Paper Type
Completed Research Paper
Abstract
This study explores the awareness and use of academic knowledge management (KM) research by practitioners. Lay Epistemic Theory (LET) was employed to understand the impact of academic KM literature on the actions of KM practitioners. A sample of KM professional groups in Australia was engaged in this study. The results indicate that most practitioners stay up to date on developments in their field through the knowledge management community via online forums and groups. Practitioners prefer to talk to other KM practitioners or colleagues for day-to-day information on KM practice. However, KM practitioners are knowledgeable about books, and they use tools for finding and retrieving academic articles, with somewhat limited success. Few practitioners directly apply a recommendation from a research article in their practice. It is concluded that scholarly work contributes to the inference rules that practitioners use, and practitioner-based information provides guidance on how to apply the inference rules in practice.
Recommended Citation
Booker, Lorne; Bontis, Nick; Burstein, Frada; Linger, Henry; and Serenko, Alexander, "Understanding the Practical Relevance of Academic Research in Knowledge Management: A Lay Epistemic Theory Approach" (2013). AMCIS 2013 Proceedings. 9.
https://aisel.aisnet.org/amcis2013/ISPhilosophy/GeneralPresentations/9
Understanding the Practical Relevance of Academic Research in Knowledge Management: A Lay Epistemic Theory Approach
This study explores the awareness and use of academic knowledge management (KM) research by practitioners. Lay Epistemic Theory (LET) was employed to understand the impact of academic KM literature on the actions of KM practitioners. A sample of KM professional groups in Australia was engaged in this study. The results indicate that most practitioners stay up to date on developments in their field through the knowledge management community via online forums and groups. Practitioners prefer to talk to other KM practitioners or colleagues for day-to-day information on KM practice. However, KM practitioners are knowledgeable about books, and they use tools for finding and retrieving academic articles, with somewhat limited success. Few practitioners directly apply a recommendation from a research article in their practice. It is concluded that scholarly work contributes to the inference rules that practitioners use, and practitioner-based information provides guidance on how to apply the inference rules in practice.