Revealing knowledge workers’ tacit knowledge usage in the product development department of an automotive manufacturer

This study seeks to explore the application of tacit knowledge by knowledge workers in the development department of a multinational auto manufacturer. While the existing literature on tacit knowledge outlines the importance of tacit knowledge to organisational performance (Nelson and Winter, 1982; Sternberg et al., 1995; Spender, 1996; Baumard, 1999; Gore and Gore, 1999; Jafari, Akhavan and Nourizadeh, 2013), research on tacit knowledge is still underrepresented (Brown and Duguid, 1998; Holtshouse, 1998; Leonard and Sensiper, 1998; Zack, Rand and Wilsh, 1999; Garcia-Perez and Mitra, 2007; McAdam, Mason and McCrory, 2007). Authors in the field of tacit knowledge including Kabir (2013), McAdam, Mason and McCrory (2007), Sumbal et al. (2017), Holtshouse (2010) call for further research in the field of tacit knowledge related to the identification of tacit knowledge and the potential of using specific methods in research on and management of tacit knowledge. Furthermore only a few studies on tacit knowledge in the automotive sector exist. Hence relatively little is known about tacit knowledge usage in the automotive sector.

The aims of this study are 1) to identify specific tacit knowledge frequently used by knowledge workers in the product development department of a multinational car manufacturer and 2) to further explore the tacit knowledge usage by eliciting how and why it is used in achieving organisational goals.

This embedded researcher single case study in the product development department of a multinational automotive company employed a mixed methods approach conducted in two sequential steps. The quantitative first step analysed internal job advertisements for evidence of epitomes of tacit knowledge (Haldin-Herrgard, 2003) and discovered the areas of the highest concentration of application of such. The second step used semi-structured interviews to discover the “hows” and “whys” of tacit knowledge application in the frequently used forms – skills, experience, and abilities – in achieving organisational objectives of automotive development.

This research contributes new knowledge in research on tacit knowledge in the automotive sector as called for by Jafari, Akhavan and Nourizadeh (2013) as well as the call by Kabir (2013) for the development of an approach to identify tacit knowledge in organisational data.

The concept of epitomes of tacit knowledge (ETK) developed by Haldin-Herrgard (2003) is employed in this research and makes use of quantitative content analysis and elicits tacit knowledge from organisational data. Although it contributes new knowledge on how epitomes of tacit knowledge can be conceptualized to act as a construct for managing tacit knowledge as demanded by McAdam, Mason and McCrory (2007). ETK were used in the context of content analysis to quantify the amount of tacit knowledge and to identify frequently applied forms of tacit knowledge in different knowledge worker positions. With the approach of quantifying the amount of applied tacit knowledge by knowledge workers in different positions employed in this research, this research contributes new knowledge on assessing the risk of possible knowledge loss in case of employee leavings, thus answering a request from Sumbal et al. (2017) and Holtshouse, (2010). The upshot is that tacit knowledge intensive positions can be identified and classified according to the amount of potential tacit knowledge loss. Finally, the results provide new insights into individual applications of 1) tacit knowledge in the form of social skills to facilitate development work in this department 2) tacit knowledge in the form of experience in knowing what has or has not worked in the past so as to avoid problem-related inefficiencies, and 3) tacit knowledge in the form of abilities to approach and solve problems – all three of which are combined and applied as means of reaching the product development goals of this multinational automotive manufacturer.