Tacit knowledge sharing in online environments: locating “Ba” within a platform for public sector professionals

Buunk, Iris; Hall, Hazel; Smith, Colin

Abstract

Results from a survey undertaken by members of an online platform that incorporates social media features, and enables knowledge sharing amongst public sector professionals, are presented in this paper. The work responds to a call to enhance understanding of information behaviour and knowledge sharing practices online (Widen-Wulff, Ek, Ginman, Perttila, Sodergard, & Totterman, 2008, p. 352). It has been argued that new knowledge in this area is important to the development of strategies designed to support informal learning activities (Mills, Knezek & Khaddage 2014, p. 333). These include challenges regarding the transfer of tacit knowledge.

There are two key findings from the study explored in this paper. The first is related to the various roles an online platform may play in the facilitation of tacit knowledge sharing, and the second to the support of social interactions online. More importantly, this research reveals that all four aspects of the concept of Ba (or ‘space’), as noted by Nonaka and Konno (1998), can be found in online environments.
The findings shared here encourage renewed consideration of the concept of Ba to take into account the use of online tools that facilitate social interactions. In particular, it invites detailed investigation of social media that were unavailable when the concept of Ba was first proposed in the late 1990s.

Further research, including analysis of data from follow-up interviews with members of the cohort that completed the survey, will extend consideration of the findings presented here. This larger study responds to calls for the two domains of knowledge management and human information behaviour to be considered together in terms of research approaches and theory development (Halbwirth & Olsson, 2007).

Citation

Buunk, I., Hall, H., & Smith, C. (2017, June). Tacit knowledge sharing in online environments: locating “Ba” within a platform for public sector professionals. Paper presented at i3 - information, interactions and impact

• Presentation Conference Type: Conference Paper (unpublished)
• Conference Name: i3 - information, interactions and impact
• Start Date: Jun 27, 2017
• End Date: Apr 30, 2017
• Acceptance Date: Mar 31, 2017
• Deposit Date: Apr 24, 2017
• Publicly Available Date: Apr 24, 2017
• Keywords: Information behavior, knowledge sharing,
• Public URL: http://researchrepository.napier.ac.uk/Output/831111
• Contract Date: Apr 24, 2017