Here is a solution that may help with this strange behaviour. I couldn't find a better solution than place a button to manually trigger the change event.
EDIT: Maybe a custom binding like this could help:
ko.bindingHandlers.changeSelectValue = {
init: function(element,valueAccessor){
$(element).change(function(){
var value = $(element).val();
if($(element).is(":focus")){
//Do whatever you want with the new value
}
});
}
};
And in your select data-bind attribute add:
changeSelectValue: yourSelectValue