Sharing is caring : examining enablers and barriers for tacit knowledge sharing in virtual teams

Abstract

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to identify enablers and barriers for tacit knowledge sharing in a virtual team. Design/methodology/approach - The empirical data were obtained by conducting in-depth interviews with members of a virtual team in a Norwegian bank. Half of the participants were located in Norway, while the remaining participants were located in offices in Europe and the US. Findings - The results show several enablers and barriers for tacit knowledge sharing in a virtual team. The identified enablers are attitudes and motivation, organizational culture and trust, competitive advantage, and available technological tools. The identified barriers are communication, underused technological tools, lack of face-to-face meetings, and working with different countries. Furthermore, we added a new category for circumstantial factors, including the factor uncertainty. Research limitations/implications - Future research should focus on further exploring the category circumstantial factors, in order to examine if it is applicable beyond the present study and possibly identify other circumstantial factors. In addition, future research should investigate the findings in different cases and by using other research methods. Practical implications - This paper highlights three implications: the importance of physical meetings, the value of a knowledge sharing culture in the organization, and the benefits of communicating via video conference instead of phone calls. Originality/value - This study has found that the scope of previously identified enablers and barriers for knowledge sharing in related research fields, are also applicable in the sphere of tacit knowledge sharing in a virtual setting. Keywords - Tacit knowledge, virtual teamwork, knowledge sharing, enablers, barriers