Virtual knowledge spaces: A call for research

Allen, Jeff; Rosellini, Amy; Khader, Malak; Bank, Nicole; Guevara, Antonia; Njeri, Millicent

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Description

Title

Virtual knowledge spaces: A call for research

Author(s)

• Allen, Jeff
• Rosellini, Amy
• Khader, Malak
• Bank, Nicole
• Guevara, Antonia
• Njeri, Millicent

Issue Date

2021-09-20

Keyword(s)

• Information science
• Literature review
• Workforce innovation
• Knowledge economy

Abstract

Davis (1989) authored the widely acclaimed book titled “Future Perfect” prescribing that, in a “future perfect, anyone in an anytime – anyplace mode would be able to communicate to anyone else in the world.” The year 2020 provided clear affirmation that the knowledge workforce of the future is poised to not only communicate anytime – anyplace, but to create workplace environments that thrive across time zones and unlimited virtual locations. Knowledge management (KM) is “a systematic and integrative process of coordinating organization-wide activities of acquiring, creating, storing, sharing, diffusing, and deploying knowledge by individuals and groups, in pursuit of major organizational goals” (Rastogi, 2000, p. 40). Information scientists and knowledge management scholars must reexamine models of organizational learning, competency development and organizational culture to harness the collective capability of not only a virtual workforce, but a virtual organization. The researchers’ “work in progress” poster presents a preliminary systematic literature review and offers guiding questions to scholars and scholar practitioners exploring this rich area of KM research in a virtual organization. The three primary research areas are organizational learning, knowledge archiving, and knowledge system modeling. The final systematic literature review will define the topic and will utilize scholarly research methodologies (e.g., Torocco, 2016) to critically analyze and synthesize existing knowledge management literature and present virtual workforce implications that give direction for future research. In this growing research area, this poster poses the questions: (1) What are the obstacles of storing and deploying knowledge in a virtual organization? (2) How does the virtual organization impact the social nature of knowledge (namely sharing and creation)? (3) How must knowledge systems evolve to accommodate a virtual workforce? Davis, S. (1989). Future Perfect. Reading, Massachusetts: Addison-Wesley. Rastogi, P. (2000) Knowledge management and intellectual capital — the new virtuous reality of competitiveness. Human Systems Management 19(1), 39 – 49. Torocco, R. (2016). Writing Integrative Reviews of Literature: Methods and Purposes. International Journal of Adult Vocational Education and Technology, 7(1), 62 – 70. doi: 10.4018/IJAVET.2016070106

Series/Report Name or Number

• Knowledge management
• Scholarly communications
• Administration
• Sociology of information

Type of Resource

Text

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