Models of trust for knowledge-based government services

This paper draws on current research and from it isolates a framework of trust definitions. From these definitions models of the trust relationships specific to the implementation of knowledge management within a governmental organisation are developed. As a foundation for the paper we address the nature of knowledge, adhering to current accepted definitions of tacit and explicit knowledge, while introducing a third knowledge type obscured explicit knowledge. We argue that this third type is a subtype of explicit knowledge, and has been misidentified as tacit knowledge. We also argue that this third type is fundamental to the models. We argue that social acceptance of knowledge management is fundamentally based on trust and subsequently develop the models that describe the complex trust relationships involved in this acceptance.