Events

Februari 5, 2010. KIN Research Seminar

Mark Thompson from the Judge Business School at the University of Cambridge UK about communities of practice and organization science. For more information about Mark Thompson click here


November 10, 2009. KIN Research Seminar

Stewart Clegg (for more info click here) is full professor at the School of Management at the University of Technology Sydney (ITS) and visiting professor at VU University Amsterdam (social sciences). He also directs ICAN (Innovative Collaborations Alliances & Networks) Research at UTS. His research interests include a broad arrange of topics (Organisation and Management Theory, Power, Theory, and Projects). He has produced many books, including the Academy of Management award-winning Handbook of Organization Studies (1996, with Cynthia Hardy and Walter Nord), the Eight Volume Central Currents in Organization Studies (2003), Debating Organizations (2003), with Robert Westwood, and presently he has a number of ARC competitive grants and is one of the most published and cited authors in the top-tier journals in the Organization Studies field.

Current and future work include projects developing and delivering several International Encyclopaedia, Dictionaries and Handbooks in the organizations field, writing a Foundations of Organization Science textbook on Power in Organizations (with Nelson Phillips and David Courpasson). This seminar is aimed towards scientific staff ot the VU and affiliated universities. It is a closed seminar with a limited number of participants (registration required)

September 9, 2009. KIN Research Seminar

Etienne Wenger (http://www.ewenger.com/) is a global thought leader in the field of communities of practice and social learning systems. He is the author and co-author of seminal books on communities of practice, including Situated Learning, where the term was coined, Communities of Practice: learning, meaning, and identity, where he lays out a theory of learning based on the concept, Cultivating Communities of Practice, addressed to practitioners in organizations who want to base their knowledge strategy on communities of practice, and Digital Habitats on technology for communities. Etienne helps organizations in all sectors apply these ideas through consulting, public speaking, teaching, and research. This seminar is aimed towards scientific staff ot the VU and affiliated universities. It is a closed seminar with a limited number of participants (registration required)

May 27, 2009. Top Paper Award for Alexander Schouten.

Marjolijn Antheunis (U of Amsterdam) and Alexander Schouten won a top-paper award on the 2009 International Communication Association Conference in Chicago for their paper titled 'Intervening Processes between Computer-Mediated Communication and Interpersonal Attraction: An experimental Comparison'. The paper investigated the relationship between computer-mediated communication and interpersonal attraction. An experiment was conducted in which 81 male-female dyads interacted in one of three experimental conditions: text-only chat, text-chat supported by a webcam, and face-to-face interaction. Content analysis conducted on the conversations showed interpersonal attraction to be higher in both chat conditions than in the face-to-face condition. Depth of self-disclosure and question asking mediated the CMC-interpersonal attraction relationship. No differences were found between the webcam and text-only conditions. The results have implications for how people interact in mediated environments and question the effects that are usually attributed to visual cues.

The paper was chosen as one of three top papers from over 300 submitted papers in the ICA's Communication and Technology division.

8 Mei 2009. Promotie Selmar Meents

'De invloed van verkopers en de intermediair op vertrouwen van kopers op elektronische marktplaatsen voor particulieren'

De populariteit van elektronische marktplaatsen voor particulieren (bijv. Marktplaats.nl en eBay.nl) is de afgelopen jaren toegenomen. Zulke online vormen van fysieke handelsplaatsen worden mogelijk gemaakt door zowel verkopers als een bedrijf dat de handelsplaats aanbiedt, oftewel de intermediair. Meestal zijn mensen in dergelijke transactie-omgevingen slechts bereid te kopen als zij niet alleen de verkopers vertrouwen, maar ook de intermediair. Toch is onduidelijk hoe en in hoeverre aankoopgedrag wordt beïnvloed door dit vertrouwen. Bovendien is het de vraag wat het mogelijke effect is van verkopers en de intermediair op de wijze waarop vertrouwen wordt gevormd. Antwoorden op deze vragen zijn niet alleen interessant voor de wetenschap, maar ook voor de praktijk. Ze bieden immers inzicht in het belang van vertrouwen voor elektronische marktplaatsen en in de mogelijkheden die verkopers en intermediairs hebben om dit vertrouwen te stimuleren.

Met het oog hierop bestudeert Selmar Meents in drie empirische studies de verbanden tussen 12 kwaliteitsaspecten van elektronische marktplaatsen, vertrouwen en de attitude van kopers ten opzichte van het doen van een aankoop. De resultaten tonen het volgende. De aankoopattitude is direct en in aanzienlijke mate afhankelijk van vertrouwen in de verkopers. Dit vertrouwen wordt sterk bepaald door vertrouwen in de intermediair. Vertrouwen in de intermediair wordt op haar beurt beïnvloed door de kwaliteit van het tot stand komen van prijzen, het formele toezicht door de intermediair, en de gemeenschap van gebruikers. Daarentegen is vertrouwen in de verkopers afhankelijk van de kwaliteit van de productweergave, en de mogelijkheden die verkopers bieden om hen in persoon te ontmoeten.

First KIN Masters: A festive graduation!

On Friday, October 24, a full room at the Atrium. People came flocking in from near and far. Some were happy and relieved, others proud or nervous, and most with their cameras at the ready.

Today 14 students graduated within the KIN research group, of which 5 became Masters of Science for E-Business, and 9 received an MSc in Knowledge Management & Networks. Nima Amiryany, Stephan Baart, Danielle Brouwer, Roos Erkelens (cum laude), GertJan Olden (parttime), Tugba Polat, Mark Ridderhof, Jessy van Thiel and Krista den Uijl (cum laude) were the first graduates of this KM&N master track within the Business Administration specialization Management Studies. They graduated on topics such as factors that influence project based learning, how to overcome boundaries to knowledge sharing, managing networks of practice, knowledge retention in production work, knowledge sharing in alliances et cetera. Theses were based on research at leading organizations including Logica CMG, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, IBA, Atos Origin, Beerenschot, Twijnstra Gudde, Philips, Corus, et cetera.

Family and friends who were present could (finally) hear about the studies that were undertaken, meet supervisors, and get to know how their son/daughter/friend was perceived by their supervisors (causing some comic intermezzos). At the end, after everyone received a speech and had signed their diplomas, it was time for a group portrait. Now the ‘paparazzi' took their chance to get a good shot (pictures to follow). Finally, it was time for a drink; everyone was happy and relieved!