Tensions between knowledge creation and knowledge sharing: Individual preferences of employees in knowledge-intensive organizations

Abstract

Contemporary literature usually views knowledge kreation and knowledge sharing as either independent or positevely related precesses. However, based on the review of the literature on the organizational conditions aimed to support these processes, the author challenges this view at the individual level of analysis and suggests that an individual employee can hardly simultaniously combine features that support both knowledge creation and knowledge sharing and thus can hardly be efficient in both processes at the same time. The data from the survey of 120 employees from 5 knowledge-intensive companies supported this idea, and the author discusses its implications for further research and for management practice in knowledge-intensive organizations.