A Factorial View of Knowledge Exchange and Sharing: a European Perspective

There is surprisingly little literature specifically concerned with theorising and conceptualising of the transfer and sharing of complex information and/or knowledge, despite the fact that its significance is widely and without restriction acknowledged throughout the (mostly Anglo-American) literature on knowledge management and organisational learning. It is the aim of this paper to provide a brief review from a predominantly European perspective – that allows an overview of the state of the literature on this subject. After an introductory definition and limitation of the concepts involved they are illustrated with the use of a set of models – selected predominantly for their link to empirical research and the capability to delimit the field. The empirical grounding of the models makes it possible to view them as partial investigations contributing individual elements of a more overarching research framework into which future studies may be integrated. In conclusion, a systemic approach of knowledge exchange is proposed and the frameworks are further categorised as to the type of knowledge for which they would be of