Browsing by Author "Cummings, Sarah"

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    The future of knowledge brokering: perspectives from a generational framework of knowledge management for international development
    (Information Development, 2019) Cummings, Sarah; Kiwanuka, Suzanne; Gillman, Helen; Regeer, Barbara
    Knowledge brokering has a crucial role in the field of international development because it is able to act as a cognitive bridge between many different types of knowledge, such as between local and global knowledge. Much of the research on knowledge brokering has focused on knowledge brokering between research, policy and practice, rather than looking at its wider implications. In addition, there appears to be no literature on the future of knowledge brokering, either within or outside the development sector. Given the apparent absence of literature on the future of knowledge brokering, a discussion group was held with experts in the field of knowledge management for development (KM4D) in April 2017 to consider their opinions on the future of knowledge brokering. Their opinions are then compared to the generational framework of KM4D, developed in a series of iterations by researchers in mainstream (non-development) knowledge management (KM) and KM4D researchers. In this framework, five generations of KM4D with different key perspectives, methods and tools have been identified. Based on the inputs from the experts in the discussion group, the future of knowledge brokering practice in international development appears to resemble practice-based, fourth generation KM4D, while there is some evidence of the emergence of fifth generation KM4D with its more systematic, societal perspective on knowledge. Given that the Sustainable Development Goals are providing a universal framework which is relevant to both organizational and societal KM4D, a new systemic conceptualization of KM4D is proposed which brings both of these strands together in one integrated framework linked to the SDGs. The SDGs also support the call for a new knowledge brokering practice with a greater emphasis on brokering knowledge between organizational and societal actors.
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    The private sector as the ‘unusual suspect’ in knowledge brokering for international sustainable development: a critical review
    (Knowledge Management for Development Journal, 2020) Kiwanuka, Suzanne N.; Cummings, Sarah; Regeer, Barbara
    Although the private sector’s engagement in sustainable international development is receiving increasing emphasis, its role in knowledge brokering has probably not yet received enough attention. Drawing on the Glegg and Hoens’ (2016) meta-framework of knowledge brokering we analysed the role of the private sector in knowledge brokering in Europe and Africa, based on the literature. Of the 702 records identified from 5 bibliographic databases, 13 studies, representing 44 case studies and two surveys were included. The private sector’s roles are versatile, extending beyond connecting research evidence to potential users, to connecting researchers to funding opportunities and to other researchers, and to hosting platforms for collaborative research and policy making. The private sector actively invests resources to facilitate knowledge uptake, however this is to a large extent driven by self-interest. Perceived self-interests remain a barrier to knowledge brokering with the private sector not always being a trusted partner. Our results demonstrate that ‘lobbying and advocacy’ should be an additional role included in the meta framework of knowledge brokering
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    The private sector in knowledge brokering for international development: what the experts say
    (Information Development, 2020) Cummings, Sarah; Kiwanuka, Suzanne; Regeer, Barbara
    This article contributes to the emerging body of knowledge on the role of the private sector in knowledge brokering in international development because very little is known about the role of the private sector. It attempts to validate the findings of the only literature review to date (Kiwanuka et al, In Press) on the subject and other literature on knowledge brokering by consulting international experts in the field of knowledge brokering, identifying policy and research implications. The conceptual lens employed is the ‘extended’ Glegg and Hoens’ (2016) meta-framework of knowledge brokering, in combination with the cognitive, relational and structural aspects of social capital (Nahapiet and Ghoshal 1998). An online questionnaire survey was distributed to international experts in both the private, public and civil society sectors with some 203 respondents. The questions were developed on the basis of the literature. Respondents from the private sector and their colleagues from the public sector and civil society placed considerable emphasis on opportunities to meet, the existence of personal relationships and brokering by third parties as catalysts to working with the private sector. In addition to developing recommendations for policymakers, the paper has added to the emerging body of academic knowledge on the private sector as an unusual suspect in knowledge brokering and provides a conceptual framework linking social capital to knowledge brokering roles. Policymakers and funders can facilitate cooperation between the private sector and other development actors by creating physical spaces and funding instruments to encourage collaboration with the private sector. One of the novel findings is that the public sector needs to be better prepared to collaborate with the private sector.