Title: Interactive patterns of knowledge management in organisations: insight from a fashion company

Authors: Ganesh D. Bhatt, Jatinder N. D. Gupta

Addresses: Department of Information Science and Systems, MecMechan Hall No. 507 F, Morgan State University, Baltimore, MD 21251, USA. ' Department of Accounting and Information Systems, University of Alabama in Huntsville, 301 Sparkman Drive, Huntsville, AL 35899, USA

Abstract: The categorisation of knowledge into explicit knowledge and tacit knowledge has provided an impression that explicit knowledge and tacit knowledge may be difficult to manage simultaneously. We use a grounded theory approach for determining how sales representatives in a fashion industry manage – create, acquire, manipulate, and share – both explicit knowledge and tacit knowledge concurrently. Our findings suggest that the boundary between explicit knowledge and tacit knowledge is porous and the tools and techniques used to manage one kind of knowledge can also be used to manage the other kind of knowledge. Insights obtained through this research also show that a firm uses both technological system and social system parallel to managing knowledge.

Keywords: explicit knowledge; tacit knowledge; information systems; social systems; grounded theory approach; knowledge management; fashion industry; sales representatives; information technology.

DOI: 10.1504/IJITM.2005.006784

International Journal of Information Technology and Management, 2005 Vol.4 No.3, pp.231 - 243

Published online: 15 Apr 2005 *

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