Abstract
Given the challenge of retaining the research knowledge of an aging, experienced professoriate at South African Universities of Technology, institutions with a nascent tradition of scholarly research, this paper explores the feasibility of a technology-enhanced knowledge management framework for generating, sharing and retaining tacit research knowledge to leverage research outputs at the Central University of Technology (CUT), Free State, South Africa. Since digital trails of established-novice researcher interactions are left behind whenever they interact in online platforms, an examination of such interactions can provide insights into the sharing and transferring of tacit research knowledge from senior researchers to novices. This theoretical study draws on Nonaka and Takeuchi’s Theory of Organisational Knowledge Creation, an emerging technology platform, SharePoint, mainstream literature and the authors’ reflective experiences to develop a technology-enhanced knowledge management model. The paper argues that tacit knowledge can be assimilated from a comprehensive examination of the knowledge production interactions between senior academics and novices enabled by low threshold technology and collaborative sharing of content. This study’s insights are relevant to Higher Educational Institutions (HEIs) struggling to create a sustainable culture of scholarly research and grow a new generation of competent researchers amid the attrition of senior academics and the prevalence of systemic blockages in knowledge transfer processes.
Highlights
Knowledge management (KM), which entails the management practices and processes that allow organisations to leverage their intellectual capital and create sustainable competitive advantage (Dumay, 2015), is becoming central to increasing research productivity and creating knowledge-based economies (Wallis, 2003; Rahnavard & Mohammadi, 2009; Liebowitz, 2011; Talebi & Galekandi, 2013)
In view of the tragedy that when valuable employees retire, valuable knowledge is lost if there are no effective knowledge management processes in place to prevent it (Burmeister & Rooney, 2015), this study seeks to develop a technology-enhanced knowledge management framework for retaining research knowledge at the Central University of Technology, Free State (CUT) in South Africa
Baban’s (2007) two considerations are critical to the South African higher education institutions (SAHEIs), which consider knowledge production and retention as critical components of their reputation by ranking race
Summary
Knowledge management (KM), which entails the management practices and processes that allow organisations to leverage their intellectual capital and create sustainable competitive advantage (Dumay, 2015), is becoming central to increasing research productivity and creating knowledge-based economies (Wallis, 2003; Rahnavard & Mohammadi, 2009; Liebowitz, 2011; Talebi & Galekandi, 2013). Problem background: The challenge of developing an appropriate technology-enhanced framework for the retention of tacit research knowledge can be approached from the perspective of national development imperatives and national funding policies for South African universities These are inter alia the following: The national pressure on higher education to increase research productivity, to contribute immensely to the knowledge economy and social innovations, the research performance-based funding policy, which appear to be inconsistent with the differentiated higher education system, and the compulsive elements of world ranking of universities. This argument buttresses Ng’ethe, Subotzky & Afeti’s (2008) claim that newly formed universities are likely to model themselves around the practices of older and more established institutions
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