Organizational Knowledge Creation Theory: Evolutionary Paths and Future Advances

TLDR

Organizational knowledge creation refers to the process of making individual knowledge available, amplifying it, and integrating it into an organization’s knowledge system, benefiting colleagues and the broader organization. This article reviews the central elements of organizational knowledge creation theory, maps the evolving academic paths that use it, and proposes future research directions to advance the theory. The authors analyze the theory’s core components and trace how scholars have applied it, thereby outlining the methodological routes taken in recent research.

Abstract

Organizational knowledge creation is the process of making available and amplifying knowledge created by individuals as well as crystallizing and connecting it to an organization's knowledge system. In other words, what individuals come to know in their (work-)life benefits their colleagues and, eventually, the larger organization. The theory explaining this process — the organizational knowledge creation theory — has developed rapidly in academia and been broadly diffused in management practice over the last 15 years. This article reviews the theory's central elements and identifies the evolving paths taken by academic work that uses the theory as a point of departure. The article furthermore proposes areas in which future research can advance the theory of organizational knowledge creation.