Uncertainty, Pluralism, and the Knowledge-based Theory of the Firm: From J.-C. Spender's contribution to a socio-cognitive approach
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In: European Management Journal, Vol. 31, No. 6, 12.2013, p. 706-716.
Research output: Journal contributions › Journal articles › Research › peer-review
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TY - JOUR
T1 - Uncertainty, Pluralism, and the Knowledge-based Theory of the Firm
T2 - From J.-C. Spender's contribution to a socio-cognitive approach
AU - Reihlen, Markus
AU - Ringberg, Torsten
PY - 2013/12
Y1 - 2013/12
N2 - J.-C. Spender’s award-winning, knowledge-based theory of the firm is based on four premises: (1) The firm can be sufficiently understood as a system of knowledge, (2) explicit and implicit knowing can be clearly dissociated, (3) organizations are conceived as cognizing entities, and (4) intuition shaped by shared cultural practices is a superior source of managerial knowledge. This line of reasoning represents a social constructionist view of the enactment, transfer, and storage of knowledge according to which managerial knowledge is largely tacitly shaped by industry recipes and the firm’s socio-cultural conventions and other social processes. Although comprehensive in scope, we argue that a knowledge-based theory of the firm needs to integrate a cognitivist approach that includes the synergetic production of tacit and explicit knowledge, the role of reflective thinking in resolving strategic uncertainties, and the interaction between the individual and the social. This socio-cognitive theory of the firm posits that sustained competitive advantage of a firm is founded on the ability to align knowledge internally within the firm as well as externally with its stakeholders through the individual sense-making of feedback from other individuals.
AB - J.-C. Spender’s award-winning, knowledge-based theory of the firm is based on four premises: (1) The firm can be sufficiently understood as a system of knowledge, (2) explicit and implicit knowing can be clearly dissociated, (3) organizations are conceived as cognizing entities, and (4) intuition shaped by shared cultural practices is a superior source of managerial knowledge. This line of reasoning represents a social constructionist view of the enactment, transfer, and storage of knowledge according to which managerial knowledge is largely tacitly shaped by industry recipes and the firm’s socio-cultural conventions and other social processes. Although comprehensive in scope, we argue that a knowledge-based theory of the firm needs to integrate a cognitivist approach that includes the synergetic production of tacit and explicit knowledge, the role of reflective thinking in resolving strategic uncertainties, and the interaction between the individual and the social. This socio-cognitive theory of the firm posits that sustained competitive advantage of a firm is founded on the ability to align knowledge internally within the firm as well as externally with its stakeholders through the individual sense-making of feedback from other individuals.
KW - Management studies
KW - Knowledge-based approach
KW - Knowledge transfer
KW - Social constructionism
KW - Tacit knowledge
KW - Socio-cognitive theory
KW - Intuition
KW - Entrepreneurship
KW - Mental models
KW - Theory of the firm
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84887823786&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.emj.2013.07.006
DO - 10.1016/j.emj.2013.07.006
M3 - Journal articles
VL - 31
SP - 706
EP - 716
JO - European Management Journal
JF - European Management Journal
SN - 0263-2373
IS - 6
ER -