A framework for evaluating the benefits of collaborative technologies in engineering innovation networks |
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| Authors: | Roula Michaelides Susan C. Morton Weisheng Liu |
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| Affiliation: | 1. Operations Management and Marketing , Management School, University of Liverpool , Liverpool , L69 7ZH , UK roulam@liverpool.ac.uk;3. Manufacturing Organisation Group , Wolfson School of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering, Loughborough University , Leicestershire , LE11 3TU , UK;4. Operations Management and E-business , Management School, University of Liverpool , Liverpool , L69 7ZH , UK |
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| Abstract: | In times of rapid economic change, the decrease in knowledge value becomes inversely proportional to its speed of obsolescence, with successful organisations seeking to connect more rapidly and more effectively with others in the creation of new knowledge. The past decade has seen a growing interest in communities of practice as a method for transferring and generating knowledge within product development, rooted as they are in the nature of knowledge creation as a socially embedded process. Given the widespread adoption of collaborative technologies as facilitative platforms for innovation in the interactions of contemporary communities of practice, the objective of this research is to develop an evaluation paradigm and employ it to examine how such interaction is facilitated through the medium of Web 2.0 technologies. The contribution of this research to theory and innovation technology practice will be to further the understanding of collaborative technologies by examining the impact of Web 2.0 technologies on engineering innovation networks. Furthermore, it brings together the three diverse research areas of technology innovation, internet collaborative tools and psychological barriers and enablers. |
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| Keywords: | collaborative technologies continuous innovation networks Web 2.0 |
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