Towards building general framework for designing knowledge sharing tool based on actor network theory

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to emphasize the needs to understand the barrier and determinant factors in knowledge sharing (KS), to find the common ones and subsequently to build a general framework that can be referred to in designing a KS tool that addresses the common factors. Design/methodology/approach The approach comprises of two major steps which are to survey the past literature to determine the most common barriers and determinant factors from various unique KS domains and to qualify the factor as the common one based on its presence in at least three to five KS domains. The grounded theory is used to analyze the past literature and to perform categorization. Findings This paper helps in the summarization of categories and subcategories of barriers and determinants and demonstration on the mapping between them. Research limitations/implications This paper has not proved the actual use of the framework in building a KS tool based on the framework. Practical implications The common factors are based on at least 60 references of KS implementation such that it is useful for large area of application domains that require building KS tools. Originality/value This paper presents the understanding on the common factors and association between the barriers and determinants in building the general framework in which the application of the framework is demonstrated using actor network theory.