Lecturers as Knowledge Brokers in Maritime Digital Business Education: A Thematic Analysis

Abstract

Maritime vocational lecturers occupy a structurally distinctive knowledge intermediary position: former practitioners maintaining active or residual industry connections while simultaneously holding academic curriculum delivery responsibilities, they function — formally or informally — as channels through which rapidly evolving digital business knowledge from maritime industry practice is translated into classroom instructional content. This knowledge brokering function, while institutionally under-recognized and unsupported, may constitute the most agile knowledge update mechanism available to maritime vocational institutions whose formal curriculum revision processes operate on multi-year cycles misaligned with the monthly pace of digital business transformation in port and shipping contexts. This study examines lecturers as knowledge brokers in maritime digital business education through qualitative focus group discussions with 30 STIP Jakarta lecturers across Port and Shipping Management (PSM), Deck Nautical (DN), and Marine Engineering (ENG) programs. Thematic analysis generates four themes: Informal Industrial Intelligence Networks, Tacit-to-Explicit Knowledge Translation, Structural Support Deficit, and Differential Brokering Capacity. PSM lecturers exhibit the most active and digitally current brokering networks; former seafarer lecturers across all three programs demonstrate substantially stronger brokering capacity than non-seafarer colleagues. The study contributes the first knowledge-broker-framed analysis of maritime vocational lecturer roles and provides specific institutional support recommendations for formalizing and amplifying STIP Jakarta's lecturer knowledge-brokering function as a digital business curriculum agility mechanism.