Open AccessSharing tacit knowledge in public sector :
Author(s) -
Arjuman Naziz
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
bangladesh journal of public administration
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2664-4622
pISSN - 1563-5023
DOI - 10.36609/bjpa.v29i2.209
Subject(s) - tacit knowledge , knowledge management , public sector , knowledge sharing , intuition , business , context (archaeology) , government (linguistics) , public relations , psychology , political science , computer science , paleontology , linguistics , philosophy , law , biology , cognitive science
Tacit knowledge – experiences, skills, judgment and even intuition of the employees – as organizational resource, has recently gained significant attention from the organizational researchers. While such knowledge is difficult to identify, exhibit and describe, it can often determine the manner in which public administrators implement public policies. Taking a qualitative strategy of enquiry, this paper aims at identifying the pattern of tacit knowledge sharing among the local government officials in Bangladesh. The key findings suggest that majority of the local government officials are aware of the significance of tacit knowledge. Trust, both cognition-based trust and affect-based trust, determine their knowledge sharing behaviour. The ‘senior-junior’ relationship within the hierarchal structure is perceived to be the key channel of tacit knowledge transfer. In the context of inadequate formal sharing channels, officials perceived trainings to be the key formal mechanism of tacit knowledge sharing within public sector organizations in Bangladesh.