Catching the chameleon: understanding the elusive term "knowledge"

Purpose – To examine the various discourses on ‘‘knowledge’’ and to understand what knowledge means – is it a process of leveraging resources, is it a resource, or is it both – a process and a resource? Further, the purpose of the paper is to propose a framework for knowledge management. Design/methodology/approach – The literature on ‘‘knowledge’’ is reviewed and ‘‘knowledge’’ is analyzed along the epistemological dimensions. The synthesis seeks to integrate the disparate ways in which ‘‘knowledge’’ has been conceptualized in the management literature. Findings – The framework on knowledge management recognizes and establishes linkages between both attributes of knowledge – knowledge as a process and as a resource. It recognizes knowledge as an input resource (‘‘knowledge of’’), knowledge as an output resource (‘‘knowledge from’’), and knowledge as a process linking the ‘‘knowledge of’’ to the ‘‘knowledge from’’. Practical implications – A very useful source for practitioners and students interested in the field of knowledge management. Originality/value – This paper is among the early works to organize the literature and to clarify the alternative thoughts that exist towards defining knowledge. The framework offers the literature in a very understandable and usable form for all those who are centrally or peripherally related to knowledge management.