Knowledge Nurturing Reflexivity: The Internal Conversation Approach

Leveraging intellectual capital has become imperative to facilitate individuals’ innovativeness. However, little is known about the process of knowledge nurturing reflexivity where newborn ideas and newfound knowledge, which may be incomplete or ineffective in their infancy, are further developed instead of being criticized or discarded. Without proper nurturing, they may be abandoned prematurely and never be transformed into innovativeness. To fill this research gap, this study explores knowledge nurturing reflexivity which is drawn upon the internal conversation. Data collected from 140 IS individuals were used to test the research framework. Empirical results show that sociability and solidarity are conducive to absorptive capacity which in turn influences knowledge nurture. In addition, innovativeness is significantly affected by knowledge nurture. This study contributes to overcoming the weakness of reflexivity modeling in the IS literature. It also provides important insights about the essential role of the internal conversation in building knowledge nurturing reflexivity.