Knowledge Management and Consumerization of Information Technology: Opportunities and Challenges

The conduct of knowledge management (KM) is changing fundamentally due to consumerization of Information Technology. The consumerization of Information Technology (CoIT) is transforming the way knowledge workers conduct work and share knowledge and information. Therefore, knowledge management activities in an organization are no longer only supported by traditional Information and Communications Technologies (ICTs) (such as DB, DSS, data warehouses, email), but are also enabled through new forms of ICTs commonly referred to as social software or Web 2.0 technologies. Although, the ubiquitous and pervasive nature of these new forms of ICTs are creating a flexible KM environment, these digitized workspaces are also creating challenges. This study examines the following research question, what opportunities and challenges do knowledge-intensive organizations face during the conduct of KM in a multiple platform technology environment? In this research in progress, the preliminary findings (emerging research themes and potential research questions) from our pilot test are presented. When the study is completed, the multiple and diverse perspectives from the practitioner and scholarly journals plus interviews with knowledge workers and providers will be compared and contrasted to posit a more complete research agenda and management implications.