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Knowledge entrepreneurship: institutionalising wiki-based knowledge-management processes in competitive and hierarchical organisations

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Journal of Information Technology

Abstract

Social media in general and wikis in particular offer unique opportunities for knowledge management. Despite widely publicised successes in public settings, wikis in businesses evince mixed results; enterprises struggle to apply wikis to institutionalise knowledge-management practices. We investigate the inherent tensions underlying knowledge-sharing in competitive and hierarchical organisations. Our application of the multi-level organisational learning framework demonstrates that, although wikis facilitate some important learning stages, other critical challenges remain. A unique blend of project leadership can facilitate the institutionalisation of wiki-based knowledge-management processes. To observe the leadership archetype, we use a longitudinal case study of wiki use within a division of NBC Universal. On the basis of our observations, we propose a new archetype of project leadership called Knowledge Entrepreneurship that integrates managerial skills, technology affordances, and critical factors in knowledge-management processes.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, USA

    Young ‘Anna’ Argyris

  2. Boston College, Chestnut Hill, MA, USA

    Sam Ransbotham

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  1. Young ‘Anna’ Argyris
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  2. Sam Ransbotham
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Argyris, Y., Ransbotham, S. Knowledge entrepreneurship: institutionalising wiki-based knowledge-management processes in competitive and hierarchical organisations. J Inf Technol 31, 226–239 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1057/jit.2016.11

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