A Web on the Wind: The Structure of Invisible Work
Computer Supported Cooperative Work - Special issue: a web on the wind: the structure of invisible work
Knowledge dynamics in organisations
Knowledge management in the sociotechnical world
A Test of the Individual Action Model for Organizational Information Commons
Organization Science
Transactive Memory Systems in Organizations: Matching Tasks, Expertise, and People
Organization Science
Organizational memory information systems: a transactive memory approach
Decision Support Systems - Special issue: Collaborative work and knowledge management
Transactive memory systems in organizations: Implications for knowledge directories
Decision Support Systems
Determining the informational, navigational, and transactional intent of Web queries
Information Processing and Management: an International Journal
Post local forms of repair: The (extended) situation of virtualised technical support
Information and Organization
Representations and actions: the transformation of work practices with IT use
Information and Organization
Hi-index | 0.00 |
This article explores why it is often difficult for organizations to capture, store, and share employees' individually held expertise. Drawing on studies of the social construction of expertise and theories of transactive memory systems and self-presentation in computer-mediated environments, we argue that knowledge management technologies are not simple containers for the storage of expertise, but that they are stages upon which individuals enact performances of expertise. Through a longitudinal study of the work of IT technicians we show that users of a knowledge management technology strategically craft their own information entries to position themselves as experts vis-a-vis their coworkers. The data suggest that proactive self-presentations enacted by a few actors early on may spur reactive behaviors of strategic self-presentation across the organization. We explore implications of these findings for theories of transactive memory systems and technology use in organizations.