A THEORY OF ORGANIZATIONAL KNOWLEDGE CREATION

This paper proposes a theory of organizational knowledge creation, whi ch is defined as the process that organizationally amplifies the knowl edge created by individuals and crystallizes it as part of the knowled ge system of an organization. The process is a never-ending spiral of tacit and explicit knowledge through four modes of knowledge conversio n: i.e., socialization (from tacit to tacit), externalization (from ta cit to explicit), combination (from explicit to explicit), and interna lization (from explicit to tacit). Each of the four modes of knowledge conversion is explained, using actual vignettes. Finally, a few impli cations are argued.