Organizational knowledge actions and the evolution of knowledge environment: a micro-foundations perspective

This study proposes a new theoretical approach to conceptualizing the knowledge environment as a mosaic of knowledge components stemming from organizational knowledge actions. The pieces of this imaginary mosaic are the novel knowledge components incorporated in organizational knowledge actions and their sizes are determined by the extent of their influence on subsequent knowledge actions. I use the variation-selection-retention (VSR) and social mechanisms models to build my approach and I employ the patented knowledge environment as an exemplar. The deconstruction of the knowledge environment into its organization-level knowledge components embedded in organizational knowledge actions could provide scholars, managers, and policy-makers with a simple perspective to view the contribution of each organization to its knowledge environment.