Knowledge is a broad and abstract notion that has defined epistemological debate in western philosophy since the classical Greek era. In the past 1Richard Watson was the accepting senior editor for this paper. 2MISQ Review articles survey, conceptualize, and synthesize prior MIS research and set directions for future research. For more details see http://www.misq.org/misreview/announce.html few years, however, there has been a growing interest in treating knowledge as a significant organizational resource. Consistent with the interest in organizational knowledge and knowledge management (KM), IS researchers have begun promoting a class of information systems, referred to as knowledge management systems (KMS). The objective of KMS is to support creation, transfer, and application of knowledge in organizations. Knowledge and knowledge management are complex and multi-faceted concepts. Thus, effective development and implementation of KMS requires a foundation in several rich literatures. To be credible, KMS research and development should preserve and build upon the significant literature that exists in different but related fields. This paper provides a review and interpretation of knowledge management literatures in different fields with an eye toward identifying the important areas for research. We present a detailed process view of organizational knowledge management with a focus on the potential role of information technology in this process. Drawing upon the literature review and analysis of knowledge managementprocesses, we discuss several important research issues surrounding the knowledge management processes and the role of ITin support of these processes.

Previous studies have identified the difficulty of communicating in virtual teams. The lack of media richness, or opportunity for using non-verbal cues, leads to misunderstood communications and may limit the development of trust. Studies have also shown that males and females are socialized to communicate differently. Males use communication in teams to establish dominance and position while females use it to establish relationships and gain trust. In this study, we analyzed whether the gender of individual team members or the gender composition of the team im-pacted trust and satisfaction in short-duration virtual teams. Expectedly, females reported higher trust than males. However, team gender composition did not impact trust or satisfaction. The findings also indicate that males had less ability to dominate team interaction and that asynchro-nous computer mediated communication could equalize interactions among male and female team members.

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This paper explores the challenges of creating and maintaining trust in a global virtual team whose members transcend time, space, and culture. The challenges are highlighted by integrating recent literature on work teams, computer‐mediated communication groups, cross‐cultural communication, and interpersonal and organizational trust. To explore these challenges empirically, we report on a series of descriptive case studies on global virtual teams whose members were separated by location and culture, were challenged by a common collaborative project, and for whom the only economically and practically viable communication medium was asynchronous and synchronous computer‐mediated communication. The results suggest that global virtual teams may experience a form of ‘swift’ trust but such trust appears to be very fragile and temporal. The study raises a number of issues to be explored and debated by future research. Pragmatically, the study describes communication behaviors that might facilitate trust in global virtual teams.