The power of high-quality connections in knowledge work : a qualitative study of knowledge sharing practices in oil exploration and management consulting

Abstract

In response to a lack of practice-based approaches to knowledge sharing, and the call for bringing human actors, their actions and interactions to the centre stage of organizational research, this thesis adopts a practice-lens to knowledge sharing. The aim of the thesis is to identify how knowledge sharing practices look like when at their best, and what role high-quality connections play in such practices. Based on selected observations and interviews in two different organizational settings (oil exploration and management consulting) five best practices for knowledge sharing are identified: (1) mobilizing engagement, (2) interacting offstage, (3) making it tangible, (4) sharing space, and (5) help giving/help seeking. The authors find that high-quality connections play a decisive role in all of these practices. In some cases high-quality connections enable the practices, in other cases the practices build high-quality connections. Thus, this thesis provides insight into how knowledge sharing practices both shape, and are shaped by, highquality connections. Implications for theory and practice are discussed.