation of migration intentions. We conclude that psychosocial factors deserve greater prominence in migration theories and empirical research, and we recommend that migration surveys consider this framework to identify relevant indicators of psychosocial factors of international migration and develop appropriate survey questions to measure them.     

International mobility of professional knowledge from the Global South: Indian IT workers in the Netherlands

Although there are many studies on both expatriates and the phenomenon of brain drain, there are few on those professionals who move from a less to a more advanced economy through a transfer from one division of a transnational corporation to another. In a study of Indian IT professionals employed by the Dutch division of the producer‐service company Capgemini, we assessed the reasons for their recruitment and the type of professional knowledge they bring to the job. Our main findings are that the international mobility of Indian professionals is not just a matter of reducing labour costs and that, though some Indian IT professionals engage in routine programming activities, others are involved in activities that require tacit forms of knowledge. This applies to those who link the Dutch and Indian offices of Capgemini and to those who acquire assignments operating in the epistemic community of the international business milieu.     

RESEARCHING INTERNATIONAL LABOR MIGRATION IN ASIA

This article focuses on research on international labor migration in Asia, a region marked by intense migration in the last four decades. The review covers migration research undertaken from the post-1970s to the present. The growing significance of international migration in the region has stimulated the production of evidence-based knowledge on Asian migration in Asia. This is indicated by the growing literature on migration-related questions, the development of research centers focused on migration, and the development of research networks in the region. Although migration research is thriving, future efforts should aim toward theory building and establishing the links between internal and international migration.     

Knowledge Transfer and Capacity Building Through the Temporary Return of Qualified Nationals to Afghanistan

Increasing research has illustrated the positive effects of the diaspora on the country of origin. The majority of this research, however, has focused on the effects of diaspora remittances and investments. This article examines the effects of the diaspora on knowledge transfer and capacity building in a post‐conflict environment. The article is based on a case study of the International Organization for Migration the Netherlands, Temporary Return of Qualified Nationals to Afghanistan project, in which 59 highly skilled Dutch‐Afghans returned to work with a host institution (public or private) in Afghanistan for three months to transfer knowledge and build capacity. In‐depth interviews were conducted with project participants, host institutions, participants' colleagues, and key informants to gather an understanding of how participants contributed. The article finds that diaspora temporary returnees were most effective in forms of tacit knowledge transfer and that the knowledge transfer process effectively led to capacity building in Afghanistan.     

城市政策转移与政策知识的全球性循环

本文提出了一种方法,可以用于研究在全球范围内循环的城市政策、政策模型和政策知识中有关空间、社会和相互关系的特性。基于那些被用来分析在更广泛的社会空间背景下特定的社会进程的政治经济地理文献,本文部分侧重于固定性和流动性的辩证分析。本文将该观点与通过仔细研究分析得出的,政策知识得以转移的具体实践、表述和专门知识等后结构主义论证结合到一起。作者认为,对＂流动性＂的定义提供了一个实施上述方法的规程,它可以实现城市政策移植中的＂本地化的全球性＂。本文介绍了利用这种研究方法的一个例子：位于加拿大不列颠哥伦比亚省的温哥华市,是一个经常被其他地方的决策者引用为他们寻求＂热门＂政策思路的城市。该案例还表明,关于城市之间城市政策移植性的特点和推论,还有许多研究尚待进行。具体来说,本文认为,在保持对更广泛力量的侧重的前提下,研究城市政策的流动性必须认真对待政策模型转移过程中个别政策转移中介那些明显平庸的作为,同时也必须进行细致的定性研究,研究政策是如何从一个地方移植到另一个地方去的,如何从特定的环境中学习的,并且在移植过程中是怎样变化的。     

The Chinese Policy of Highly-Qualified Human Capital: A Strategic Factor for Global Competition in Innovation

International migration is a historical phenomenon, which only recently has gained increasing importance, representing a focal point on the political agenda in most countries. One of the reasons is the deep transformation occurring in last decades, both at global and local level, of the role played by its protagonists that are turning to be transnational agents. This is especially true for the skilled professionals, who migrate internationally. As a matter of fact, international human capital mobility is now regarded as “brain circulation” rather than “brain drain”: this new concept concerns individuals who maintain frequent and continued social, economic and political ties with their country of origin, exceeding thereby the territorial and cultural boundaries. In this scenario, China is one of the main sending countries of highly-skilled migrants, through which it can built economic and academic relations with other economic and technological advanced countries. Recently, Chinese policy makers have started to consider the brain drain phenomenon as an opportunity for the transmission of business and technological know-how, as well as tacit knowledge that is hard to find through official channels. This article intends to contribute to the scientific debate on the subject, highlighting the international relevance of the so-called Overseas Chinese Professionals (OCPs), investigating their spatial distribution and features. Besides, the paper will examine the emerging returning flow and the challenge that the country will have to cope with in the next future to impose itself as a innovative leading economy.     

PARTICIPATORY SPATIAL KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT TOOLS

Different types of spatial knowledge (expert, sectoral, tacit and community) are strategic resources in urban planning and management. Participatory spatial knowledge management is a major method for eliciting various types of knowledge, providing a platform for knowledge integration and informing local action and public policy. Knowledge types linked to a specific geographical locality can be integrated through geographical information systems. Recent developments in geographical information and communication technology (geoICT) have extended the opportunities for participatory spatial knowledge production, use and exchange. However, data reliability of user-generated content, social exclusion due to dependence on technology and the interpretation and implications of digital maps are major concerns. The challenge is how to integrate and utilize multiple knowledge sources for improving urban management and governance. This paper integrates the literature on knowledge types and knowledge production processes with available geoICT tools for the production, use and exchange of knowledge sources and applies it to examples from Asia, Africa and Latin America. From this review, we provide a heuristic framework for assessing the extent to which participatory spatial knowledge management tools can be instrumental on several fronts. We argue that technological developments of knowledge production have not fully addressed important issues related to accountability, empowerment, control and use of knowledge. Moreover, these developments may foster social exclusion, which could detract from the benefits of participatory spatial knowledge management in the context of urban sustainability.     

Conflicts over knowledge transfer across the border: Korean international students and the conversion of cultural capital

It is common knowledge that international students are a major conduit of international knowledge transfer and that they become transnational managerial elites and highly skilled migrants. However, few studies show how this transfer occurs. Moreover, people often assume that knowledge transfer is a smooth process. Drawing on in‐depth interviews of former and current Korean international students and non‐migrant Koreans in the United States and South Korea, my study shows that knowledge transfer can, in fact, be highly conflictual. I argue that conflicts in the country of origin between international students (the transferors) and non‐migrants (the recipients) mediate knowledge transfer. I see the conflicts as struggles over the conversion of cultural capital from the Global North into local power and wealth, which reworks Bourdieu's theory of cultural capital for transnational social fields. In so doing, I develop a framework that links knowledge transfer and transnational social reproduction.     

RESEARCH ON INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION WITHIN SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA: Foci, Approaches, and Challenges

This article reviews the state of research on international migration within sub-Saharan Africa. It examines the international migration systems that have emerged on the subcontinent, especially in Southern and Western Africa, as well as issues pertaining to gender and migration and to migrants' incorporation in host societies. Special attention is given to conflict-induced migration and to implications of international migration for health, with a particular emphasis on the HIV/AIDS epidemic. Despite the large volume and diversity of international migration in the subcontinent, the literature on the subject remains scarce and disconnected from the body of international migration research in other settings. The review identifies causes of this mismatch and discusses ways to mainstream the subcontinent's migration problematique .     

The aesthetics of rock construction work: the beauty of sprayed concrete,rock reinforcement and roof bolting

The concepts of aesthetic and aesthetic knowledge have recently been appropriated and discussed in the organization theory literature. In this broader recognition of human skills and capacities complementing the conventional rational and logical modes of thinking prioritized in scientific thinking, a few studies reports how aesthetic knowledge is employed in areas not regularly associated with aesthetics, for instance computer programming or financial analysis. This paper reports how the concepts of aesthetic and aesthetic knowledge can be used to examine the work of qualified rock construction workers. Rather than being a skill that can be accommodated through training, the best rock construction workers have tacit know‐how that are not easily learned or transferred between co‐workers. Such skills are here referred to as aesthetic knowledge. The paper concludes that more studies of everyday work and aesthetic knowledge may be helpful when rethinking the nature of human and individual knowledge.     

International migration: an assessment for the '90s

A quarter century ago, the world of international migration looked much different than it does today. International migration was then favorable regarded in many parts of the world. Today, this mood has soured. Guestworkers in Germany in 1989, particularly Turks, are the subject of widespread hostility and a growing anti-immigrant political party. France, too, has developed a significant anti-immigrant political party and now facilitates the repatriation of unemployed Algerian nationals with cash assistance. In the US, a chapter thought closed forever in 1964 might well be reopened as the federal government, in 1989, will decide whether or not to admit replenishment agricultural workers. In the Arab region, the Palestine Liberation Organization was created in 1964 to represent one of the world's largest refugee population - the 1 million Palestinians who fled during the 1'947-1949 fighting and their offspring. Today, Africa contains an estimated 4-5 million refugees. In Asia, the Gulf of Tonkin crisis in 1964 served as a pretext to escalate the war in Indochina that would create millions of refugees. Little concern was expressed 25 years ago about illegal migration from developing countries. Asia, Africa, and Latin America seemed to lie outside the usual path of international migration. A conference on international migration was held at Bellagio, Italy, in July 1988. The contributions comprising this volume were presented at the Bellagio Conference. Each contribution approaches the subject matter of international migration from a distinctive theoretical, disciplinary, or thematic perspective. This volume therefore reflects a large measure of the scholarly diversity that coexists in international migration studies. One of the themes of the conference is the realization that states vitally affect international migration and are greatly affected by the phenomenon. The Bellagio conferees also agreed on the importance of comparative research to greater scientific understanding of international migration. In a world of increasing interdependency, the inevitable effect of a knowledge shortfall is a glaring gap in understanding.     

A critique of gender-blind migration theories and data sources

Despite this being the era of migration, no systematic theory of international migration has emerged, nor is there an academic or political agreement on ways in which migration is a ‘gendered’ process. Both theoretically and as inputs in the policy-making process, gender-blind approaches have actually rendered the gender dimension of migration more or less invisible. Through an in-depth examination of the place of gender in the key theories of migration and relevant sources of data, the paper seeks to take stock of how these theories treat this dimension and investigate the cross-sectional challenges in uncovering gender in international migration data. It, therefore, provides a critical review of both theory and data by shedding much-needed light on their neglect of the gender aspects. Our findings based on a conceptual review of the literature and a case study based on Eurostat data on migration drivers demonstrate that migration theories and statistics typically equate gender with sex, which limits our ability to develop a comprehensive understanding of how complex gender dimensions shape the migration process. Moreover, given the extent to which existing data and theories overlook the intersectionality between the drivers of migration and diversity within migrant groups, this gap in knowledge presents an obstacle to gender-responsive migration governance. In light of this, the paper discusses priorities for ‘gendering’ international migration research. We argue that in addition to improving accuracy and coverage of sex-disaggregated statistics on international migration, both regular and irregular, it is crucial to develop quantitative as well as qualitative indicators to monitor the gender dimension in this area.     

A quest for form: the tacit dimension of social work practice

This paper presents the findings of a small-scale study of social workers’ tacit understandings. Tacit is conceptualised as, difficult to describe knowledge, taken for granted knowledge or tacitly presupposed and silenced knowledge. The sample comprised 10 social workers employed in a statutory child protection context who participated in three stages of data collection. The research strategy encompassed six techniques: in-depth interviewing, observation, think-aloud, unstructured interviewing, reflective recall, and knowledge mapping. The tacit domain appears to be a rich site for practice understandings, as what practitioners explicitly offer is not a complete account of their knowing in practice. Interpretations suggest that practice may be guided by understandings of which practitioners are frequently unaware. When knowledge remains implicit, its content, level of influence, impact and use remain unconsidered as well. It is crucial, in attempting to gain clarity on any practice activity, that this realm be explored as it contributes to a fuller account of the realities of practice behaviour.     

Global human mobility and knowledge transfer: Highly skilled return migrants as agents of transnational learning

Global human mobility constitutes a key mechanism for knowledge transfer. This study examines the micro-dynamics of knowledge transfer in the developed-developing country migratory context. It highlights the agentic role of return migrants in transforming overseas learning into relevant knowledge in their home contexts. Drawing on situated and relational theories of knowledge and learning, the study views knowledge transfer as a relevance discovery process. It looks at a group of highly skilled migrants who had returned from developed countries to Ethiopia. Despite their high skill, the focus of knowledge transfer was mostly in non-technical fields that include a broad range of organizational knowledge and work practices. These were made relevant to the local context through the returnees’ ‘work of reconciliation’, involving ‘engagement’, ‘alignment’ and ‘imagination’. The study challenges the standard assumption of a one-way linear flow of knowledge from developed to developing countries. It sheds new light on the migration-development link by highlighting the ‘aspirational’ aspect of migrant transnational learning.     

Situating the self in global context: Reconceptualizing transnational and cosmopolitan identities

Scholars interested in the effects of globalization on internationally mobile individuals have tended to study this by drawing comparisons between national identity and transnationalism (i.e., connectedness and involvement in more than one country simultaneously) and cosmopolitanism (i.e., a sense of belonging to the world as a whole rather than a single nation). Empirical patterns generally suggest the pervasiveness and resilience of national identity even among globally mobile populations, but findings do show that international experience can bring about changes to individual identity. By comparing transnationalism and cosmopolitanism to national identity, the extant literature makes a tacit assumption that these identities are group‐based. The social psychological literature on identity refers to three different types, or bases, of identity: group, role, and person. This paper argues for a reconceptualization of transnationalism and cosmopolitanism as role‐ or person‐based identities, and outlines several avenues for research based on this reconceptualization.     

International Migration and Development in Asia: Exploring Knowledge Frameworks

There is revived interest and debate on the relation between international migration and development, with Asia emerging as one important locus for such deliberations. A number of institutions, journals, people and organizations have emerged as key players in these discussions but so far there have been few attempts to investigate the information gathered from the perspective of “knowledge production”. This paper’s objective, therefore, is to outline some of the ways in which knowledge about migration and development is being produced in Asia. We focus on selected aspects of knowledge production to identify the lenses through which much of the work is currently generated and the research imagination resulting from existing approaches.