Skip Navigation


Health Education Research Advance Access originally published online on June 15, 2009
Health Education Research 2009 24(6):967-976; doi:10.1093/her/cyp030
This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow All Versions of this Article:
24/6/967    most recent
cyp030v1
Right arrow E-letters: Submit a response
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me when E-letters are posted
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Right arrow Disclaimer
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Ramanadhan, S.
Right arrow Articles by Viswanath, K.
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Ramanadhan, S.
Right arrow Articles by Viswanath, K.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

© The Author 2009. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

Extra-team connections for knowledge transfer between staff teams

Shoba Ramanadhan1,3,*, Jean L. Wiecha2, Karen M. Emmons1, Steven L. Gortmaker1 and Kasisomayajula Viswanath1

1 Department of Society, Human Development and Health
2 Harvard Prevention Research Center, Harvard School of Public Health, 677 Huntington Avenue, 7th Floor, Boston, MA 02115, USA

* Correspondence to: Shoba Ramanadhan. E-mail: shoba{at}aya.yale.edu

As organizations implement novel health promotion programs across multiple sites, they face great challenges related to knowledge management. Staff social networks may be a useful medium for transferring program-related knowledge in multi-site implementation efforts. To study this potential, we focused on the role of extra-team connections (ties between staff members based in different site teams) as potential channels for knowledge sharing. Data come from a cross-sectional study of afterschool childcare staff implementing a health promotion program at 20 urban sites of the Young Men's Christian Association of Greater Boston. We conducted a sociometric social network analysis and attempted a census of 91 program staff members. We surveyed 80 individuals, and included 73 coordinators and general staff, who lead and support implementation, respectively, in this study. A multiple linear regression model demonstrated a positive relationship between extra-team connections (β = 3.41, P < 0.0001) and skill receipt, a measure of knowledge transfer. We also found that intra-team connections (within-team ties between staff members) were also positively related to skill receipt. Connections between teams appear to support knowledge transfer in this network, but likely require greater active facilitation, perhaps via organizational changes. Further research on extra-team connections and knowledge transfer in low-resource, high turnover environments is needed.

3 Present address: Yale School of Public Health, 60 College Street, PO Box 208034, New Haven, CT 06520-8034, USA.

Received on October 13, 2008; accepted on May 11, 2009


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?




Disclaimer: Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.