Transnational project work: practices creating knowing

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to contribute to the understanding of how practices creating knowing can be enabled in project work. Design/methodology/approach - The study is based on an exploratory, in-depth case study of an international professional service firm (IPSF) and local and transnational project work to deliver services. Project work is investigated through a practice approach. Findings - In transnational project work, three knowing practices are identified - networking, doing, and sorting - and three practices of creating new knowing - finding, learning, and probing. Research limitations/implications - Although only one organization was studied, the research presented shows that knowledge creation and project work benefit from a practice perspective to highlight the enacted aspects of knowing and new knowing. Practical implications - The findings show that different project phases enable the necessary knowing and/or new knowing practices through a differentiated focus on social interaction and contacts on the one hand and the use of materials, documents, systems and infrastructure on the other. Originality/value - The paper extends earlier research and shows that practices of knowing involve more than doing and practices of creating knowing involve more than learning. A conceptual understanding of knowing-who, knowing-how, and knowing-what is developed to identify the knowing and new knowing while appreciating their interrelations. Further, the paper shows how the project phases and the practices can be better enabled through a differentiated focus on the social and the material use.