Knowledge management practices of tourism consultants: A project ecology perspective

Abstract

This study advances the contextual understanding of knowledge management practices adopted by tourism consultants in the setting of tourism development projects. It goes beyond the traditional understanding of the bounded nature of firms to analyse knowledge management issues through a project-based multi-layered perspective, namely project ecology. An innovative participant-observation methodology is utilised to study 15 episodic projects at three tourism development companies over a 12-month period. This provides an insider perspective to enhance understanding of the knowledge management practices and collaborations of tourism consultants. The study reveals two underlying logics that shape knowledge management practices: the logics of creativity and accumulation. The findings exhibit how knowledge management is moulded by the practices within, and interactions among, the four tiers of a multi-level project-specific contextual framework. • Analysis of project knowledge management focussed on the holistic social contexts of episodic projects instead of the bounded firm or the destination networks. • Innovative participant observation fieldwork took place in 15 tourism development projects over 12 months. • This is the first study that utilises the project ecology perspective in tourism research. • Two contrasting but interacted logics of knowledge management practices adopted by tourism consultants in tourism development projects are identified: the logic of creativity and the logic of accumulation.