Structured Articulation of Knowledge: the Influence of Question Response Structure on Recipient Attitude
Year: 2007
Type: dissertation
Abstract: Business today is faced with discontinuity and unpredictable change, which makes\nmany of the structured processes of yesteryear redundant or obsolete. Process-based\ntransactions are being replaced with technology and increasingly organisations are\nrecognising the importance of proactively managing their knowledge transactions, to\nremain competitive. While research on knowledge sharing is gaining the attention of\nresearchers, almost invariably their focus has been on the factors influencing\nknowledge transfer at the macro-level in large multi-national organisations. Few\nhave attempted to unravel the complexities of individual-to-individual micro-level\nknowledge sharing and those that have, for the most part have directed their\ninvestigations towards exploring factors that enhance or impede the source individual\nsharing their knowledge, rather than the recipient's receiving of knowledge. While\nquestioning is implicit in knowledge sharing there are assumptions that underpin the\nstructure of a question and these assumptions affect both the source and the\nrecipient.\nThis study investigates how the structure of a question posed to a source individual\nwhen eliciting knowledge, influences the attitude of a recipient individual towards the\nknowledge they receive from the question response. Drawing upon theoretical\nassumptions that underpin question structure, three hypotheses are posed to\ncompare binary, open-ended and directed question responses. To test the\nhypotheses a progression of three independent studies were performed using\nlaboratory and field experiments. The first study conducted in a laboratory, used a\ncontrived scenario case as the knowledge context and the second study replicated\nthis experiment in the field. The last study conducted in a single organisation, used\nreal organisational knowledge as the knowledge context.\nRecipients of shared knowledge were found to be more favourably disposed towards\nquestion responses that were structured in a complex manner; open-ended and\ndirected question responses were more favoured than binary question responses.\nii\nThere was no difference in recipient attitude between open-ended and directed\nquestion responses and recipient attitude towards the shared knowledge was found\nto be positively related to their intention to use the knowledge in the future.\nThese findings are of significance as they illustrate the importance of structuring\nquestions in a manner that is consistent with recipients of the shared knowledge\nbeing more favourably disposed towards the knowledge they have received. In an\nenvironment of ambiguity, complexity and uncertainty where decisions are nonprogrammed,\nstrategic and imperative to the competitiveness of the organisation, no\nlonger is the binary 'Yes' or 'No' compliance or audit style question, with its implicit\nassumptions, sufficient to elicit knowledge. It is important to recognise that often we\ndo not know what we need to know until it is shared by someone. Further, when\nshared knowledge is cognitively processed with our current knowledge base, the new\nknowledge is likely to facilitate more informed decision-making. The more\nfavourably disposed the recipient is towards the knowledge the more likely it is that\nthey will use it in the future; knowledge is transferred.
Author: Heather Bircham-Connolly
Language: English
Subfield: Information Systems and Management
Field: Decision Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2126626192