Purpose-Looking at the practical experience of organizations pursuing knowledge management, it is found that their efforts are primarily focused on creating the conditions and the context that will enable knowledge creation. This need for developing enabling conditions and contexts was identified more than a decade ago when Nonaka and associates introduced the concept of ''ba.'' This paper aims to map the development of the concept of ''ba'' in a number of disciplines in order to understand its theoretical evolution and practical application. Design/methodology/approach-A comprehensive search and evaluation of the literature resulted in a database of 135 papers, four dissertations and four books. Using content analysis, citation analysis, and concept mapping, four categories of research findings are identified that in turn suggest four groups of conditions for enabling knowledge creation. Findings-The paper discusses each of these conditions (the social/behavioral, cognitive/epistemic, information systems/management, and strategy/structural), and introduces a framework that relates these conditions to the type of knowledge process and the level of interaction that characterize a knowledge management activity in the organization. Originality/value-It is concluded that managing knowledge in organizations is fundamentally about creating an environment in the organization that is conducive to and encourages knowledge creation, sharing and use. Organizations interested in pursuing knowledge management and innovation may wish to be guided by the enabling conditions presented here that have been discovered over ten years of research. These conditions and the frameworks of which they are part can help managers to analyze, discuss, and introduce specific combinations of enabling factors that are tailored according to the type of knowledge process and level of interaction needed to address a particular knowledge problem or vision.

O artigo relata as motivações, concepções, práticas gerenciais, ênfases, métricas, indicadores e resultados de programas de gestão do conhecimento (GC) em três empresas que atuam no Brasil. Os resultados sugerem que a expressão "gestão do conhecimento" seja ao mesmo tempo um paradoxo e uma impropriedade terminológica. O trabalho conclui também que os principais desafios impostos às organizações comprometidas com a GC são a gestão de mudanças culturais e comportamentais e a criação de um contexto organizacional favorável à criação, uso e compartilhamento da informação e do conhecimento.

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This paper investigates and analyses the concept of baor enabling context -in the fields of information science, information systems and management/business literature in order to understand its conceptual evolution, discussions, applications and expansion since its introduction in 1998 by Nonaka et al. The qualitative methodology is bibliographic and comprisesamong others -the methods of citation analysis and content analysis. A resulting selection of 135 papers, 4 dissertations/theses and 4 books constituted the research"s final database. Data analysis consisted of three flows of activities: data reduction, data displays (in the forms of both conceptual and mind maps) and conclusion drawing/verification. The results point out to the identification of four major groups of enabling conditionssocial/behavioral, cognitive/epistemic, informational and business/managerial -which can be singly or freely combined into different knowledge processescreation, sharing/transfer and useoccurring in different levels of interactionsindividual, group, organizational and interorganizational. Based on these results, a decision cube is proposed in the form of a framework for designing enabling contexts in knowledge organizations. The conclusions suggest that the concept of ba and its underlying concepts are indeed sine qua non conditions for organizational knowledge creation and innovation processes, though ba is still both theoretically and empirically under-explored. Organizations interested in pursuing knowledge management (KM), innovation and ba may wish to be guided by the enabling conditions presented in this paper. KeywordsNonaka, the concept of ba, enabling conditions, knowledge management, enabling context, ba. This is the space reserved for copyright notices.

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