Citation:
Ambrosini, Véronique & Bowman, Cliff (2001) Tacit Knowledge: Some Suggestions for Operationalization. Journal of Management Studies 38 (6), 811-829.
Abstract:
With the emergence of the resource-based view of the firm and of the concept of
core competencies, intangible resources, and tacit knowledge in particular have
been argued to occupy a central place in the development of sustainable
competitive advantage. This is because tacit knowledge is argued to be difficult
to imitate, to substitute, to transfer and it is rare. However, there is little
empirical research to support this theoretical proposition. Tacit knowledge has
so far resisted operationalization. This paper sets out to define the term tacit
knowledge and proposes to redefine it, within the context of the resource-based
view of the firm, as tacit skills. A methodology (based on causal mapping, self-
Q and storytelling) for empirically researching the subject is outlined.