Sparkling, A E and Dogra, P (2021) Supervisors' reliance on tacit knowledge and barriers to knowledge sharing in the electrical contracting industry. Journal of Construction Engineering and Management, 147(5): 2042, ISSN 0733-9364
Abstract
The shortage of skills together with the knowledge loss due to employee retirements is compelling trade contractors to capture the know-how from retirees to prepare the future workforce. Compared to explicit knowledge, the tacit dimension is relatively unexplored in the construction industry. To capture tacit knowledge, it should be first identified in practice. This research posits an instrument to gauge the reliance of field supervisors on tacit knowledge and identifies barriers to knowledge sharing through case studies involving electrical contractors. Findings reveal that there is a significant relationship between the individual's experience and reliance on tacit knowledge, especially field supervisors with 20 years of work experience or more. It is also identified that field staff and management have contrasting opinions regarding the ranking of barriers to knowledge sharing. Management prioritized lack of formal processes as the key barrier to knowledge sharing at the site level, whereas for the field team it is the lack of socialization and encouragement. The proposed study will aid trade contractors to strengthen the existing knowledge-harnessing strategies by categorizing the supervisory knowledge into tacit and explicit, simultaneously identifying barriers to its sharing.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Index terms: | case study, encouragement, construction industry, dimension, supervisor, explicit knowledge, knowledge sharing, strategy, trade contractor, tacit knowledge |
| Subjects: | management, professional development, industry analysis, data collection methods, practitioner, knowledge management, health monitoring assessment and metrics |
| Topics: | Human Resources, Roles and Professions, Business Strategy, Health and Safety, Research Practice, Information Management |
| Descriptive scope: | 4 PCTE |
N.B. Descriptive scope is a count of how many of the five facets of empirical research are indicated by the words used in title, abstract and keywords. It is not intended as a judgement on the research; merely a count of the kind of word we would expect to indicate Phenomenon, Concepts, Theoretical framing, Empirical techniques, Analytical techniques. If all five are present, then a code of “5 PCTEA” will indicate this. If you feel the coding for this record is questionable, we welcome discussion around the terms we matched or the way we categorized them. The facet you would expect may not be coded, or a facet may be coded inappropriately. This can also bear on a larger question, of which facets should be treated as defining in construction management research. Please get in touch, and we will look at it. More details here