Organizational Knowledge Creation in a World of Full-Time Remote Work: Impacts to Socialization, Externalization, Combination, and Internalization of Knowledge

Abstract

This case study examined how the rapid transition to organization-wide, full-time remote work following the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic affected organizational knowledge creation within government consulting organizations in the United States. Organizational knowledge creation theory and Nonaka’s SECI model provided a framework for examining and interpreting the impacts of the transition to remote work. This study examined impacts and adaptations within each of the four modes of the SECI model for organizational knowledge creation, examined the impacts to tacit and explicit knowledge sharing, and examined how team diversity plays a role in the impacts. Data collection included interviews of 14 government consultants from across 8 organizations, supplemented by a questionnaire, observations, and documents such as company news releases. The findings provided a broad set of insights around specific impacts that organizational leaders can use to mitigate the impacts to organizational knowledge creation due to remote work. This study also highlighted the value of Nonaka’s SECI framework in examining the impacts of remote work. These insights could be helpful to organizations as they continue to explore the possibilities of retaining their remote work policies and practices or shifting to hybrid work approaches and could be helpful to researchers as they continue to explore the future of work.