The Challenges of Knowledge Sharing in Practice : A Social Approach

Addresses the key skills that are required in organisations in the information intensive society. The book examines the power of information behaviour on the construction of different kinds of shared knowledge and social identity in a group. An introduction to the different dimensions of social capital that is structural and cognitive, and looks at the relational aspects of information behaviour in organisations. Experiences are analysed in two different case studies - in the financial and biotechnology industries - in order to gain additional insights in how the internal organisation environment should be designed to support the development of the organisation's intellectual capital. Introduces social capital dimensions to the knowledge management frameworkProvides empirical work on the new combination of social capital and organizational information behaviour. Two different information sharing practices are presented: a claims handling unit (routine based work) and a biotechnology firm (expert work)Develops social capital measures into qualitative information research