Social media as facilitators of tacit knowledge sharing practices amongst public sector employees

Buunk, Iris

Abstract

This work is concerned with the exploration of social technologies relevant to the sharing of tacit knowledge within the public sector. The findings derive from analysis of empirical data collected via survey research and twenty qualitative interviews with the members of an online knowledge sharing platform dedicated to those working within public sector bodies, mainly in Scotland.
The main contribution of the thesis is that it extends understanding of how social technologies render tacit knowledge visible by 1) providing access to online interactions for geographically dispersed individuals, 2) storing online social interactions, making them reusable, and 3) increasing network growth. The visibility of such tacit knowledge enhances knowledge awareness. This contributes to collective intelligence and learning processes and enables new collaborations.
The concept of Ba, a Japanese concept from 1998 that emphasises the influence that contexts can have over the sharing of tacit knowledge is updated with respect to the use of social media tools.
These two contributions are significant because previous research in Knowledge Management has not extensively investigated the ways in which social technologies contribute to the sharing of tacit knowledge within the public sector. They also emphasise the added value of social media tools with respect to the visibility of tacit knowledge and add a further valuable dimension to a well-known model that is frequently cited in the Knowledge Management literature.

Citation

Buunk, I. Social media as facilitators of tacit knowledge sharing practices amongst public sector employees. (Thesis). Edinburgh Napier University. http://researchrepository.napier.ac.uk/Output/2709057

• Thesis Type: Thesis
• Deposit Date: Dec 7, 2020
• Publicly Available Date: Dec 7, 2020
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.17869/enu.2020.2709057
• Keywords: tacit knowledge; social technologies; Ba; knowledge management
• Public URL: http://researchrepository.napier.ac.uk/Output/2709057
• Award Date: Oct 5, 2020