Handbook of Organizational Learning and Knowledge Management, Second Edition

Introduction

There is an increasing body of work in organization behavior, organization theory, strategic management, information systems, technology and innovation management, marketing, and in the fundamental disciplines of economics, psychology, and sociology that makes knowledge a central construct in theory and research. Common to most of these contributions is the intent to demonstrate the power of knowledge for explaining and predicting behavior, at the level of societies and economies (Stehr, 1994); industries (Arthur, 1997); firms and institutions (e.g. Nelson and Winter, 1982; Cohen and Levinthal, 1990; Grant, 1996; Spender, 1996; Kogut and Zander, 1992; Sabherwal and Sabherwal, 2005); networks (Dyer and Nobeoka, 2000); groups (Osterloh and Frey, 2000); and individuals (e.g. Cziksezentmihalyi, 1988). On the one hand, the knowledge construct has evolved since the cognitive revolution in the 1950s, and now bridges the chasm between cognition and action (von Krogh, Roos, and Slocum, 1994; Varela, Thompson, and Rosch, 1991). Knowledge gives rise to an array of behavioral patterns, decisions, and task solutions, observable in competent behavior. On the other hand, knowledge integrates individual and collective levels of analysis; what used to be a construct reserved for individual-level analysis, is now used by many scholars to explain and predict how individuals and groups mutually influence their thinking and acting (Nonaka and von Krogh, 2009).

For the purpose of this chapter, ...