Knowledge Collaboration Among Fashion Designers: An A Priori Conceptual Model

Authors

  • Sunil Bhalla Department of Decision Science, Faculty of Business and Economics, Universiti Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6891-1618
  • Nurhidayah Bahar Center for Software Technology and Management, Faculty of Information Science and Technology, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Bangi, Selangor, Malaysia https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7214-2302
  • Kanagi Kanapathy Department of Decision Science, Faculty of Business and Economics, Universiti Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3710-2249

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.34190/ejkm.21.3.2928

Keywords:

Knowledge collaboration, Communities of practice, Fashion and design, Fashion designers, Information and communication technology, A priori conceptual model

Abstract

Whilst collaboration from the branding and marketing perspective for the fashion industry is well documented, little is known about the knowledge collaboration (KC) of fashion designers, and how information and communication technology (ICT) is involved within their Communities of Practice (CoPs). This paper proposes an a priori conceptual model to enable the examination of KC among fashion designers within their CoPs. It aims to interlink the concepts of KC, CoPs, and ICT to understand fashion designers in their social learning reality. In that regard, the a priori conceptual model addresses three broad research questions: 1) How do fashion designers collaborate? 2) How do they participate within their professional communities? And 3) Does ICT play a role? The concepts used in the a priori conceptual model will be interlinked with specific indicators extracted from past studies. Since past studies had not focused on this area of research before, future studies can benefit from the a priori conceptual model by applying it to examine KC within CoPs of fashion designers or other groups.

Author Biographies

Sunil Bhalla, Department of Decision Science, Faculty of Business and Economics, Universiti Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Sunil Bhalla is a doctoral candidate at the Department of Decision Science, Faculty of Business and Economics, Universiti Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. He holds two master’s degrees, one in business administration (MBA) with dual concentration in finance and human resource management and another in public administration (MPA) focusing on political economy. Both degrees are from Universiti Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. His can be contacted at sunil@sunilbhalla.com

Nurhidayah Bahar, Center for Software Technology and Management, Faculty of Information Science and Technology, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Bangi, Selangor, Malaysia

Nurhidayah Bahar is a Senior Lecturer at the Centre for Software Technology and Management, Faculty of Information Science and Technology, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Bangi, Selangor, Malaysia. She undertakes research and teaching in the domains of information technology/information systems including knowledge management, databases, and e-commerce. She holds a PhD in knowledge management from Universiti Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. She can be contacted at nbahar@ukm.edu.my

Kanagi Kanapathy, Department of Decision Science, Faculty of Business and Economics, Universiti Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Kanagi Kanapathy is an Associate Professor of Operations Management at the Department of Decision Science, Faculty of Business and Economics, Universiti Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. A versatile educator and researcher, she has more than 20 years’ experience in academia. Prior to academia she spent 10 years in industry. She has published widely in area of operations and supply chain management. She holds a Doctorate in Business Administration (DBA) in quality management from the University of South Australia. She can be contacted at kanagik@um.edu.my

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Published

27 Nov 2023

Issue

Vol. 21 No. 3 (2023)

Section

Articles

License

Copyright (c) 2023 Sunil Bhalla, Nurhidayah Bahar, Kanagi Kanapathy

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

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