Knowledge Dilemmas within Organizations : Resolutions from Game Theory

The knowledge management literature suggests that an organization’s knowledge ecosystem is comprised of strategic situations in which the individual behaviors of its knowledge workers show potential conflicts with what would be optimal for the organization. This paper aims to explore how such behaviors in terms of knowledge flows may be modeled and analyzed using a game theoretic approach. While prior research has investigated some use of game theory in knowledge management, a comprehensive understanding of the organizational eco-system remains unexplored. Hence, a qualitative inductive approach was adopted in order to pursue the exploratory nature of the research question. Critical reviews of key literature in both knowledge management and organization theory identified four organizational knowledge dilemmas – ‘‘silos of knowledge’’, ‘‘tragedy of the knowledge commons’’, ‘‘knowledge friction’’ and ‘‘knowledge toxicity’’. These dilemmas were used in various combinations to generate five commonly occurring scenarios in organizations. A game theoretic analysis of these scenarios using the PARTS framework provided a useful understanding of knowledge flows within organizational eco-systems. More specifically, the analysis led to key insights and prescriptive guiding principles in formulating knowledge strategies and policies to combat the major knowledge dilemmas that inhibit effective knowledge flows within organizations