Title: Unearthing key drivers of knowledge leakage

Authors: Souad Mohamed, Diane Mynors, Andrew Grantham, Paul Chan, Rhoda Coles, Kathryn Walsh

Addresses: School of Engineering and Design, Brunel University, UK. ' School of Engineering and Design, Brunel University, UK. ' Centre for Research in Innovation Management, The Freeman Centre, University of Brighton, UK. ' School of the Built Environment, Northumbria University, UK. ' Wolfson School of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering, Loughborough University, UK. ' Wolfson School of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering, Loughborough University, UK

Abstract: Intellectual capital such as skills, experience and the critical knowledge of employees is essential for organisations| success. For organisations to use intellectual capital to their best advantage, the concept of Knowledge Leakage, in its positive and negative form needs to be understood. Knowledge or experience leaking away from its origin may lead to a loss of competitive advantage for an organisation. Presented here is the initial assessment of in-depth interviews, with employees of manufacturing and services organisations, aimed at investigating the main drivers of knowledge leakage as a function of firm and inter-firm activities. As a result, organisations| interactions with four key drivers of knowledge leakage have been identified; namely, suppliers, customers, competitors and people. This paper discusses these key drivers and the resulting knowledge leakage with an integrated approach to knowledge |loss| and |gain|.

Keywords: knowledge gain; knowledge leakage; knowledge loss; knowledge management; intellectual capital; experience loss.

DOI: 10.1504/IJKMS.2007.012535

International Journal of Knowledge Management Studies, 2007 Vol.1 No.3/4, pp.456 - 470

Published online: 20 Feb 2007 *

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