Mitigating the Disruptive Consequences of Knowledge Loss in Organizational Settings: Knowledge Loss Clusters and Potential Organizational Interventions

Abstract

This paper reviews the management and organization studies literature underpinning the construct of knowledge loss. It proposes that five clusters of knowledge loss influence the capacity of organizations to retain their valuable organizational knowledge. Such clusters include hanging, fading, disengaging, dissolving, and vanishing. To overcome the disruptive consequences of knowledge loss, this paper proposes five potential organizational interventions including reminding, refreshing, re-acquiring, re-building, and re-inventing. This paper discusses the implications for theory and managerial practice in the context of the knowledge management literature and provides directions to future research.