Title: Importance of tacit knowledge in online synchronous courses: case of higher education in France

Authors: Inès Saad; Thierry Jaillet; Brice Mayag; Elsa Negre; Camille Rosenthal-Sabroux

Addresses: Amiens Business School, France; MIS Laboratory Amiens, University of Picardie Jules Verne, France ' Paris-Dauphine University, PSL Research Universities, UMR CNRS 7243, LAMSADE, Paris, France ' Paris-Dauphine University, PSL Research Universities, UMR CNRS 7243, LAMSADE, Paris, France ' Paris-Dauphine University, PSL Research Universities, UMR CNRS 7243, LAMSADE, Paris, France ' Paris-Dauphine University, PSL Research Universities, UMR CNRS 7243, LAMSADE, Paris, France

Abstract: This study reveals the importance of tacit knowledge and suggests favouring teacher-student interactions in online synchronous courses in the case of higher education. Our empirical study surveyed 171 students who had been learning in online-synchronous mode in higher education in France since the COVID-19 pandemic. They were from six French higher schools and had backgrounds in either computer science or management science. We found that 57% of respondents preferred face-to-face learning versus 13% who preferred online learning. For respondents who preferred face-to-face, the syntactic analysis shows that this format allowed them to interact more easily with the teacher and their classmates.

Keywords: online synchronous classroom; tacit knowledge; higher education; interactions; empirical study; student survey; face-to-face learning; online learning; information systems; learning preferences; France.

DOI: 10.1504/IJKMS.2026.153877

International Journal of Knowledge Management Studies, 2026 Vol.17 No.2, pp.257 - 272

Received: 04 Jun 2024
Accepted: 11 Dec 2024
Published online: 29 May 2026 *

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