The Knowledge Management Tussle – Speech Communities and Rhetorical Strategies in the Development of Knowledge Management

Authors

Steffen Raub, HEC Lausanne, Bâtiment des Facultés des Sciences Humaines 1, CH-1015 Lausanne-Dorigny, Switzerland
Charles-Clemens Rüling, HEC – Management Studies, University of Geneva, 40, Boulevard du Pont d'Arve, CH-1211 Geneva 4, Switzerland

Document Type

Research Article

Abstract

Knowledge management has become a major trend since the mid-1990s. Different professional communities, among them information systems/information technology (IS/IT) and more business management-oriented actors, have created strong conceptual ties with the idea of managing knowledge. This paper studies the structure and development of the knowledge management discourse over an 18-year period with an emphasis on the role of the IS/IT community in shaping this discourse. In order to do so, a content analysis of 434 article abstracts from the ABI/Inform database referring to ‘knowledge management’ was performed. The argument here is based on a theoretical framework derived from recent theorizing about popular management knowledge as fashion and it is assumed that different professional or ‘speech communities’ gathering around a concept such as knowledge management enter into competition for limited organizational resources. The paper's findings show the co-existence of two distinct speech communities involved in the knowledge management debate, focusing on either IS/IT or general management issues and they support the idea that both communities engage in a joint effort at sustaining knowledge management as a fashion field.

DOI

10.1080/02683960110054807

Recommended Citation

Raub, Steffen and Rüling, Charles-Clemens (2001) "The Knowledge Management Tussle – Speech Communities and Rhetorical Strategies in the Development of Knowledge Management," Journal of Information Technology: Vol. 16: Iss. 2, Article 6.
DOI: 10.1080/02683960110054807
Available at: https://aisel.aisnet.org/jit/vol16/iss2/6