Somatic and cultural knowledge: drivers of a habitus-driven model of tacit knowledge acquisition

Pages927-953
DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1108/JD-03-2018-0044
Published date09 September 2019
Date09 September 2019
AuthorHui Chen,Jose Miguel Baptista Nunes,Gillian Ragsdell,Xiaomi An
Subject MatterLibrary & information science
Somatic and cultural knowledge:
drivers of a habitus-driven model
of tacit knowledge acquisition
Hui Chen
School of Information Management,
Central China Normal University, Wuhan, China
Jose Miguel Baptista Nunes
School of Information Management, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China
Gillian Ragsdell
School of Business and Economics,
Loughborough University, Loughborough, UK, and
Xiaomi An
School of Information Resources Management,
Renmin University of China, Beijing, China and
Key Laboratory of Data Engineering and
Knowledge Engineering of the Ministry of Education, Beijing, China
Abstract
Purpose The purpose of this paper is to identify and explain the role of individual learning and
development in acquiring tacit knowledge in the context of the inexorable and intense continuous change
(technological and otherwise) that characterizes our society today, and also to investigate the software (SW)
sector, which is at the core of contemporary continuous change and is a paradigm of effective and intrinsic
knowledge sharing (KS). This makes the SW sector unique and different from others where KS is so hard
to implement.
Design/methodology/approach The study employed an inductive qualitative approach based on a
multi-case study approach, composed of three successful SW companies in China. These companies are
representative of the fabric of the sector, namely a small- and medium-sized enterprise, a large private
company and a large state-owned enterprise. The fieldwork included 44 participants who were interviewed
using a semi-structured script. The interview data were coded and interpreted following the Straussian
grounded theory pattern of open coding, axial coding and selective coding. The process of interviewing was
stopped when theoretical saturation was achieved after a careful process of theoretical sampling.
Findings The findings of this research suggest that individual learning and development are deemed to be
the fundamental feature for professional success and survival in the continuously changing environment of
the SW industry today. However, individual learning was described by the participants as much more than a
mere individual process. It involves a collective and participatory effort within the organization and the sector
as a whole, and a KS process that transcends organizational, cultural and national borders. Individuals in
particular are mostly motivated by the pressing need to face and adapt to the dynamic and changeable
environments of todays digital society that is led by the sector. Software practitioners are continuously in
need of learning, refreshing and accumulating tacit knowledge, partly because it is required by their
companies, but also due to a sound awareness of continuous technical and technological changes that seem
only to increase with the advances of information technology. This led to a clear theoretical understanding
that the continuous change that faces the sector has led to individual acquisition of culture and somatic
knowledge that in turn lay the foundation for not only the awareness of the need for continuous individual
professional development but also for the creation of habitus related to KS and continuous learning.
Originality/value The study reported in this paper shows that there is a theoretical link between the
existence of conducive organizational and sector-wide somatic and cultural knowledge, and the success of KS
Journal of Documentation
Vol. 75 No. 5, 2019
pp. 927-953
© Emerald PublishingLimited
0022-0418
DOI 10.1108/JD-03-2018-0044
Received 20 March 2018
Revised 17 September 2018
31 January 2019
Accepted 8 February 2019
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
www.emeraldinsight.com/0022-0418.htm
This work was financially supported by the National Social Science Foundation of China Youth
Program (Grant Number: 19CTQ037), as well as by Miguel Nunes’“100 TalentSeed Research Fund of
Sun Yat-sen University in Guangzhou, China.
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cultural
knowledge
practices that lead to individual learning and development. Therefore, the theory proposed suggests that
somatic and cultural knowledge are crucial drivers for the creation of habitus of individual tacit knowledge
acquisition. The paper further proposes a habitus-driven individual development (HDID) Theoretical Model
that can be of use to both academics and practitioners interested in fostering and developing processes of KS
and individual development in knowledge-intensive organizations.
Keywords Habitus, Tacit knowledge sharing, Chinese software organizations, Continuous change,
Cultural knowledge, Somatic knowledge, Tacit knowledge acquisition
Paper type Research paper
1. Introduction and research context
As proposed by Botha et al. (2008), rapid and continuous change is a characteristic of the
modern business and social environment:
Businesses are forced to transform themselves fundamentally to survive in a challenging economy.
Transformation implies change in the way business is conducted, in the way people perform their
contribution to the organisation, and in the way the organisation perceives and manages its vital
assets, which increasingly are built around the key assets of intellectual capital and knowledge.
(Botha et al., 2008, p. xvii)
This view is compatible with a traditional knowledge management (KM) proposition that
competitive advantage in this changing modern world can be built around managing,
preserving and protecting knowledge assets (Gao et al., 2008). It also implies that in order to face
the uncertainties and inexorable change that, nowadays, characterizes the knowledge economy
age, organizations and social groups should endeavor to succeed in complex organizational
processes related to knowledge representation, storage, dissemination and use (Amalia and
Nugroho, 2011; Jashapara, 2011). However, the characteristics of this actionable knowledge
( Jashapara, 2011) are complex, dynamic and highly dependent of individual knowledge
construction processes, needs and practical use (Chen, 2015). This not only makes knowledge,
especially tacit knowledge, difficult to capture, represent and maintain by organizations
(Nonaka et al., 2000), but rapidly outdated in a continuously changing world of practice.
Continuous change is not the rare, episodic phenomenon described by punctuated equilibrium
models that were valid until the early 90s and considered change to be infrequent, risky and
only to happen if strictly necessary (Brown and Eisenhardt, 1997). Rather, it is endemic to
contemporary organizations and characterized by short product and process life cycles, rapidly
shifting competitive landscapes and the ability to engage in rapid and relentless evolution and
change (Eisenhardt, 1989; DAveni, 1994). Being able to face and take opportunity of the
challenges posed by continuous change is a crucial capability for organizational competition and
survival. Static models of KM are therefore ill equipped to support this relentless type of change:
Organisations are about people. In order to manage change effectively, we need to understand how
change affects people at an emotional and cognitive level. There are a number of relatively
predictable phases that people encounter linked with their ability to exercise control over a
new situation [incremental change; bumpy incremental change and discontinuous change].
(Jashapara, 2011, p. 299)
Jashapara (2011) is essentially right in this assertion, but nowadays continuous change is
almost always discontinuous change, that is transformational change that occurs at any
time internally and externally, globally and faster than the ability of organizations to
provide carefully planned responses to it. As put forward by Jashapara (2011) himself, the
best response to this now prevalent type of change is the adoption of well-established
models of active learning, double loop learning and reflective practice (Argyris and Schon,
1978; Carayannis, 1999). Therefore, KM and organizational learning must go beyond
simple replication to application, change and renement. It must include rules for learning
and their change and adaptation, rather than the rote iteration of past successful actions
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