Managing Knowledge in Organizations: An Integrative Framework and Review of Emerging Themes

TLDR

The article proposes an integrative framework to organize knowledge‑management literature and outlines future research directions. The framework maps knowledge‑management outcomes (creation, retention, transfer) against contextual properties of units, relationships, and knowledge, and examines how these mechanisms influence a unit’s ability to manage knowledge. Using the framework, the authors highlight converging evidence, identify gaps, and uncover emerging themes in knowledge‑management research.

Abstract

In this concluding article to the Management Science special issue on “Managing Knowledge in Organizations: Creating, Retaining, and Transferring Knowledge,” we provide an integrative framework for organizing the literature on knowledge management. The framework has two dimensions. The knowledge management outcomes of knowledge creation, retention, and transfer are represented along one dimension. Properties of the context within which knowledge management occurs are represented on the other dimension. These properties, which affect knowledge management outcomes, can be organized according to whether they are properties of a unit (e.g., individual, group, organization) involved in knowledge management, properties of relationships between units or properties of the knowledge itself. The framework is used to identify where research findings about knowledge management converge and where gaps in our understanding exist. The article discusses mechanisms of knowledge management and how those mechanisms affect a unit's ability to create, retain and transfer knowledge. Emerging themes in the literature on knowledge management are identified. Directions for future research are suggested.