Collaboration structure and knowledge diffusion in Turkish management academia

Abstract

This article proposes a conceptual framework to study diffusion of knowledge via collaborative social interactions. The framework primes deliberation on (i) nature of knowledg, (ii) chain of knowledge process, and (iii) modes of knowledge transfer while examining mechanisms of knowledge diffusion and collaboration structure. Within such a differentiation scheme while information is considered as a form of filtered data within a context of relevancies, knowledge is considered as a systematically processed information that is bound to individual or collective actions and praxis. The framework is applied employing an empirical research method based on meta-network analysis. The examplary case traces how management sciences related knowledge is diffused and what collaboration structures are exhibited by Turkish management academia from 1920s until 2008. Results from knowledge diffusion models which have been devised and tested in this study hint that management knowledge within local publications follows patterns of information diffusion rather than patterns of knowledge transfer found elsewhere. On the other hand, it is seen that cognitive demand of publishing in citation indexed global journals have given way to cohesive collaborating teams as mean of collaborative knowledge production and transfer.