Towards a critical societal knowledge management

Abstract

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to tackle the problem of societal knowledge management from the perspective of critical management research. The focus is on national intellectual capital analysis as part of societal knowledge management. First, the aim is to identify the dominant discourse that governs the discussion around national intellectual capital and its measurement. Second, the aim is to explore the prospects for an alternative conceptualisation and to propose a heuristic tool through which it is possible to approach national intellectual capital and its measurement in a critical, informed and analytic way.Design/methodology/approachThe study takes a critical standpoint and leans loosely on the methodology of critical discourse analysis by Norman Fairclough.FindingsThe paper argues for the emancipation of national intellectual capital from the orthodoxy that relates it to economic growth, quantitative measurement, objectivity and universality towards a discourse that regards the value of national intellectual capital and its analysis more broadly, recognising the contextual and subjective nature of national intellectual capital.Research limitations/implicationsThe conceptual analysis provides a basis for further empirical assessment of national intellectual capital.Societal implicationsThe paper offers a critical conceptual lens through which to approach societal knowledge management. The constructed heuristic tool for analysing national intellectual capital can serve as a basis for strategic knowledge‐based development.Originality/valueThe paper offers a critical reflection of intellectual capital on the national/societal level and a starting point for critical societal knowledge management.

Knowledge That Matters: Identifying Regional Knowledge Assets of the Tampere Region

“…That is, which are, for example, those knowledge-based resources that the region is investing in in order to build regional competitiveness? This is linked to the point mentioned, e.g., by Lerro & Schiuma (2011) and Käpylä (2012) regarding the idiosyncratic nature of knowledge assets. This means that one region may try to build prosperity based on a certain set of knowledge assets (e.g.…”

“…Regional knowledge assets are located in the private sector (i.e., the business sector of companies), the public sector, the third sector (i.e., the civic society) and the fourth sector (i.e., family, relatives and friends) (Käpylä, 2012). Similarly to the firm level, regional knowledge assets can be identified through subgroups of knowledge assets.…”

“…Regional knowledge assets are not universal but instead context-specific and considered unique characteristics of a place and/or culture (Käpylä, 2012). These assets" existence or significance depends on whether a certain knowledge-related factor is regarded as important or not from the perspective of regional vision and objectives.…”

“…In the literature there are different interpretations as regards to which type of knowledge assets are particularly valuable, where they might be located and who play the critical role in managing and manipulating those (Florida, 1995;Knight, 1995;Corno et al, 1999;Sotarauta, 2010;Asheim et al, 2011;Lerro & Schiuma, 2011;Gabe et al, 2012;Strambach & Klement, 2012). The literature also highlights an important characteristic of regional knowledge assets: they are idiosyncratic by nature (Lerro & Schiuma, 2011;Käpylä, 2012). This means that the type of knowledge assets that are important for one region may not be as important for another.…”

Social Justice Research in Library and Information Sciences: A Case for Discourse Analysis

“…Heather Hill (2009) also applied Fairclough's critical discourse analysis approach in her doctoral work, examining the discourses arising from the movement of some municipalities in the United States from a traditional public library model-whereby the library is publicly funded, locally controlled, and managed by public employees-to a model whereby the public library is outsourced to private contractors. A critical discourse analytic approach has been taken in studies of education and information literacy (Rogers & Wetzel, 2013) and knowledge management (Käpylä, 2012). Another example of the application of critical discourse analysis comes from Daren Brabham (2012) in his study analyzing the myth of amateurism as it relates to crowdsourcing.…”