The Challenges of Knowledge Sharing in Practice

Part 1 Theories of information sharing: Information sharing in context; Patterns of sharing – enablers and barriers; Social navigation. Part 2 Two practices in information sharing: Introducing the two cases; Claims handlers; Expert organisation. Part 3 Insights into information, knowledge sharing and social capital: Dimensions of social capital in the two cases; Social capital and sharing – building structures for knowledge sharing and its management; Importance of the awareness of social capital in connection with information and knowledge sharing in today’s companies.

Addresses the key skills that are required in organisations in the information intensive society. The book examines the power of information behaviour on the construction of different kinds of shared knowledge and social identity in a group. An introduction to the different dimensions of social capital that is structural and cognitive, and looks at the relational aspects of information behaviour in organisations. Experiences are analysed in two different case studies - in the financial and biotechnology industries - in order to gain additional insights in how the internal organisation environment should be designed to support the development of the organisation's intellectual capital.

• Introduces social capital dimensions to the knowledge management framework
• Provides empirical work on the new combination of social capital and organizational information behaviour. Two different information sharing practices are presented: a claims handling unit (routine based work) and a biotechnology firm (expert work)
• Develops social capital measures into qualitative information research

Academics and students at all levels in library and information science, as well as information management and knowledge management practitioners and managers interested in managing information and knowledge effectively