Tacit knowledge, organizational learning and societal institutions: An integrated framework

The importance of tacit knowledge in organizational learning and innovation has become the focus Of considerable attention in the recent literature. O ur understanding of the nature of the links between tacit knowledge and org anizational learning, however, has been hampered by the lack of a conceptua l framework integrating micro-level learning activities with organizational forms and macro-level societal institutions. This paper seeks to achieve s uch an integrative task. It argues that there is an interactive relationshi p between dominant knowledge types and organizational forms. Further, the e xtent to which tacit knowledge constitutes the knowledge base of the firm, and how it is formed and used are powerfully shaped by the broader institut ional context. The paper develops a four-fold typology at the cognitive, or ganizational and societal levels, as an analytical framework to explain the links between knowledge types, organizational forms and societal instituti ons. It shows how the three levels interact to shape the learning and innov ative capabilities of firms. The theory developed in this paper represents the first attempt to integrate the diverse strands of literature and differ ent levels of analysis into a single coherent framework.