Roles enabling the mobilization of organizational knowledge

Abstract

Purpose–Knowledge-based work is growing at a significant pace in the context of large organizations. As a consequence, use and transfer of knowledge are considered important activities of knowledge mobilization. Existing literature suggests that there is an increasing gap in the understanding of roles and typical responsibilities in knowledge mobilization. The purpose of this article is to examine how roles enable knowledge mobilization in large organizations.Design/methodology/approach–A qualitative research design was used where three large organizations representing multiple sectors were selected to study roles that enable the mobilization of organizational knowledge.Findings–This study explains the understanding of five roles and their typical responsibilities to enable the mobilization of knowledge in large organizations – knowledge mentor, broker, taxonomist, content editor, and gatekeeper. These roles foster collaboration and communication activities within and between teams enabling knowledge mobilization.Research limitations/implications–The authors acknowledge the limitations of this paper. Although the recognized roles provide valuable insights with respect to mobility of knowledge, it does not specify how each role can be assessed in terms of performance. Another limitation is that these roles were studied in the context of large-scale organizations where knowledge work is central to their performance.Originality/value–This study ' s findings suggest that there is a strong need for management to recognize and value roles and responsibilities to realize organizational knowledge mobilization.