Tacit knowledge: review and possible research directions

Learning from graduate students' non-formal evaluation experiences in university-based centers

This paper examines graduate research assistants' informal applied learning experiences on the evaluation team at a university-based agricultural safety and health research center. The case study aims to identify the specific learning outcomes derived from the experience, as described by students, and the factors that facilitated them. The research team used a semi-structured focus group tool, and the focus group participants conducted their own analysis and interpretation of the data. An inductive qualitative analysis revealed that students had new perspectives on evaluation, greater evaluation knowledge, and comfort using evaluative tools. Students expressed that key factors like trust, respect, and reflective practice effectively fostered learning. These data were corroborated using deductive analysis using Fink's Taxonomy of Significant Learning. Ultimately, the study supports the value of informal applied learning experiences for students, particularly in the field of evaluation, and describes a model of support to facilitate learning in various contexts.

Management of knowledge and competence through human resource information system—A structured review

The fourth industrial revolution will be ushered in by future high technology, and as a result, the world will face new difficulties relating to people, the environment, and profitability. Accordingly, the competitive edge and long-term viability of businesses would depend on the knowledge workers who could overcome these excruciatingly difficult obstacles and have the knowledge and competency to influence the overall performance of any type of company. But managing knowledge workers falls under the purview of human resources, and only effective human resources tools, plans, and procedures can ensure the success of this task. One such tool, which has the capacity and capability to change the whole scenario in an organization's favor, is the human resource information system (HRIS). The purpose of this structured review is to provide insight into a field of HRM (i.e., HRIS) that has largely been neglected by other reviews of the literature and has only been briefly discussed by a small number of publications published in reputable, top-tier journals. A customized HRIS framework is the result of this structured literature review for managing knowledge and competence. The study presents the content analysis of 48 articles, systematically and purposefully selected for this literature review, published during the past three decades. The study has several implications for policymakers and HR practitioners.

Innovation intermediaries revised: a systematic literature review on innovation intermediaries’ role for knowledge sharing

The decision to collaborate for companies in knowledge exchange processes has become more complex due to a greater diversity of innovation intermediaries from companies, universities, government and societal actors. The aim of this study is to uncover and conceptualize the role of innovation intermediaries in knowledge sharing. Specifically in tacit knowledge sharing, intermediaries function as boundary spanners between various stakeholders in the innovation process. Despite this potential, which has been discussed in a large strand of case studies, there is no comprehensive concept to determine factors that influence innovation intermediaries in knowledge sharing. This paper develops an analytical framework of innovation intermediaries for prospective empirical work building on factors influencing innovation intermediaries in knowledge sharing by systematically reviewing related literature. It specifically presents what are the determinants, factors and indicators discussed empirically innovation intermediaries in knowledge sharing. The first results is that the measurement of innovative outcome intermediaries enables a broader perspective in comparison to traditional innovation indicators. The second results that literature discusses indirect innovation that enhances clients’ innovative capabilities and their entrepreneurial activities. The third results demonstrates, that while the internal perspective varies with the heterogeneous actors, the development of contextual knowledge of intermediaries in networks and its transfer is central for empirical analysis. The conceptualization of this framework paves the path for further research needed to uncover the role of intermediaries.

Reciprocal knowledge sharing: exploring professional–cultural knowledge sharing between expatriates and local nurses

Purpose

This study aims to explore how professional–cultural knowledge is reciprocally shared between experienced expatriates and novice local nurses. To address this, the situated learning in practice lens is combined with social exchange lens.

Design/methodology/approach

An interpretive case study methodology enabled an exploratory approach into the knowledge-sharing practices between experienced expatriates and novice local nurses in Saudi Arabia.

Findings

Insights gained in the fieldwork suggest that professional–cultural knowledge sharing (KS) often occurred through three primary practices, namely, developing a professional–cultural meaning, forming clinical competency development opportunities and intervening in unfamiliar professional–cultural situations. In addition, two micro-level conditions shaped the reciprocity of professional–cultural KS practices between expatriate and local nurses, which were individual differences and situational conditions.

Originality/value

This study advances and improves the understanding of two intertwined but rarely studied aspects of knowledge-sharing practices. The exploratory lens sought and gained rich insights into the knowledge-sharing practices between experienced and novice individuals and expatriate and local individuals.

Online course quality evaluation from the perspective of knowledge management: analysis of online reviews

Purpose

With the increasing popularity of online courses, their quality has become a public concern. Based on the perspective of knowledge management, this study aims to identify comprehensive and granular quality factors of online courses and analyze the relationships between the factors.

Design/methodology/approach

Following the principles of the grounded theory, interpretive structural modeling and cross-impact matrix multiplication applied to classification (MICMAC) analysis methods, this research uses reviews and comments garnered from Zhihu, which is the most popular online question-and-answer community in China, to conduct the analysis.

Findings

Based on the text data, 50 factors that potentially affect the quality of online courses are obtained. The analysis identifies the hierarchical relationships and dependent correlations between the factors.

Originality/value

The research uses the knowledge transformation model to classify content elements according to their degree of descriptiveness and provides practical and effective suggestions for improving the quality of online courses.

Team Social Media Usage and Team Creativity: The Role of Team Knowledge Sharing and Team-Member Exchange

Given that work teams have been widely used in a variety of organizations to complete critical tasks and that the use of social media in work teams has been growing, investigating whether and how team social media usage (TSMU) affects team creativity is imperative. However, little research has empirically explored how TSMU affects team creativity. This study divides TSMU into two categories, namely, work-related TSMU and relationship-related TSMU. Basing on communication visibility theory and social exchange theory, this study constructs a moderating mediation model to understand how TSMU affects team creativity. In this model, team knowledge sharing is used as mediating role and team-member exchange (TMX) is used as moderating role. Two-wave research data collected from 641 employees in 102 work teams in Chinese organizations are used for regression analysis. Results show that (1) Work-related TSMU and relationship-related TSMU are positively affect team creativity. (2) Team knowledge sharing plays a partly mediating effect on the relationship between work-related TSMU and team creativity and that between relationship-related TSMU and team creativity. (3) TMX not only positively moderates the indirect effect of work-related TSMU and relationship-related TSMU on team creativity through team knowledge sharing. Theoretical and practical implications are also discussed.

The role of tacit knowledge in communication and decision-making during emerging public health incidents

Strong communication systems for knowledge exchange are required to prevent, respond to and mitigate the effects of emerging public health incidents (EPHIs). The objective of this paper is to examine how "tacit knowledge" - implicit knowledge used to guide everyday practice - is employed in professional relationships and communication processes between public health and acute care settings. A qualitative study design was used to explore the experiences of key informants from public health and acute care settings in Ontario, Canada, to examine how specific dimensions of tacit knowledge are employed in communications about EPHIs. Twenty-six in-depth interviews were conducted from 2014 to 2015. The results describe the way in which participants employ discretion and knowledge of local context, and rely on relationships built on trust and credibility, to facilitate decision-making and communication during EPHIs. Given the uncertainty characterizing most EPHIs, communicators rely a great deal on their informal knowledge and networks which allow them to remain flexible and respond quickly to changing situations. The results reveal that communication about public health guidance during emergencies is a complex and active process that draws from past experiences of the individuals involved, and is shaped by the requirements of local circumstances. The broader implications of these findings for building resilient and responsive health systems are considered. In particular, for rethinking the authority of standardized forms of evidence in public health decision-making, and the importance of knowledge which is grounded in the uniqueness of specific local contexts.

Social media as a tool of knowledge sharing in academia: an empirical study using valance, instrumentality and expectancy (VIE) approach

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to understand the factors that determine the knowledge exchange intention and behavioural nature of academics by the help of social media tools in the Indian higher education.

Design/methodology/approach

This study has used valance–instrumentality–expectancy (VIE) theory to determine the knowledge exchange behaviour of academics. The study has considered the effects of knowledge contributor (KC) and knowledge seeker (KS) as moderators. The model has been validated by using a survey with 320 usable respondents.

Findings

The results highlight that if the stakeholders of higher education institutions feel the deficits of knowledge exchange, they realize importance of knowledge sharing and use social media to increase effect of knowledge exchange. Besides, perceived usefulness impacts on the use of social media for knowledge exchange by the concerned stakeholders. Moreover, it is observed that experience of the use of social media impacts the use of this tool for knowledge exchange.

Research limitations/implications

The use and application of VIE theory have successfully been able to interpret the factors affecting use of social media for knowledge exchange in higher educational institutes. The use of VIE theory has also been able to explain the proposed model better as the model could achieve a high explanative power (87%).

Practical implications

This study has provided meaningful insights to the practitioners and policymakers to realize how the stakeholders of the higher education institutions in India can be motivated to feel the need of sharing of knowledge and how they can use social media with ease for this purpose.

Originality/value

Not much research has been conducted with regard to the usage of social media as a tool for knowledge sharing in higher education sector in India. In that sense, this study is a novel attempt to undertake such research.

Knowledge creation practices at organizational boundaries: the role of ICT in sickle-cell care for tribal communities

Purpose

This paper aims to examine the role of information and communication technology (ICT) in the knowledge creation practices adopted by a health care organization. The organization is delivering care to patients of a genetic disorder, called the sickle cell, in tribal communities. The paper identifies how ICT intermediates knowledge creation practices across the organizational boundaries wherein tribal patients, front-line counselors and expert physicians interact, which then produces context-specific, evidence-based medicine (EBM).

Design/methodology/approach

The knowledge-in-practice approach is adopted to conduct an ethnographic study of sickle cell care practices in a non-profit health care organization in Western India. The analysis focuses on ICT-mediated interactional practices among the physicians, front-line counselors, tribal patients and their families, for more than a year-long observation. These are supplemented with informal and formal interviews, archival records and vignettes based on several episodes to explicate the key knowledge creation practices.

Findings

Technology-mediated informative interactions at organizational boundaries can bridge socio-linguistic and interpretive barriers between actors, while also providing a generative structure that leads to the creation of longitudinal clinical evidence about a rare genetic disorder. Three specific ICT-entwined knowledge creation practices emerge, namely, knowing the community, increasing interactional engagement and constructing gradients of socio-clinical history. These practices generate organization-wide knowledge about the social and clinical dimensions of the genetic disorder. The findings are presented through vignettes and a novel conceptual framework.

Research limitations/implications

This study identifies various useful knowledge creation practices in health care delivery for resource-constrained emerging economy contexts. Further, the study suggests that the involvement of local front-line actors and ICT can become important resources in the delivery of health care in these settings.

Originality/value

A novel framework is developed which demonstrates knowledge creation at organizational boundaries wherein the actors use ICT-based practices for effective delivery of health care. The proposed framework may be used by health care organizations in similar contexts providing care to marginalized communities.

Exploring influencing factors of offline knowledge service transactions on an online-to-offline knowledge-sharing economy platform

Purpose

Online-to-offline (O2O) knowledge-sharing economy platforms have emerged as a new public channel for matching up knowledge providers with knowledge seekers. It can facilitate offline provision and consumption of high-quality tacit knowledge around a topic upon online search and payment (called offline knowledge service transaction). However, limited research investigated this new knowledge-sharing phenomenon in the field of knowledge management (KM). The purpose of this paper is to enrich KM literature by developing a theoretical model to explore determinants of offline knowledge service transactions via O2O knowledge-sharing economy platforms from both quality and price perspectives.

Design/methodology/approach

The model was tested with objective data crawled from Zaihang – a leading O2O knowledge-sharing economy platform in China.

Findings

The results show that, in the context of O2O knowledge-sharing economy, transactions of an offline knowledge service are positively related to its provider’s popularity, but negatively related to the price. Moreover, knowledge seekers are more likely to accept and purchase a high-priced service of a knowledge topic with a higher overall review score and supplied by a provider with lower popularity and shorter response time. However, the length of offline knowledge service has no significant association with its transactions.

Originality/value

This study contributes to KM literature through investigating a new phenomenon of tacit knowledge sharing (including provision and consumption) in the context of O2O service and the sharing economy. The results give implications for knowledge providers and platform managers to facilitate online transactions of offline knowledge services.

Capturing the Silences in Digital Archaeological Knowledge

The availability and accessibility of digital data are increasingly significant in the creation of archaeological knowledge with, for example, multiple datasets being brought together to perform extensive analyses that would not otherwise be possible. However, this makes capturing the silences in those data—what is absent as well as present, what is unknown as well as what is known—a critical challenge for archaeology in terms of the suitability and appropriateness of data for subsequent reuse. This paper reverses the usual focus on knowledge and considers the role of ignorance—the lack of knowledge, or nonknowledge—in archaeological data and knowledge creation. Examining aspects of archaeological practice in the light of different dimensions of ignorance, it proposes ways in which the silences, the range of unknowns, can be addressed within a digital environment and the benefits which may accrue.

Customer Knowledge Management in SMEs Facing Digital Transformation

This paper provided a novel definition of customer knowledge management (CKM) as the logical intersection of customer relationship management (CRM) and knowledge management (KM). The main aim was to investigate the digital technologies supporting small and medium enterprises (SMEs) operating in creative industries in their customer knowledge management strategies. To achieve this aim, a survey involving 73 handicraft and/or retail SMEs operating in luxury jewelry industry was conducted. The survey results pointed out that in a few years the scenario has changed and that surveyed SMEs make more intensive use of traditional technologies supporting customer knowledge management processes rather than more innovative digital technologies, which are also cheap and easy to use. This finding showed the difficulties of SMEs operating in creative industries to be responsive to the rapid technological changes that are affecting CKM, as well as the lack of support from information technology vendors in the decision-making process for choosing adequate digital systems.

Roles of dynamic capabilities and knowledge management strategies on organizational performance

The theoretical and practical impact of dynamic capabilities on organizational performance remains elusive. This study investigates the mediating role of a firm’s dynamic capabilities, measured by IT capability and environmental scanning. In addition, by proposing that knowledge management (KM) strategies play a crucial moderating role in the relationships between entrepreneurial orientation (EO), dynamic capabilities, and organizational performance, this study highlights the need for effective KM strategies to maximize organizational performance. A questionnaire was administered to Korean managers who understand and can answer overall characteristics of their organizations. Our study found that dynamic capabilities partially mediated the relationship between EO and organizational performance. In addition, our findings show that the relationship between EO and organizational performance is stronger when firms emphasize personalization KM strategies, while the firms focusing on codification KM strategies demonstrate a stronger relationship between IT capability and organizational performance.

Somatic and cultural knowledge: drivers of a habitus-driven model of tacit knowledge acquisition

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to identify and explain the role of individual learning and development in acquiring tacit knowledge in the context of the inexorable and intense continuous change (technological and otherwise) that characterizes our society today, and also to investigate the software (SW) sector, which is at the core of contemporary continuous change and is a paradigm of effective and intrinsic knowledge sharing (KS). This makes the SW sector unique and different from others where KS is so hard to implement.

Design/methodology/approach

The study employed an inductive qualitative approach based on a multi-case study approach, composed of three successful SW companies in China. These companies are representative of the fabric of the sector, namely a small- and medium-sized enterprise, a large private company and a large state-owned enterprise. The fieldwork included 44 participants who were interviewed using a semi-structured script. The interview data were coded and interpreted following the Straussian grounded theory pattern of open coding, axial coding and selective coding. The process of interviewing was stopped when theoretical saturation was achieved after a careful process of theoretical sampling.

Findings

The findings of this research suggest that individual learning and development are deemed to be the fundamental feature for professional success and survival in the continuously changing environment of the SW industry today. However, individual learning was described by the participants as much more than a mere individual process. It involves a collective and participatory effort within the organization and the sector as a whole, and a KS process that transcends organizational, cultural and national borders. Individuals in particular are mostly motivated by the pressing need to face and adapt to the dynamic and changeable environments of today’s digital society that is led by the sector. Software practitioners are continuously in need of learning, refreshing and accumulating tacit knowledge, partly because it is required by their companies, but also due to a sound awareness of continuous technical and technological changes that seem only to increase with the advances of information technology. This led to a clear theoretical understanding that the continuous change that faces the sector has led to individual acquisition of culture and somatic knowledge that in turn lay the foundation for not only the awareness of the need for continuous individual professional development but also for the creation of habitus related to KS and continuous learning.

Originality/value

The study reported in this paper shows that there is a theoretical link between the existence of conducive organizational and sector-wide somatic and cultural knowledge, and the success of KS practices that lead to individual learning and development. Therefore, the theory proposed suggests that somatic and cultural knowledge are crucial drivers for the creation of habitus of individual tacit knowledge acquisition. The paper further proposes a habitus-driven individual development (HDID) Theoretical Model that can be of use to both academics and practitioners interested in fostering and developing processes of KS and individual development in knowledge-intensive organizations.

How effective leadership of knowledge management impacts organizational performance

The current article shows how transformational leadership influences knowledge management to improve organizational performance through better use of a firm’s internal resources. Transformational leaders not only directly impact knowledge management, they also foster more effective strategy implementation and information technology use, which positively contribute to the effectiveness of knowledge management as a driver of organizational performance. This study contributes to the literature by exploring a framework upon which to continue developing a more comprehensive understanding of the relationships between transformational leadership, knowledge management, a firm’s internal resources, and organizational performance. Furthermore, the current article contributes to the practice of management by identifying ways in which managers can build a high-performance organization through leadership and knowledge management.

Digital Identity and Reputation in a Virtual Practice Network - Insights Using Linguistic Features

Many studies have focused on the motivation of knowledge contributions in virtual communities. However, one of the most fundamental ways in which people present their knowledge contributions is through the use of language, and its effect on social identification and impression management has not been thoroughly examined. The goal of this study is to better understand language use in regards to reputation management in virtual practice networks. The study recognizes why participants on virtual communities, in the pursuit of higher status reputations, will generate better content, more specific to the collective and display better commitment. The research will also address how to evoke these social engagement and commitment behaviors, so that the network community is sustained. This research is valuable for academics and practitioners who seek to understand why people participate and commit to providing knowledge contributions in virtual practice networks.

Extrinsic and intrinsic motivation for experience grounded tacit knowledge sharing in Chinese software organisations

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to identify and explain the role of individuals’ awareness and motivation in facilitating knowledge sharing (KS) in the real world of practice, as well as to establish areas of convergence between theory and practice that can be of use to both academics and practitioners involved in knowledge intensive organisations.

Design/methodology/approach

This study used Grounded Theory (GT) as an inductive methodology to collect, analyse and interpret data from multiple case-studies. 44 participants from Chinese software organisations were selected on the basis of their role in SW design and development and were interviewed using a semi-structured interview script. The data analysis followed a Straussian approach to coding, which consists of open coding, axial coding and selective coding. The analysis focused on the impact of individuals’ awareness and motivation to share knowledge.

Findings

The findings of this research show that the motivation for KS – a time consuming and demanding activity – is indeed related to awareness by managers and developers of the benefits of KS in their professional practice. Practitioners shared their experiences and tacit knowledge with others, partly because it was required by their companies, but also because they have a sound awareness of the need to share knowledge both inside and outside their organisations.

Research limitations/implications

As a typical social science inductive study, this research is bounded by the context in which the theory proposed emerged from. Further research should be conducted into a richer variety of organisational and national contexts, as suggested by good theoretical sampling practice, which could provide further insights or contrasts.

Originality/value

Despite a number of theoretical propositions found in the literature, there is a clear lack of implementation strategies and models that explain the role of awareness and motivation in facilitating KS in the world of practice. This issue of applicability of theoretical propositions is now recognised as one of the fundamental key issues in KS. This study provides new and practice grounded insights in this area and is of interest to both practitioners and theoreticians as it explains and bridges the individuals’ awareness and motivation for tacit KS.

Barriers to Tacit Knowledge Sharing in Geographically Dispersed Project Teams in Oil and Gas Projects

Global integration, advances in information and communications technology, in addition to changing partnership models and structures, have led to the growing use of geographically dispersed project teams (GDPTs). However, relatively little is still known about the nature of barriers to tacit knowledge sharing in oil and gas projects. Consequently, this Delphi study explores the features of obstacles to tacit knowledge sharing in oil and gas project settings. The barriers were found to be personal, team, organizational, and external in nature. This article provides unique insights that can assist in the effective knowledge management across GDPTs in oil and gas projects.

Knowledge management strategies for capitalising on school knowledge

Purpose

This paper aims to explore the extent to which knowledge management practices, that is the process of developing and sharing organisational knowledge, can enhance intellectual capital (IC) in the context of school education.

Design/methodology/approach

A mixed-method approach was adopted as the research strategy. A cross-sectional quantitative survey was conducted to collect data from 445 teachers at 13 primary schools in Hong Kong. A structural equation model (SEM) was applied to confirm the predictive effective of knowledge strategies on school IC. Interviews were conducted in a case school to explore the process for capitalising the knowledge by Lesson Study.

Findings

The result of the SEM shows that personalisation and codification strategies are predictors of human capital and structural capital at schools. The findings from interviews with the principals and teachers show that personalisation and codification strategies could be put into operation as a Lesson Study to leverage knowledge for school development.

Originality/value

This paper contributes to the management practices of school organisation for enhancing their IC by conducting Lesson Study for the development of their schools effectively.

The Impact of National Cultural Values on Intrinsic Motivation to Transfer Tacit Knowledge

This study examines the moderating effects of individuals' national cultural values on intrinsic motivation to engage in tacit knowledge transfer, through the lens of knowledge coaching. Using partial least squares analysis, survey data from 26 district managers (knowledge coaches) and 102 territory managers (protégés) from a large MNC's subsidiaries in Denmark, Ireland, Japan, Norway, Sweden and the UK is examined. In the first model, appertaining to the knowledge coaches, long-term orientation positively moderated the path between intrinsic motivation and perceived selling skill acquisition. For the corresponding pathway in the protégé model, collectivism and power distance attenuated the pathway. The implications for managers in terms of fostering intrinsic motivation to engage in knowledge transfer across a diversity of employees, and avenues for future research are discussed.

Knowledge Management Systems in Sports: The Role of Organisational Structure, Tacit and Explicit Knowledge

This paper aims to identify two different knowledge management (KM) systems and their underlying capabilities by accounting for two contextual factors: organisational structures and type of knowledge. Specifically, it seeks to explore how two different organisational structures (mechanistic and organic) shape the way explicit and tacit knowledge is shared, created, and learned. The paper uses a case-based approach of two sports teams as archetypal contexts to inform management research. Findings suggest that a mechanistic structure (American football) emphasises explicit knowledge for sharing of specific directives, centralised, incremental knowledge creation, and organisational learning through memorisation and repetitious actions. In an organic structure (ice hockey), sharing of tacit knowledge, decentralised novel knowledge creation, and organisational learning through empowered experiential learning episodes are emphasised. Findings illustrate the importance of accounting for organisational structures and knowledge needed for different KM systems geared towards efficiency and routine work, and flexibility and non-routine work.

Accelerating tacit knowledge building of client-facing consultants

Purpose

This paper aims to examine factors which influence how tacit knowledge is built and applied by client-facing consultants.

Design/methodology/approach

Qualitative methods (interviews, thematic analysis) were used to gather and analyse data from 15 consultants in an agricultural extension context.

Findings

Twenty-six factors about how tacit knowledge is built and applied to action emerged, and are presented grouped into four areas: tacit knowledge needed to be successful; how tacit knowledge is presently built; challenges in turning knowledge into action; and ways that building tacit knowledge might be better supported by the organization.

Practical implications

How the building of tacit knowledge can be accelerated for new organizational members will be of interest to those not only in agricultural extension, but more generally to those managers in organizations who must design and implement training and mentoring programmes for those who support customers and users of their products and services.

Originality/value

The findings provide insight into the mechanisms of building tacit knowledge in client-facing consultants. The experience-based perceptions about effective knowledge-building processes and strategies may contribute to more effective intake and training programmes for consultants.

Towards a better understanding of system analysts’ tacit knowledge

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to elicit tacit knowledge exhibited in expert information system (IS) professionals in a form that can be shared with others; and to develop categorical framework suggesting key content areas of tacit knowledge in the requirements analysis domain.

Design/methodology/approach

– Requirements analysis is selected as the main focus of this study due to the importance of this phase to the success of IS development and the nature of requirements analysis tasks requiring extensive amount of tacit knowledge. The authors used the “storytelling” approach, a semi-structured interview technique for knowledge elicitation.

Findings

– The study resulted in 132 knowledge items using a qualitative method and categorized them into 14 categories using cluster analysis. The study found that experienced, successful analysts see systems analysis in behavioral, managerial, and political terms and focus heavily on interpersonal, project management, and organizational issues.

Research limitations/implications

– The limitations in the research sample, or in the recollection capability of the research subjects could compromise the comprehensiveness of the tacit knowledge in the requirements analysis domain; however, the elicited knowledge at least represents important dimensions one might reasonably find in this domain.

Originality/value

– Very little research has attempted to capture this tacit dimension of system analysts’ knowledge. Thus, capturing and transferring the tacit knowledge from experts should help in the evolution of novice to expert system analysts thereby improving both their effectiveness and the quality of the information systems developed.

Determining strategic shifts between codification and personalization in operational environments

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to indicate that managers responsible for decision making often have a limited appreciation of strategic shifts between codification and personalization of knowledge in different operational environments. This study is motivated by a concern to illuminate the influence of diverse business environments in the shift between strategies of knowledge in organizations.

Design/methodology/approach

– A qualitative multiple case-study method was adopted to research four case organizations drawn from multiple industries – manufacturing, research, education and consulting – that are positioned within contrasting operating environments (i.e. local, national, international and multinational, respectively).

Findings

– Results from the case studies suggest that four factors condition shifts between codification and personalization strategies in different operational environments that are of critical significance for the effective use of knowledge in organizations. The authors have also found that strategic shifts between codification and personalization are continuous and emergent.

Originality/value

– The study suggests that the combination of multi-operational types and four elements (i.e. competition, organizational size, organizational structure and information technology) are highly relevant for determining the shifts between codification and personalization strategies in organizations.

Facilitating tacit knowledge transfer: routine compatibility, trustworthiness, and integration in M & As

Purpose

– This paper aims to theorize how tacit knowledge influences implementation success in mergers and acquisitions (M & As), and contrasts this with explicit knowledge. Tacit knowledge can be a source of sustained competitive advantage because its lack of codifiability precludes easy appropriation by competitors. However, such non-codifiability also makes it difficult to transfer knowledge within a firm. M & As exemplify this challenge because they are often motivated by opportunities for transferring knowledge. With differing demands for tacit and explicit knowledge across departments (Sales and Operations), the empirical results demonstrate how tacit routine compatibility affects implementation outcomes in different functions.

Design/methodology/approach

– This research draws from a survey of 86 M & A implementation processes between 1996 and 2002, using seemingly unrelated regression to analyze the predictions.

Findings

– There is strong empirical support that tacit routine compatibility leads to success in sales but not operations and further support for the differential moderating roles of trustworthiness and integration.

Practical implications

– Managers should make implementation choices based on the type of knowledge being transferred and where that knowledge will reside post-integration. Routine compatibility, trustworthiness and integration facilitate knowledge transfer in M & As – but only if applied in the right combinations for the context.

Originality/value

– The type of knowledge is a critical distinction for the value of M & A implementation. Furthermore, despite integration receiving significant attention in this literature, trustworthiness, not integration, facilitates successful tacit knowledge transfer in M & As.

The managerial issues related to transferring shop floor knowledge in manufacturing relocation

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to explore the specific practices of management in the dispatching unit and to identify mechanisms for supporting transfer of shop floor knowledge embedded in operating manufacturing equipment.

Design/methodology/approach

– The paper applies an inductive and a case study approach for exploring three empirical cases that represent different manufacturing facility relocation processes and differences in the applied managerial practices.

Findings

– The paper identifies two important gaps in international production literature when firms relocate equipment to other sites; a time gap (from dismantling to re-assembly of production facilities) and a space gap (from the current to the new site abroad). These gaps are important for understanding why relocation processes are difficult and what management can do to facilitate such processes.

Practical implications

– The paper identifies four issues that management faces in the dispatching context when relocating manufacturing facilities.

Originality/value

– The paper gives new insights to a limited literature of shop floor knowledge transfer when relocating manufacturing facilities.

Roles enabling the mobilization of organizational knowledge

Purpose

– Knowledge-based work is growing at a significant pace in the context of large organizations. As a consequence, use and transfer of knowledge are considered important activities of knowledge mobilization. Existing literature suggests that there is an increasing gap in the understanding of roles and typical responsibilities in knowledge mobilization. The purpose of this article is to examine how roles enable knowledge mobilization in large organizations.

Design/methodology/approach

– A qualitative research design was used where three large organizations representing multiple sectors were selected to study roles that enable the mobilization of organizational knowledge.

Findings

– This study explains the understanding of five roles and their typical responsibilities to enable the mobilization of knowledge in large organizations – knowledge mentor, broker, taxonomist, content editor, and gatekeeper. These roles foster collaboration and communication activities within and between teams enabling knowledge mobilization.

Research limitations/implications

– The authors acknowledge the limitations of this paper. Although the recognized roles provide valuable insights with respect to mobility of knowledge, it does not specify how each role can be assessed in terms of performance. Another limitation is that these roles were studied in the context of large-scale organizations where knowledge work is central to their performance.

Originality/value

– This study ' s findings suggest that there is a strong need for management to recognize and value roles and responsibilities to realize organizational knowledge mobilization.