Knowledge Leadership in Value Networks: The Joint Effect of Trustworthiness Factors and Levers of Control"

Literature recognizes that the ability to learn, to generate new ideas, to propose new untried solutions to problems and in general to be creative, seems to be related to the ability of the company to create a significant network in order to acquire and generate new knowledge. A value network is the network of relationships that creates tangible and intangible value through the complex and dynamic exchanges between two or more organizations. According to Holsapple and Jones’ model the Knowledge leadership is recognized as a key factor that refers to the ability of establishing conditions which could lead the knowledge chain in a value generation perspective. The authors suggest that knowledge leadership is characterized by being a catalyst for traits such as inspiring, mentoring, learning, teaching and knowledge sharing. In a network perspective, the trust between a network’s members as well as the tools of control implemented within the network can affect the development of knowledge leadership. Our research elaborates a conceptual framework that shows how different trust factors suggested by Mayer et al (1995) - namely ability, benevolence and integrity - could be used jointly with the levers of control (LOCs) suggested by Simons (1995) - namely, belief, boundary, diagnostic and interactive LOCs - to create a dynamic tension for enabling effective knowledge leadership development. The conceptual framework explicates when trust and levers of control substitute for each other, when they reinforce each other and when they could be used in a dynamic tension perspective in order to facilitate the knowledge leadership process. In addition, the conceptual framework suggests how control tools in a low trust environment can support the development of trust. Focusing on these lines of research a qualitative approach has been used through 20 value networks developed for realizing new product/process development based in Italy.