Lukas Zenk

Danube University Krems · Department of Knowledge and Communication Management

This paper examines the need for innovation in phosphorus fertilizer production. An important area requiring action is the use of sulfuric acid in the wet chemical process (WCP), which is the dominant process in phosphate fertilizer production. About 50 % of the sulfuric acid produced worldwide is used for fertilizers, and ~95 % of the world's fert...

In today's increasingly complex, uncertain environments, disciplinary knowledge alone is no longer sufficient to cope with new societal challenges and real-world problems. Meta-competences, which include advanced thinking skills and creativity, go beyond these domain-specific competences. Along those lines, a methodological question arises regardin...

Considerable evidence links the “Big Five” personality traits (neuroticism, extroversion, conscientiousness, agreeableness, and openness) with depression. However, potential mediating and moderating factors are less well understood. We utilized data from a cross-sectional survey of 3065 German-speaking adults from the D-A-CH region to estimate mult...

Misinformation, lack of trust, and uncertainty during the COVID-19 pandemic have fostered the emergence of new conspiracy theories. In August 2021, we examined the association of individual personality traits and socio-environmental factors with high belief in pandemic-related conspiracies through an online survey among 3,067 quota-sampled German-s...

Interpersonal trust declined worldwide during the COVID-19 pandemic; strategies are needed to restore it. We surveyed 3,065 quota-sampled German-speaking adults residing in the D-A-CH region. Using multinomial logistic regression models and backward elimination for variable selection, we calculated multivariable-adjusted odds ratios (OR) and 95% co...

In today's increasingly complex, rapidly changing world, organizations are challenged to not only adapt to VUCA environments but also exploit new market niches. Even so, they continue to be regarded as machine-like and deterministic instead of living, evolving systems. In this chapter, we examine organizations in relation to the tension between det...

Navigating today’s crises requires transcending one-dimensional, exclusively science-centered approaches. This article advocates a transdisciplinary strategy, integrating diverse perspectives to address complex issues like poly-crises. It emphasizes the potential of mutual learning and knowledge co-generation between science and society for fosteri...

Educational measures in line with challenges related to increasing complexity need to go beyond traditional educational means and require the integration of the basic competences of systems thinking and complexity understanding. In addition, the chapter argues for a transdisciplinary approach, based on knowledge integration across disciplines and b...

Purpose The dynamics of modern life lead to societal changes that affect innovation systems. Entrepreneurship is an important driver for fostering adaptive capacities of innovation systems in such uncertain and complex environments. This study aims to gain a detailed understanding of how (innovative) entrepreneurship can promote innovation systems,...

Mehr als ein Drittel aller Dialysepatient:innen leidet unter moderatem bis schwerem Chronic Kidney Disease-associated Pruritus (CKD-aP), der mit einer Beeinträchtigung der Lebensqualität, Depressionen und je nach Schweregrad sogar mit einem erhöhtem Infektions- und Sterberisiko assoziiert ist. Ebenso hoch ist der Anteil jener ärztlichen Leiter:inne...

Environmental decision-making and negotiations take place at the science-policy interface. While this fact is understood, it is challenging to convey to students how science and policy interact in environmental studies and social sciences. In this context, simulating environmental negotiations in serious games are effective experimental learning to...

Background Emergence of new coronavirus variants and waning immunity may necessitate regular COVID-19 vaccine boosters, but empirical data on population willingness for regular vaccination are limited. Methods In August 2021, we surveyed 3,067 quota-sampled German-speaking adults residing in the D-A-CH region (Germany, Austria, Switzerland). Using...

The dynamics and complexity of the challenges of our work and lives result in a high number of unpredictable situations. The phenomenon of improvisation describes actions performed in the context of such situations that require people to find new, appropriate solutions in which no pre-planned actions or routines can be carried out. Most of the lite...

The funded research and teaching project “Transition, Innovation and Sustainability Environments” (TISE) offers a worldwide unique academic program covering social systems in transition. TISE delivers a holistic take on transitional processes from a diverse point of view, integrating the knowledge, experiences and competences of four different inst...

In this paper, we argue that the important contribution of modern entrepreneurs is not only related to business aims, but also to dealing with complex societal real-world challenges in a systemic, creative, and future-oriented manner. Thus, entrepreneurship is beyond the simplified idea to develop a concept of a business model, but to understand it...

Objectives To explore changes in quality of life and perceived productivity, focusing on the effects of working from home during the first COVID-19 50-day mitigation period in Austria. Methods We conducted an Austrian-representative online survey ( N = 1010) of self-reported life- and work-related changes during the first COVID-19 50-day mitigatio...

The number of students participating in academic continuing education programmes has steadily increased over recent years. However, currently, little is known about the experiences and learning conditions of adult students. This study examines students’ experiences of physical learning environments on an academic continuing education university cam...

Purpose Do LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY® (LSP) workshops result in improved experience of flow components as well as higher levels of creative output than traditional meetings (MEET)? This research studies the extent to which LSP, as a specialized material-mediated and process-oriented cocreative workshop setting, differs from MEET, a traditional workshop se...

Various collaborative innovation methods are increasingly used in strategy development and the implementation of organizational challenges. The aim of applying them is to involve different agents of an organization and support them in generating new ideas in a joint effort. For this research, an experimental field study was conducted in the course...

Intraorganizational knowledge and information sharing are important steps toward more-accessible organizational knowledge. The aim of this study is to qualitatively explore factors that contribute to employees' motivations for sustaining intraorganizational knowledge-sharing behaviors and to examine the impact of these factors in a quantitative stu...

Background: With the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic surging and new mutations evolving, trust in vaccines is essential. Methods: We explored correlates of vaccine hesitancy, considering political believes and psychosocial concepts, conducting a non-probability quota-sampled online survey with 1007 Austrians. Results: We identified s...

We would like to extend on the article by Alley et al [...]

Some phosphate rock contains elevated concentrations of natural uranium. China is the largest phosphate rock producing country in the world and will soon have the largest uranium requirements in the world as well. Most phosphate rock deposits in China show low uranium concentrations (20–30 mg/kg) so that the recovery of radiotoxic heavy metals is n...

COVID-19 has been a stress test for our globalized society. The results, thus far, have not been encouraging. While responses and outcomes have varied across regions and countries, the pandemic has also revealed severe weaknesses in coordination at all scales, from local and regional to national and global. There are many reasons for this lack of c...

Although the first coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) wave has peaked with the second wave underway, the world is still struggling to manage potential systemic risks and unpredictability of the pandemic. A particular challenge is the "superspreading" of the virus, which starts abruptly, is difficult to predict, and can quickly escalate into medica...

Various studies have indicated that unaccompanied minor refugees (UMRs) have a higher risk of suffering from mental health problems than do accompanied minor refugees and general population norm. However, only a few studies provide data on UMRs regarding post-migration risk factors, their interrelations, and their influence on mental health. In thi...

COVID-19 painfully demonstrates how little resilience our societies have to novel viruses. Societies, decision makers, and scientists lack (1) a comprehensive understanding of the complexity of viral outbreaks and their impact on society; (2) intervention portfolios; and (3) a global crisis and resilience policy, all of which are required to develo...

It is estimated that during the period 2020–2025, about 30% of the employees at the Austrian Ministry of Defence will retire. This raises the question of how to encourage employees to share informal knowledge in order to successfully embrace organisational change in increasingly digitised environments with a view to retaining them long-term. Throug...

Problems resulting from the increasing complexity of today’s real-world challenges cannot be solved with standard solutions, and the need for innovation competence is more important than ever. In this societal transition, the role of higher education institutions changes, and meta-innovations in which tacit knowledge is transmitted in the context o...

Recent research on implicit cognition supports that a person’s explicitly self-reported attitude may not necessarily be consistent with their implicit attitude. However, in sustainability research, implicit cognitive measures are still at their early stages, considering primarily single aspects of sustainability only. Here, we pose that the degree...

Meeting design is the art, business, and science of creating events that matter. The word “event” comprises all kinds of social situations such as conferences and conventions, where people have temporary opportunities to share or generate knowledge. And these situations should matter to those who attend the event. But here the question arises: Why...

Nowadays a huge number of events are offered worldwide that aim at exchanging and generating knowledge. They come in many different formats and sizes: conferences, conventions, and other forms of meetings try to meet the expectations of their target audiences. While they all differ in detail and scope, on a deeper level they also share specific cor...

Social systems can be seen as complex adaptive systems. They organize themselves through social action, while culture creates the structure in which social action takes place. Cognitive schemas of interpretation are the fundament on which people classify, integrate and store cultural relevant information. Although they are mostly automated and not...

www.designing.events We assume that if you are reading this book then you probably also know how to organize an event like a conference or convention. You are, no doubt, also familiar with the main ingredients for success: a distinguished keynote speaker, interesting and lively presentations, good food, vibrant networking breaks, and a relaxing, e...

Patents, archived as large collections of semi-structured text documents, contain valuable information about historical trends and current states of R&D fields, as well as performances of single inventors and companies. Specific methods are needed to unlock this information and enable its insightful analysis by investors, executives, funding agenci...

This article takes information visualization to the field of academic conferences and conventions, to explore how cognition and communication of participants could be supported in such ephemeral, knowledge-intensive environments. With focus on a non-invasive method of data collection, we consider the levels of topical, social, temporal and spatial...

In recent years, the analysis of dynamic network data has become an increasingly prominent research issue. While several visual analytics techniques with the focus on the examination of temporal evolving networks have been proposed in recent years, their effectiveness and utility for end users need to be further analyzed. When dealing with techniqu...

In diesem einführenden Kapitel werden in kompakter Form die Grundlagen der sozialen Netzwerkanalyse vorgestellt. Mit einem Schwerpunkt auf der Anwendung in Organisationen werden folgende Fragen adressiert: Wie ist die soziale Netzwerkanalyse entstanden und was sind ihre Grundkonzepte? Wie kommt sie in Organisationen zur Anwendung und was sind prakt...

Konferenzen, Kongresse und Tagungen ermöglichen Menschen, auch außerhalb ihres eigenen Arbeitsfelds neue Kontakte für innovative Kooperationen zu knüpfen. Durch empirische Netzwerkanalysen konnte jedoch gezeigt werden, dass sich Teilnehmer von Veranstaltungen nicht so vernetzen, wie sie das gerne hätten.

The analysis of dynamic network data has become an increasingly relevant research issue, showing a high potential for applied use in organizations. To unlock its potential also for the target user group of non-domain experts, we introduce a software prototype, which provides different views on network dynamics, intertwining network analytical measu...

21 Artikel von Beiträgen der 2. Kremser WIssensmanagement-Tage. Im Zentrum der Konferenz stand angewandtes Wissensmanagement, wobei der Dialog zwischen Wissenschaft und Praxis nicht zu kurz kam. Die verbindende Klammer der Beiträge dieses Bandes ist die Gestaltung gelingender Wissenskommunikation durch geeignete Mittel, wie Story Telling, Debriefin...

This paper addresses the question of how communication structures arise in high and low performing teams. It draws on different social theories to predict typical patterns that correlate with high or low team performance. This theoretical approach is evaluated using data from virtual teams in an experimental design. We show that a high level of rec...

If we consider the aspect of “situatedness” in translation, it becomes clear that social connections have a key influence on the work process. Five years after the completion of a case study examining the roles, competences and work coordination of translation project managers (performed in 2002), a follow-up study was performed in the same company...

The visualization and analysis of dynamic social networks are challenging problems, demanding the simultaneous consideration of relational and temporal aspects. In order to follow the evolution of a network over time, we need to detect not only which nodes and which links change and when these changes occur, but also the impact they have on their n...

The potential of social network analysis (SNA) to foster knowledge management initiatives by providing insights into organizational communication and collaboration infrastructures has been the topic of frequent discussion (Swan et. al., 1999; Cross et. al., 2001, 2003; Marouf, 2007; Marouf and Doreian, 2010). In contrast to the formal tree structur...

Collaboration is the way work gets done in organisations. Therefore social networks of different types, functions and compositions have become an inevitable precondition of organisational performance. Moreover, these networks are not static, but changing over time. Organisational analysts are seeking for appropriate tools and methods supporting the...

Durch die immer schnelleren Veränderungen im Markt stehen Organisationen vor der Aufgabe ihre intra-organisationalen Kommunikationsnetzwerke effizient an die gegebenen Anforderungen anzupassen (Brass et al., 2004). Teams nehmen als kooperative Basiseinheiten eine wesentliche Rolle ein um die gesetzten Ziele der Organisationen zu erreichen und es ko...

Despite its well-known potential for applied use in organizations, social network analysis seems to fail relevant business analytical requirements in the areas of organizational change and software usability for non-expert users like managers and consultants. This position paper takes on this challenge by outlining a strategy of user-driven softwar...

Using longitudinal data from a graduate course (with 97 students grouped into 18 teams) we analyze the emergence of collaborative working patterns and the influence of personal traits on team performance and individual team member satisfaction. We find a positive effect of global centrality measures on individual satisfaction, while local centralit...

The visualization and analysis of dynamic networks have become increasingly important in several fields, for instance sociology or economics. The dynamic and multi-relational nature of this data poses the challenge of understanding both its topological structure and how it changes over time. In this paper we propose a visual analytics approach for...

In this paper, we present a case study of applying visual analytics methods to explore a dynamic social network. The visualization and analysis of this kind of data is challenging because of its relational and temporal nature. We illustrate a method and its prototypical implementation that integrate: the combination of three views based on node-lin...

Die Stärken der Sozialen Netzwerkanalyse in der Darstellung tatsächlicher Kommunikationsflüsse und informeller Muster der Zusammenarbeit in Gruppen und Organisationen wurden bereits weitgehend diskutiert. Verschiedene Kombinationen von Methoden und Algorithmen stehen zu Verfügung, um kommunikative Beziehungsmuster zu erheben und als statische Netzw...

Since organizations are dynamic systems, they change over time. Communication within organizations represents these changes. The use of social network analysis is an established (although still not common) approach to better understanding organizational structures. Methods and business applications for dynamic analyses are still a new, though promi...

The dynamic communication network within teams affects the performance of teams. But how can we analyze these emerging networks? We identified three research areas that have to be included for this purpose. First we summarize empirical studies concerning team networks and performance to point out the need of longitudinal investigations. Second we p...

Im Rahmen des vorliegenden Artikels soll die Entwicklung der Kognitionswissenschaft von ihren Anfängen hin zu ihrer heutigen Form nachgezeichnet werden, die durch das multiparadigmatische Nebeneinander von vielen einander ergänzenden Ansätzen gekennzeichnet ist (Teil 1). Dabei soll vor allem eine Entwicklungslinie hervorgehoben werden, die unter de...

Die Arbeitsinstrumente im Bereich der Translation reichen von der gewöhnlichen Bürotechnik bis zu orts- und zeitunabhängig anwendbaren Online-Programmen, die spezifisch für die Translationspraxis gestaltet worden sind. Neue Technologie „ermöglicht nicht nur ein effektiveres Arbeiten, sondern zwingt zugleich zu neuen Konzepten und zu einem neuen Den...

Sophisticated knowledge of individuals on the one hand and collective collaboration between various disciplines and teams on the other hand are required for complex products and services. Work-related individual and organizational learning processes in organizations provide the foundations for such individual and organizational knowledge and capabi...

Complex products and services require both the sophisticated knowledge of individuals on the one hand and collective collaboration between various disciplines and teams on the other. Work-related individual and organizational learning processes in organizations appear to provide the foundations for such individual and organizational knowledge and c...

Empirical research suggests that there is an impact of organizational characteristics on individual work-related learning processes. In this paper, we propose a model of relevant organizational factors. An assessment methodology based on a literature survey and activity theory is summarized. First results of an empirical validation are presented wi...

So allgegenwärtig Organisationen in der modernen Gesellschaft auch sind und so unverzichtbar sie zu Regelung und Erhalt aller Lebensbereiche auch sein mögen, so allgegenwärtig sind auch Phänomene der Intransparenz oder Unverständlichkeit dieser komplexen sozialen Systeme für externe Beobachter und interne Mitglieder1.Dies gilt prinzipiell für größe...

Individual and organisational learning are interconnected processes (e.g. Kim 1993, Schwaninger 2006). They influence each other substantially and are difficult to differentiate. In the PROLIX project, the organisational context at the test beds is assessed with regard to both these learning processes. This paper summarises the theoretical and meth...

Work-related learning is influenced not only by trainee characteristics, trainers and learning material but also by situational elements and the organisational context in which the learning takes place. Within the project PROLIX a first version of a learning assessment guideline (LAG) has been developed. It permits the analysis of those organisatio...

Using organisational theory, activity theory and didactics as theoretical foundations, a comprehensive model of the organisational dimensions relevant for learning and knowledge transfer will be proposed. In a second step, a Learning Assessment Guideline will be elaborated. This guideline will be designed to permit a targeted analysis of organisati...

Der Begriff des „Systems“ lässt sich in unterschiedlichsten Kontexten und Variationen finden. Von „systemischen Beratungen“ bis hin zur Forschung an „komplexen dynamischen Systemen“ scheint ein sehr vielseitiger und anpassungsfähiger Grundbegriff vorzuliegen. Und auch unter dem Deckmantel anderer Begriffe wie z.B. Chaostheorie, Synergetik oder Kybe...

Using longitudinal data from a graduate management course (with 97 students grouped into 18 teams) we analyze the evolution of collaborative working patterns, and the influence of personal traits on group performance and individual team member satisfaction. Our results indicate that the aggregation of power within working groups is detrimental for...