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Tacit Knowledge, Organizational Learning and Societal Institutions: An Integrated Framework

Canterbury Business School, University of Kent, Canterbury, UK

The importance of tacit knowledge in organizational learning and innovation has become the focus of considerable attention in the recent literature. Our understanding of the nature of the links between tacit knowledge and organizational learning, however, has been hampered by the lack of a conceptual framework integrating micro-level learning activities with organizational forms and macro-level societal institutions. This paper seeks to achieve such an integrative task. It argues that there is an interactive relationship between dominant knowledge types and organizational forms. Further, the extent to which tacit knowledge constitutes the knowledge base of the firm, and how it is formed and used are powerfully shaped by the broader institutional context. The paper develops a four-fold typology at the cognitive, organizational and societal levels, as an analytical framework to explain the links between knowledge types, organizational forms and societal institutions. It shows how the three levels interact to shape the learning and innovative capabilities of firms. The theory developed in this paper represents the first attempt to integrate the diverse strands of literature and different levels of analysis into a single coherent framework.

Key Words: tacit knowledge • organizational learning • innovation • societal institutions • learning economy

Organization Studies, Vol. 21, No. 3, 487-513 (2000)
DOI: 10.1177/0170840600213001


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