Integrating knowledge and knowing: A framework for understanding knowledge-in-practice

The foundation of an organization's strategy often lies in its ability to generate, combine, recombine, and exploit knowledge. Two very different perspectives have emerged in knowledge management research: a commodity view which sees knowledge as something to be acquired, stored, and converted and a community perspective which emphasizes knowing and the ability to act on what one knows. We propose a new framework for understanding knowledge in organizations which integrates these two views and complements prior research by focusing on knowledge-in-practice. In doing so, we clarify the organizational knowledge construct by examining the underlying knowledge-based characteristics of work practices. We create a multidimensional understanding of the knowledge-in-practice construct and introduce the concept of learnability. We explain how the proposed framework can lead to future research and discuss managerial implications for achieving fit between knowledge-in-practice and organization policies. (C) 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.