Defining the term knowledge worker: Toward improved ontology and operationalization

Abstract

Despite the strategic value of organizational knowledge as a source of sustainable competitive advantage, researchers have voiced their concern over the potential imprecision and undue use of the term “knowledge worker” in the relevant research literature. In order to identify the nature of this imprecision and discuss ways of overcoming addressing it, we analyzed 223 articles from diverse fields that make reference to the concept of “knowledge worker”. Applying content analysis, we analyzed the definitions identified and the types of worker considered by researchers to be knowledge workers. It was observed that the term ‘knowledge worker’ has been used for occupations and professions with different levels of complexity, including those that were mostly operational. In addition, we observed that the term ‘knowledge worker’ is used, in a majority of instances, without any definition being offered (67.7%). Subsequent semantic analysis of the set of actions attributed to knowledge workers aided in the identification of additional descriptors that assisted in the conceptualization the term. In the analyzes, the sole appearance of the verb exploit in an article in the field of Geography & Transport stood out, leading us to consider a link between the active work conducted by knowledge workers and the exploitation‐exploration dyad in accordance with the concepts of the fields of innovation and learning. The analysis of the article did not confirm our initial perception. After observing the non‐use of the exploitation‐exploration dyad in none of the definitions of the term knowledge worker in the 223 articles that were analyzed, and in the literatures cited in these articles, we considered this fact an opportunity for contribution. Therefore, this study presents the development of an innovative new definition for the term knowledge worker, associating it with actions of the exploration of organizational knowledge, whereas the term information worker is associated with actions of the exploitation of organizational knowledge. We close the discussions by addressing the impacts of these definitions for the practitioners and academics who work with the themes of knowledge management, organizational learning, core competences, and process management.