Abstract
Knowledge creation theory has developed rapidly and received broad attention in organizational and management scholarship over the last 30 years (Nonaka, 1991; Nishihara, Matsunaga, Nonaka, & Yokomichi, 2017; Nonaka, von Krogh, & Voelpel, 2006). Scholars have explored how knowledge emerges, spreads, and is used, within private organizations but also within public organizations and nonprofit organizations (NPO) in and across various contexts and cultures (southeast Asia, Japan, US, Europe) (e.g., Nonaka, Nishihara, & Kawada, 2018; Hedlund & Nonaka, 1993). This theory views organisations as knowledge-creating entities and their ability to responsively manage and promote their knowledge creating processes is key to innovation and successes. This symposium seeks to re-examine and advance and update Nonaka’s knowledge creation theory to better account for the multi-faceted, concurrent challenges that organizations face in the globalized VUCA world in the Anthropocene epoch. It aims to develop scholarship and to build new insights by exploring: i) the foundational elements of knowledge creation in the dynamic and diverse contexts of generative AI and man-machine interfaces; ii) the applications of Nonaka's SECI model in global, multinational organizations where cross-border members may not necessarily share the same level of tacit knowledge; iii) the interrelated roles of knowledge, leadership styles and “ba” across the changing social fabric of organizations; iv) and the methodological opportunities and challenges and empirical for research in interdisciplinary fields. In this symposium, we want to stimulate discussion about fruitful areas to advance the theory of knowledge creation as well as to open up for and inspire new theoretical developments and insights.