2009/01/23 by Ikujiro Nonaka, Georg von Krogh · 1 citation
Business, Management and Accounting · #Innovation and Knowledge Management #Management and Organizational Studies #Organizational Learning and Leadership #Tacit knowledge #Organizational learning #Knowledge management #Explicit knowledge #Knowledge value chain #Perspective (graphical) #Personal knowledge management #Body of knowledge #Epistemology #Computer science #Artificial intelligence
paper · doi:10.1287/orsc.1080.0412
openalex publication_date 2009/01/23 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/29
Nonaka's paper [1994. A dynamic theory of organizational knowledge creation. Organ. Sci. 5(1) 14–37] contributed to the concepts of “tacit knowledge” and “knowledge conversion” in organization science. We present work that shaped the development of organizational knowledge creation theory and identify two premises upon which more than 15 years of extensive academic work has been conducted: (1) tacit and explicit knowledge can be conceptually distinguished along a continuum; (2) knowledge conversion explains, theoretically and empirically, the interaction between tacit and explicit knowledge. Recently, scholars have raised several issues regarding the understanding of tacit knowledge as well as the interaction between tacit and explicit knowledge in the theory. The purpose of this article is to introduce and comment on the debate about organizational knowledge creation theory. We aim to help scholars make sense of this debate by synthesizing six fundamental questions on organizational knowledge creation theory. Next, we seek to elaborate and advance the theory by responding to questions and incorporating new research. Finally, we discuss implications of our endeavor for organization science.