Although the notion of ‘collective knowledge’ has become a building block of many knowledge-based studies on the organization, there is little clarity about the precise meaning of the term. This paper aims at closing this explanatory gap by investigating the question of what it can mean for knowledge to be collective. In drawing on relevant literatures it analytically distinguishes three types of collective knowledge and elaborates on their nature. Through analysis of their interrelationship and interaction within the organization, these types are integrated into an overarching framework forming a pluralistic epistemology of collective knowledge. Finally, some implications of the proposed epistemological framework for our understanding of higher-order knowledge-related constructs (such as routines and capabilities) as well as for the architecture of firms and industries are outlined.
AbellP.FelinT.FossN. (2008). Building micro-foundations for the routines, capabilities, and performance links. Managerial & Decision Economics, 29, 489–502.
2.
AlaviM.LeidnerD. E. (2001). Review: Knowledge management and knowledge management systems: conceptual foundations and resarch issues. MIS Quarterly, 25, 107–136.
3.
AlchianA. A.DemsetzH. (1972). Production, information costs, and economic organization. American Economic Review, 62, 777.
4.
AlvessonM.KärremanD. (2001). Odd couple: Making sense of the curious concept of knowledge management. Journal of Management Studies, 38, 995–1018.
5.
ArgoteL.McEvilyB.ReagansR. (2003). Managing knowledge in organizations: An integrative framework and review of emerging themes. Management Science, 49, 571–582.
6.
AustinJ. R. (2003). Transactive memory in organizational groups: the effects of content, consensus, specialization, and accuracy on group performance. Journal of Applied Psychology, 88, 866.
7.
BaumolW. J.BlinderA. S.WolffE. N. (2003). Downsizing in America: Reality, causes, and consequences. New York, NY: Russell Sage Foundation.
8.
BechkyB. A. (2003). Sharing meaning across occupational communities: The transformation of understanding on a production floor. Organization Science, 14, 312–330.
9.
BeckerM. C. (2004). Organizational routines: A review of the literature. Industrial & Corporate Change, 13, 643–677.
10.
BradyT.DaviesA. (2004). Building project capabilities: From exploratory to exploitative learning. Organization Studies, 25, 1601–1621.
11.
BrandonD. P.HollingsheadA. B. (2004). Transactive memory systems in organizations: Matching tasks, expertise, and people. Organization Science, 15, 633–644.
12.
BrownJ. S.DuguidP. (1991). Organizational learning and communities-of-practice: Toward a unified view of working, learning, and innovation. Organization Science, 2, 40–57.
13.
BrusoniS.JacobidesM. G.PrencipeA. (2009). Strategic dynamics in industry architectures and the challenges of knowledge integration. European Management Review, 6, 209–216.
14.
BrusoniS.PrencipeA.PavittK. (2001). Knowledge specialization, organizational coupling, and the boundaries of the firm: Why do firms know more than they make?Administrative Science Quarterly, 46, 597–621.
15.
CabreraA.CabreraE. F. (2002). Knowledge-sharing dilemmas. Organization Studies, 23, 687–710.
16.
CacciatoriE. (2008). Memory objects in project environments: Storing, retrieving and adapting learning in project-based firms. Research Policy, 37, 1591–1601.
17.
CacciatoriE.JacobidesM. G. (2005). The dynamic limits of specialization: Vertical integration reconsidered. Organization Studies, 26, 1851–1883.
18.
CamererC.KnezM. (1996). Coordination, organizational boundaries and fads in business practices. Industrial and Corporate Change, 5, 89–112.
19.
CarlileP. R. (2002). A pragmatic view of knowledge and boundaries: Boundary objects in new product development. Organization Science, 13, 442–455.
20.
CarlileP. R. (2004). Transferring, translating, and transforming: An integrative framework for managing knowledge across boundaries. Organization Science, 15, 555–568.
21.
CarlileP. R.RebentischE. S. (2003). Into the black box:The knowledge transformation cycle. Management Science, 49, 1180–1195.
22.
CassonM. (1994). Why are firms hierarchical?International Journal of the Economics of Business, 1, 47–76.
23.
ChatmanJ. A. (1991). Matching people and organizations: Selection and socialization in public accounting firms. Administrative Science Quarterly, 36, 459–484.
24.
CohenM. D.BacdayanP. (1994). Organizational routines are stored as procedural memory: Evidence from a laboratory study. Organization Science, 5, 554–568.
25.
CohenM. D.BurkhartR.DosiG.EgidiM.MarengoL.WarglienM.WinterS. (1996). Routines and other recurring action patterns of organizations: Contemporary research issues. Industrial & Corporate Change, 5, 653–688.
26.
CohenW. M.LevinthalD. A. (1990). absorptive capacity: A new perspective on learning and innovation. Administrative Science Quarterly, 35, 128–152.
27.
CollinsH. (2007). Bicycling on the moon: Collective tacit knowledge and somatic-limit tacit knowledge. Organization Studies, 28, 257–262.
28.
ConnerK. R.PrahaladC. K. (1996). A resource-based theory of the firm: Knowledge versus opportunism. Organization Science, 7, 477–501.
29.
CrémerJ. (1990). Common knowledge and the co-ordination of economic activities. In AokiM.GustafssonB.WilliamsonO.E. (Eds.), The firm as a nexus of treaties (pp. 53–76). London: Sage Publications.
D’AdderioL. (2001). Crafting the virtual prototype: How firms integrate knowledge and capabilities across organisational boundaries. Research Policy, 30, 1409–1424.
32.
D’AdderioL. (2003). Configuring software, reconfiguring memories: The influence of integrated systems on the reproduction of knowledge and routines. Industrial & Corporate Change, 12, 321–350.
33.
DamodaranL.OlphertW. (2000). Barriers and facilitators to the use of knowledge management systems. Behaviour & Information Technology, 19, 405–413.
34.
DavenportT. H.PrusakL. (1998). Working knowledge: how organizations manage what they know. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
35.
DaviesA.BradyT. (2000). Organisational capabilities and learning in complex product systems: Towards repeatable solutions. Research Policy, 29, 931–953.
36.
DemsetzH. (1988). The theory of the firm revisited. Journal of Law, Economics & Organization, 4, 141–161.
37.
DodgsonM. (1993). Organizational learning: A review of some literatures. Organization Studies, 14, 375–394.
38.
DosiG.FailloM.MarengoL. (2008). Organizational capabilities, patterns of knowledge accumulation and governance structures in business firms: an introduction. Organization Studies, 29, 1165–1185.
39.
Easterby-SmithM.LylesM. A. (2003). The Blackwell handbook of organizational learning and knowledge management. Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing Ltd.
40.
FarajS.SproullL. (2000). Coordinating expertise in software development teams. Management Science, 46, 1554–1568.
41.
FelinT.FossN. J. (2005). Strategic organization: A field in search of micro-foundations. Strategic Organization, 3, 441–455.
42.
FelinT.HesterlyW. S. (2007). The knowledge-based view, nested heterogeneity, and new value creation: Philosophical considerations on the locus of knowledge. Academy of Management Review, 32, 195–218.
43.
FossN. J. (2003). Bounded rationality and tacit knowledge in the organizational capabilities approach: An assessment and a re-evaluation. Industrial & Corporate Change, 12, 185–201.
44.
FossN. J. (2007).The emerging knowledge governance approach: challenges and characteristics. Organization, 14, 29–52.
45.
GranstrandO.PatelP.PavittK. (1997). Multi-technology corporations: Why they have ‘distributed’ rather than ‘distincitve core’ competencies. California Management Review, 39(4), 8–25.
46.
GrantR. M. (1996). Toward a knowledge-based theory of the firm. Strategic Management Journal, 17, 109–122.
47.
GuptaA. K.GovindarajanV. (2000). Knowledge management’s social dimension: Lessons from nucor steel. Sloan Management Review, 42(1), 71–80.
48.
HackbarthG.GroverV. (1999). The knowledge repository: Organizational memory information systems. Information Systems Management, 16(3), 21.
49.
HayekF. A. (1945). The use of knowledge in society. American Economic Review, 35, 519–530.
50.
HeckerA. (2011). Specialization, implicit coordination and organizational performance: Trading off common and idiosyncratic knowledge. Review of Managerial Science, 5, 19–47.
51.
HermalinB. E. (2001). Economics and corporate culture. In CooperC. L.CartwrightS.EarleyP. C. (Eds.), Organizational culture and climate (pp. 217–261). Chichester, UK: John Wiley & Sons.
52.
HobdayM.DaviesA.PrencipeA. (2005). Systems integration: A core capability of the modern corporation. Industrial & Corporate Change, 14, 1109–1143.
53.
HollingsheadA. B. (1998). Distributed expertise andn communication processes in groups. In MannixE. A.NealeM. A.GruenfeldD. H. (Eds.), Research on managing groups and teams (Vol. 1). Greenwich, CT: JAI Press.
54.
HollingsheadA. B. (2001). Cognitive interdependence and convergent expectations in transactive memory. Journal of Personality & Social Psychology, 81, 1080–1089.
55.
HutchinsE. (1995). Cognition in the wild. Cambridge, UK: MIT Press.
56.
JacobidesM. G.KnudsenT.AugierM. (2006). Benefiting from innovation: Value creation, value appropriation and the role of industry architectures. Research Policy, 35, 1200–1221.
57.
JacobidesM. G.WinterS. G. (2005). The co-evolution of capabilities and transaction costs: Explaining the institutional structure of production. Strategic Management Journal, 26, 395–413.
58.
KaplanS. (2008). Framing contests: Strategy making under uncertainty. Organization Science, 19, 729–752.
59.
KaplanS. (2011). Research in cognition and strategy: Reflections on two decades of progress and a look to the future. Journal of Management Studies, 48, 665–695.
60.
KogutB.ZanderU. (1992). Knowledge of the firm, combinative capabilities, and the replication of technology. Organization Science, 3, 383–397.
61.
KogutB.ZanderU. (1993). Knowledge of the firm and the evolutionary theory of the multinational corporation. Journal of International Business Studies, 24, 625–646.
62.
KrepsD. M. (1990). Corporate culture and economic theory. In AltJ. E.ShepsleK. A. (Eds.), Perspectives on positive political economy (pp. 90–143). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
63.
LamA. (2000). Tacit knowledge, organizational learning and societal institutions: An integrated framework. Organization Studies, 21, 487–513.
LevineJ. M.MorelandR. L. (1999). Knowledge transmission in work groups: Helping newcomers to succeed. In ThompsonL. L.LevineJ. M.MessickD. M. (Eds.), Shared cognition in organizations: the management of knowledge (pp. 267–296). London: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
LiangD. W.MorelandR. L.ArgoteL. (1995). Group versus individual training and group performance: The mediating role of transactive memory. Personality Social Psychology Bulletin, 21, 384–393.
68.
MacherJ. T. (2006). Technological development and the boundaries of the firm: A knowledge-based examination in semiconductor manufacturing. Management Science, 52, 826–843.
69.
MckinlayA. (2002). The limits of knowledge management. New Technology, Work & Employment, 17, 76–88.
70.
MilgromP.RobertsJ. (1990). The economics of modern manufacturing: Technology, strategy, and organization. American Economic Review, 80, 511–528.
71.
MorelandR. L.ArgoteL. (2003). transactive memory in dynamic organizations. In PetersonR. S.MannixE. A. (Eds.), Leading and managing people in the dynamic organization (pp. 135–162). London: Lawrence Erlbaum Assoc.
72.
NelsonR. R.WinterS. G. (1982). An evolutionary theory of economic change. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
73.
NevoD.WandY. (2005). Organizational memory information systems: A transactive memory approach. Decision Support Systems, 39, 549–562.
74.
NonakaI.TakeuchiH. (1995). The knowledge creation company: how Japanese companies create the dynamics of innovation. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
NooteboomB. (2000). Learning and innovation in organizations and economies. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
77.
OrlikowskiW. J. (2000). Using technology and constituting structures: A practice lens for studying technology in organizations. Organization Science, 11, 404–428.
78.
OrlikowskiW. J. (2002). Knowing in practice: Enacting a collective capability in distributed organizing. Organization Science, 13, 249–273.
79.
PisanoG. P.TeeceD. J. (2007). How to capture value from innovation: Shaping intellectual property and industry architecture. California Management Review, 50, 278–296.
80.
PolanyiM. (1962). Personal knowledge: towards a post-critical philosophy. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
81.
RavasiD.GianmarioV. (2001). Organising the process of knowledge integration: The benefits of structural ambiguity. Scandinavian Journal of Management, 17, 41–66.
82.
ReagansR.ArgoteL.BrooksD. (2005). Individual experience and experience working together: Predicting learning rates from knowing who knows what and knowing how to work together. Management Science, 51, 869–881.
83.
RenY.CarleyK. M.ArgoteL. (2006). The contingent effects of transactive memory: When is it more beneficial to know what others know?Management Science, 52, 671–682.
84.
RichardsonG. B. (1972). The organisation of industry. Economic Journal, 82, 883–896.
85.
RowlinsonM.BoothC.ClarkP.DelahayeA.ProcterS. (2010). Social remembering and organizational memory. Organization Studies, 31, 69–87.
86.
RulkeD. L.RauD. (2000). Investigating the encoding process of transactive memory development in group training. Group & Organization Management, 25, 373–396.
87.
ScheinE. H. (1984). Coming to a new awareness of organization culture. Sloan Management Review, 25(2), 3–16.
88.
ScheinE. H. (1992). Organizational culture and leadership. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
89.
SchreyöggG.GeigerD. (2007). The significance of distinctiveness: A proposal for rethinking organizational knowledge. Organization, 14, 77–100.
90.
SimonH. A. (1976). Administrative behavior. New York, NY: Macmillan.
91.
SimonH. A. (1991). Bounded rationality and organizational learning. Organization Science, 2, 125–134.
92.
SpenderJ.-C. (1996a). Making knowledge the basis of a dynamic theory of the firm. Strategic Management Journal, 17, 45–62.
93.
SpenderJ.-C. (1996b). Organizational knowledge, learning and memory: Three concepts in search of a theory. Journal of Organizational Change Management, 9, 63–78.
94.
SpenderJ.-C. (1998). Pluralist epistemology and the knowledge-based theory of the firm. Organization, 5, 233–256.
95.
SpenderJ. C.SchererA. G. (2007). The philosophical foundations of knowledge management: Editors’ introduction. Organization, 14, 5–28.
96.
ThompsonJ. D. (1967). Organizations in action: social science bases of administrative theory. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.
97.
TsoukasH. (1996). The firm as a distributed knowledge system: a constructionist approach. Strategic Management Journal, 17, 11–25.
98.
TsoukasH.VladimirouE. (2001). What is organizational knowledge?Journal of Management Studies, 38, 973–993.
99.
TywoniakS. A. (2007). Knowledge in four deformation dimensions. Organization, 14, 53–76.
100.
Van Den BulteC.MoenartR. K. (1998). The effects of R&D team co-location on communication patterns among R&D, marketing, and manufacturing. Management Science, 44(11), 1–18.
101.
Van Den SteenE. (2010). On the origin of shared beliefs (and corporate culture). RAND Journal of Economics, 41, 617–648.
102.
Von HippelE. (1994). ‘Sticky information’ and the locus of problem solving: Implications for innovation. Management Science, 40, 429–439.
103.
WalshJ. P.UngsonG. R. (1991). Organizational memory. Academy of Management Review, 16, 57–91.
104.
WeberR. A.CamererC. F. (2003). Cultural conflict and merger failure: An experimental approach. Management Science, 49, 400–415.
105.
WegnerD. M. (1986). Transactive memory: A contemporary analysis of the group mind. In MullenB.GoethalsG. R. (Eds.), Theories of group behavior (pp. 185–208). New York, NY: Springer-Verlag.
106.
WeickK. E. (1979). The social psychology of organizing. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley.
107.
WeickK. E.RobertsK. H. (1993). Collective mind in organizations: Heedful interrelating on flight decks. Administrative Science Quarterly, 38, 357–381.
108.
WengerE. (1998). Communities of practice: learning, meaning, and identity. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
109.
WillcocksL. P.LacityM. C. (2008). Information systems and outsourcing: sTudies in theory and practice. New York, NY: Palgrave Macmillan.
110.
WingL.ChuaA. (2005). Knowledge management project abandonment: An exploratory examination of root causes. Communications of AIS, 2005, 723–743.
