Drivers and challenges of tacit knowledge sharing in automotive workshop employees

Purpose This paper aims to explore the way tacit knowledge (TK) sharing occurred among automotive workshop (AW) employees. Challenges and drivers of TK sharing (TKS), including stakes of experienced employees that hinder the smooth transfer of TK, have been explored. Design/methodology/approach In-depth interviews have been conducted with experienced technicians using open-ended questions to gain deep insights on the issue of TKS. Data coding has been done for thematic analysis to extract themes. Findings This study explains the way TK is shared and transferred among employees in the AW sector. Various drivers and challenges in the smooth transfer of TK have been found. Various stakes of employees in the sharing of TK have been explored. Originality/value To the best of authors' knowledge, this is the first study that explored stakes of experienced employees in TKS by exploring challenges in the TKS process among employees. Automotive repair is a complicated technical job that integrates various trade persons for the successful execution of jobs for customer satisfaction. TK is a core value and a sensitive issue among employees, which makes the job of researchers challenging, resulting scarcity of literature on this vital issue.