Resistance to Knowledge Management: Exploring the Motivational Dimensions of Codifying Knowledge within Professional Organizations

This paper explores the relationship between employee’s reluctance to contribute to knowledge management (KM) systems with their perception that KM reduces their power within, and their value to, the organization. The paper will analyse a number of KM case studies focusing on professional knowledge workers. Specifically, we examine a number of case examples of KM efforts dealing with academics, research and development scientists, and lawyers. The paper concludes with identification of a number of contingent factors that enhance or reduce the motivation of knowledge workers to contribute to KM systems. Further research and management implications are also addressed. The section below presents an extended abstract of the full paper