Catching the chameleon: Understanding the elusive term "knowledge"

Journal of Knowledge Management

Volumn 9, Issue 2, 2005, Pages 31-44

  Assudani, Rashmi H ^a,b  

^a Xavier University ^*  (United States)

^b XAVIER UNIVERSITY   (United States)

Author keywords

Epistemology; Knowledge management; Process analysis; Resource management

Indexed keywords

EID: 18144362140     PISSN: 13673270     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1108/13673270510590209     Document Type: Review

References (74)

1. Richard Rorty (1989) suggested that the places where the cracks are most visible are the growing places in research (as stated in Law, 1990)
2. Questions about "what is regarded as the evidence of things in the social world" or simply about "what we know" are epistemological questions (Mason, 1996).
3. The categorization of knowledge into these two epistemology types is partly influenced by Cook and Brown's work (1999).
4. Almeida, P. (1996), "Knowledge sourcing by foreign multinationals: patent citation analysis in the US semiconductor industry", Strategic Management Journal, Vol. 17, pp. 155-65.
5. Anand, V., Manz, C.C. and Glick, W.H. (1998), "An organizational memory approach to information management", Academy of Management Review, Vol. 23 No. 4, pp. 796-809.
6. Badaracco, J. (1991), The Knowledge Link: How Firms Compete through Strategic Alliances, Harvard Business School Press, Boston, MA.
7. Barney, J. (1991), "Firm resources and sustained competitive advantage", Journal of Management, Vol. 17 No. 1, pp. 99-120.
8. Bell, D. (1973), The Coming of Post-Industrial Society, Basic Books, New York, NY.
9. Blackler, F. (1995), "Knowledge, knowledge work and organizations: An overview and interpretation", Organization Studies, Vol. 16 No. 6, pp. 1021-46.
10. Blackler, F., Reed, M. and Whitaker, A. (1993), "Editorial introduction: Knowledge workers and contemporary organizations", Journal of Management Studies, Vol. 30 No. 6, pp. 851-62.
11. Boland, R.J. and Tenkasi, R.V. (1995), "Perspective making and perspective taking in communities of knowing", Organization Science, Vol. 6, pp. 350-72.
12. Brown, J.S. and Duguid, P. (1991), "Organizational learning and communities of practice: Towards a unified view of working, learning and innovation", Organization Science, Vol. 2, pp. 40-57.
13. Cohen, S.G. and Mankin, D. (1999), "Collaboration in the virtual organization", Journal of Organizational Behavior, Vol. 6, pp. 105-20.
14. Cohen, W. and Levinthal, D. (1990), "Absorptive capacity: A new perspective on learning and innovation", Administrative Science Quarterly, Vol. 35, pp. 128-52.
15. Conner, K.R. and Prahalad, C.K. (1996), "A resource-based theory of the firm: Knowledge versus opportunism", Organization Science, Vol. 7, pp. 477-501.
16. Cook, S.D.N. and Brown, J.S. (1999), "Bridging epistemologies: The generative dance between organizational knowledge and organizational knowing", Organization Science, Vol. 10 No. 4, pp. 381-400.
17. Dewey, J. (1938), Experience and Education, The Macmillan Company, New York, NY.
18. Dougherty, D. (1992), "Interpretive barriers to successful product innovation in large firms", Organization Science, Vol. 3, pp. 179-203.
19. Drucker, P.F. (1993), Post-Capitalist Society, HarperCollins, New York, NY.
20. Galunic, C. and Rodan, S. (1998), "Resource recombinations in the firm: knowledge structures and the potential for Schumpeterian innovation", Strategic Management Journal, Vol. 19 No. 12, pp. 1193-201.
21. Grant, R.M. (1996a), "Towards a knowledge-based theory of the firm", Strategic Management Journal., Vol. 17, pp. 109-22.
22. Grant, R.M. (1996b), "Prospering in dynamically competitive environments: Organizational capability as knowledge integration", Organization Science, Vol. 7 No. 4, pp. 375-87.
23. Grant, R.M. and Baden-Fuller, C. (1995), "A knowledge-based theory of inter-firm collaboration", Academy of Management Review Best Paper Proceedings, Vancouver, pp. 17-21.
24. Hamel, G. (1991), "Competition for competence and inter-partner learning within international strategic alliances", Strategic Management Journal, Vol. 12, pp. 83-103.
25. Henderson, R. and Clark, K. (1990), "Architectural innovation: The reconfiguration of existing product technologies and the failure of established firms", Administrative Science Quarterly, Vol. 35, pp. 9-31.
26. Inkpen, A.C. and Beamish, P.W. (1997), "Knowledge, bargaining power, and the instability of international joint ventures", Academy of Management Journal, Vol. 22 No. 1, pp. 177-202.
27. Inkpen, A.C. and Dinur, A. (1998), "Knowledge processes and the international joint ventures", Organization Science, Vol. 9 No. 4, pp. 454-68.
28. Kim, C.W. and Mauborgne, R. (1998), "Procedural justice, strategic decision making and the knowledge economy", Strategic Management Journal, Vol. 19, pp. 323-38.
29. Kogut, B. and Zander, U. (1992), "Knowledge of the firm, combinative capabilities, and the replication of technology", Organization Science, Vol. 3 No. 3, pp. 383-97.
30. Kogut, B. and Zander, U. (1996), "What firms do? Co-ordination, identity and learning", Organization Science, Vol. 7 No. 5, pp. 502-18.
31. Kostova, T. (1999), "Transnational transfer of strategic organizational practices: A contextual perspective", Academy of Management Review, Vol. 24 No. 2, pp. 308-24.
32. Kusunoki, K., Nonaka, I. and Nagata, A. (1998), "Organizational capabilities in product development of Japanese firms: A conceptual framework and empirical findings", Organization Science, Vol. 9 No. 6, pp. 699-718.
33. Lam, A. (1997), "Embedded firms, embedded knowledge: Problems of collaboration and knowledge transfer in global co-operative ventures", Organization Studies, Vol. 18 No. 6, pp. 973-96.
34. Latour, B. (1987), Science in Action: How to Follow Scientists and Engineers through Society, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA.
35. Lave, J. and Wenger, E. (1990), Situated Learning: Legitimate Peripheral Participation, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
36. Leonard-Barton, D. (1992), "Core capabilities and core rigidities: A paradox in managing new product development", Strategic Management Journal, Vol. 13, Special Issue, pp. 111-25.
37. Leonard-Barton, D. (1995), Wellsprings of Knowledge: Building and Sustaining the Sources of Innovation, Harvard Business School Press, Boston, MA.
38. Liebeskind, J.P. (1996), "Knowledge, strategy, and the theory of the firm", Strategic Management Journal, Vol. 17, pp. 93-107.
39. Madhavan, R. and Grover, R. (1998), "From embedded knowledge to embodied knowledge: New product development as knowledge management", Journal of Marketing, Vol. 62, pp. 1-12.
40. Mason, J. (1996), Qualitative Researching, Sage Publications, Newbury Park, CA.
41. Matusik, S.F. (1999), "Ephemeral resources and firm knowledge stocks: the case of contingent workforce", paper presented at the Academy of Management Meeting, Chicago, IL.
42. Matusik, S.F. and Hill, C.W.L. (1998), "The utilization of contingent work, knowledge creation and competitive advantage", Academy of Management Review, Vol. 23 No. 4, pp. 680-97.
43. Mowery, D.C., Oxley, J.E. and Silverman, B. (1996), "Strategic alliances and inter-firm knowledge transfer", Strategic Management Journal, Vol. 17, pp. 77-91.
44. Nahapiet, J. and Ghoshal, S. (1998), "Social capital, intellectual capital and the organizational advantage", Academy of Management Review, Vol. 23 No. 2, pp. 242-66.
45. Nonaka, I. (1994), "A dynamic theory of knowledge creation", Organization Science, Vol. 5 No. 1, pp. 14-37.
46. Penrose, E. (1959), The Theory of the Growth of the Firm, Blackwell, Oxford.
47. Polanyi, M. (1966), The Tacit Dimension, Anchor Books, New York, NY.
48. Prahalad, C.K. and Hamel, G. (1990), "The core competence and the corporation", Harvard Business Review, Vol. 68 No. 3, pp. 79-91.
49. Rae, L. (1998), "Knowledge sharing and the virtual organization: meeting 21st century challenges", Thunderbird International Review, Vol. 40 No. 5, pp. 525-40.
50. Romer, P.M. (1986), "Increasing returns and long-run growth", Journal of Political Economy, Vol. 94, pp. 1002-37.
51. Rorty, R. (1989), Contingency, Irony and Solidarity, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, NY.
52. Spender, J. (1989), Industry Recipes: An enquiry into the Nature and Sources of Managerial Judgement, Basil Blackwell, Oxford.
53. Spender, J.C. (1996), "Making knowledge the basis of a dynamic theory of the firm", Strategic Management Journal, Vol. 17, pp. 45-62.
54. Szulanski, G. (1996), "Exploring internal stickiness: Impediments to the transfer of best practices within the firm", Strategic Management Journal, Vol. 17, Special issue, pp. 27-43.
55. Tsai, W. and Ghoshal, S. (1998), "Social capital and value creation: the role of intrafirm networks", Academy of Management Journal, Vol. 41 No. 4, pp. 464-76.
56. Tsoukas, H. (1996), "The firm as a distributed knowledge system: A constructionist approach", Strategic Management Journal, Vol. 17, pp. 11-25.
57. Tyre, M.J. and von Hippel, E. (1997), "Situated nature of adaptive learning in organizations", Organization Science, Vol. 8 No. 1, pp. 71-81.
58. Walsh, J.P. (1995), "Managerial and organizational cognition - notes from a trip down memory lane", Organization Science, Vol. 6 No. 3, pp. 280-321.
59. Walsh, J.P. and Ungson, G.R. (1991), "Organizational memory", Academy of Management Review, Vol. 16 No. 1, pp. 57-91.
60. Weick, K. and Roberts, K. (1993), "Collective mind in organizations: heedful inter-relating on flight decks", Administrative Science Quarterly, Vol. 38 No. 3, pp. 357-81.
61. Wernerfelt, B. (1984), "A resource-based view of the firm", Strategic Management Journal, Vol. 5, pp. 171-80.
62. Winter, S. (1988), "Knowledge and competence as strategic assets", in Teece, D. (Ed.), The Competitive Challenge, Ballinger, Cambridge, pp. 159-84.
63. Zander, U. and Kogut, B. (1995), "Knowledge and the speed of the transfer and imitation of organizational capabilities: An empirical test", Organization Science, Vol. 6 No. 1, pp. 76-91.
64. Appleyard, M. (1996), "How does knowledge flow? Inter-firm patterns in the semiconductor industry", Strategic Management Journal, Vol. 17, Winter, Special issue, pp. 137-54.
65. Bierly, P. and Chakrabarti, A. (1996), "Generic knowledge strategies in the US pharmaceutical industry", Strategic Management Journal, Vol. 17, Winter, Special issue, pp. 123-35.
66. Darr, E., Argote, L. and Epple, D. (1995), "The acquisition, transfer, depreciation of knowledge in service organizations: productivity in franchises", Management Science, Vol. 41 No. 11, pp. 1750-62.
67. Hansen, M.T. (1999), "The search-transfer problem: The role of weak ties in sharing knowledge across organization subunits", Administrative Science Quarterly, Vol. 44, pp. 82-111.
68. Hargadon, A. and Sutton, R.I. (1997), "Technology brokering and innovation in a product development firm", Administrative Science Quarterly, Vol. 42, pp. 716-49.
69. Hedlund, G. (1994), "A model of knowledge management and the N-form corporation", Strategic Management Journal, Vol. 15, pp. 73-90.
70. Lillrank, P. (1995), "The transfer of management innovations from Japan", Organization Studies, Vol. 16 No. 6, pp. 971-89.
71. Powell, W.W., Koput, K.W. and Smith-Doerr, L. (1996), "Inter-organizational collaboration and the locus of innovation: networks of learning in biotechnology", Administrative Science Quarterly, Vol. 41, pp. 116-45.
72. Sanchez, R. and Mahoney, J.T. (1996), "Modularity, flexibility, and knowledge management in product and organization design", Strategic Management Journal, Vol. 17, Winter, Special issue, pp. 63-76.
73. Spender, J.C. and Grant, R.M. (1996), "Knowledge and the firm: overview", Strategic Management Journal, Vol. 17, Winter, Special issue, pp. 5-9.
74. Von Krogh, G. and Roos, J. (1994), "An essay on corporate epistemology", Strategic Management Journal, Vol. 15, pp. 53-71.