The Effect of Knowledge Specialization on Unit Performance

Download or read book The Effect of Knowledge Specialization on Unit Performance written by Yea Hee Ko (Ph.D.) and published by . This book was released on 2022 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: With the advent of a knowledge-based economy, much scholarly attention has been devoted to professionals that hold expertise. Prior research often assumed that individuals acquire such knowledge and skills by their career choice. While this may be true, organizations also have significant discretion over how they shape their employees' expertise. Specifically, they decide how much to allow employees to specialize in different knowledge domains so that each employee holds unique expertise within the organization. In this dissertation, I define knowledge specialization at the collective level as the degree of non-overlap between employees' expertise accumulated in organizations. I then look at how knowledge specialization affects unit performance as a function of key human resource practices (i.e., centralized training and automation) and collective turnover, all of which have important implications on the knowledge at the individual, interpersonal, and organizational levels. To test my hypotheses, I use two longitudinal samples from the USPTO's patent examiners (obtained via the filing of Freedom of Information Act requests and public sources), track objective records on the examiner's work assignments, and utilize the USPTO's policy interventions. I find that knowledge specialization increases unit performance but that such performance benefits are sensitive to collective turnover. Results further indicate that centralized training and automation can act as buffers for turnover disruptions in specialized units.