Mapping the Complexity of Knowledge Management Thought in Technology Management: A Critical Review of Information Systems Studies

Abstract

Knowledge management has increasingly been regarded as an important research theme in information systems studies, with a substantial accumulated stock of empirical research. The purpose of this paper is to compare and contrast theoretical and methodological approaches to knowledge management in extant information systems studies. In so doing, the author builds a new typology and discusses relevant research questions and fundamental ontological and epistemological assumptions about the nature and study of social sciences, and the nature and scope of organizational knowledge. Previous typologies have tangled together basic assumptions about the nature and study of social sciences and the “transformative” nature and scope of organizational knowledge. The present typology acknowledges that these two dimensions need to be untangled to be able to discriminate and analyze fundamental assumptions that researchers, explicitly or implicitly, adopt in the study of knowledge management and information systems in organizations. This distinction is necessary because the implementation and use of information systems has the potential to enhance, or hinder, the transformative attributes or characteristics of organizational processes. This new typology is used to conceptualize, categorize, and criticize a sample of selected research articles, and to suggest new directions for research.