Paradigmatic Model of Tacit Knowledge Sharing in Iranian Universities from the Knowledge and Information Science Specialists' Viewpoints with a Grounded Theory Approach

Implicit or tacit knowledge is the knowledge that refers to the knowledge acquired after personal experiences, skills, and awareness in the minds, and its formulation is very difficult and cannot be explained or convey to others. The purpose of this research is to provide a paradigmatic model of tacit knowledge in Iranian universities from the point of view of knowledge and information science experts with a grounded theory approach.

The present research is a qualitative one with the grounded theory method. The statistical population includes knowledge and information science specialists who are expert in the field of knowledge management that were selected by the snowball (chain referencing) sampling. The method of collecting information is in-depth and open interview. 12 individuals were interviewed.

The results showed that tacit knowledge sharing can be attributed to the development of employees' capabilities and prosperity, motivation, attitude and behavior and results in motivation and acquisition of technical and specialized skills, futurology, increased productivity, gaining competitive advantage, and identifying and accurately analyzing requirements.

The most important factor in the creation of tacit knowledge sharing is university managers' knowledge on the importance of tacit knowledge in employees' work process as well as institutionalizing the knowledge sharing culture by using incentive stimuli. Given the identified components, the theoretical model was presented. In this model, all effective elements in tacit knowledge sharing were considered in universities. The presented model can be used as a comprehensive guide for all universities in the country.