Factors governing the consumption of explicit knowledge

Abstract

Knowledge management as a field continues to receive resounding interest from scholars. While we have made progress in many areas of knowledge management, we are yet to understand what factors contribute to employee usage of knowledge artifacts. A field study of 175 employees in a software engineering organization was conducted to understand factors that govern consumption of explicit knowledge. We assert that the decision to consume knowledge can be framed as a problem of risk evaluation. Specifically, there are two sources of risk a consumer must evaluate prior to knowledge consumption-risk from the knowledge producer and risk from the knowledge product. We find support for the factors of perceived complexity, perceived relative advantage, and perceived risk as they relate to intentions to consuming knowledge.

The role of trust in promoting organizational knowledge seeking using knowledge management systems: An empirical investigation

“…This section reviews two bodies of literature that constitute the theoretical background of this study: (a) IT adoption theories, where user perceptions of technology attributes are seen as important antecedents to KMS-based knowledgeseeking behavior (Bock et al, 2006;Desouza et al, 2006;Kankanhalli et al, 2005b), and (b) the trust literature, where trust is seen as an important social relationship between people that facilitates knowledge exchange. Note that there exist cases where the knowledge contributor and seeker happen to be the same individual; that is, the knowledge contributor creates and documents the knowledge she or he may seek and reuse in the future (Markus, 2001).…”

“…On the other hand, the IT adoption perspective explains the usage intention of KMS through the user's perceptions of the system. It categorizes knowledge seeking as a form of KMS usage behavior and posits that user perceptions of the system are the key determinants (e.g., Desouza et al, 2006;Kankanhalli et al, 2005b). By bringing the trust literature into the well-accepted IT adoption theories, we develop a more complete understanding of the KMS-based seeking behavior.…”

“…Prior KMS studies have focused mainly on understanding the knowledge seekers' perceptions toward the KM system, such as perceived value obtained from using the system and efforts/resources required for using it (Bock, Kankanhalli, & Sharma, 2006;Desouza, Awazu, & Wan, 2006;Kankanhalli et al, 2005b). Trust as an important underlying factor in the knowledge seekers'attitude towards other users (the potential source of knowledge) in a KMS is understudied, with very few exceptions (e.g., Desouza et al, 2006). This literature gap begs an important question: Does trust, in the form of a social relationship between people, still matter to knowledgeseeking behavior in the context of KMS?…”

Incidence of variables in the Transfer of Tacit Knowledge of Marketing in the hotel sector of Playa del Carmen city, Mexico

“…In order to motivate the acquisition, the knowledge content of a receiver and a source of knowledge must be perceived as valuable knowledge and a source of valuable knowledge (Desouza, Awazu, & Wan, 2006;Ford & Staples, 2006). The value of knowledge content is derived from its potential benefit to a recipient.…”

“…Since acquiring knowledge, learning from others requires interaction between a receiver and a source, the characteristics of a source of value send signals to a receiver. The prominence of value from a source of knowledge and knowledge content are different for those who are experts or novices in a particular domain of knowledge (Desouza et al, 2006).…”