KKnowledge, whether present on the individual, group or organizational level and located on the implicit
– explicit continuum, can further be conceptualized in terms of ‘property’ or in terms of ‘meta-
knowledge’. Knowledge in terms of property or possession refers to the contents of knowledge: what
knowledge does an individual, a team or an organization hold. In this case, people draw from their
own source of knowledge. Meta-knowledge refers to knowledge about where to find specific
knowledge or information: who holds what knowledge in an organization? To clarify the distinction
between these types of knowledge an example regarding the acquisition of knowledge about house
rules in the organization can be provided. In case of knowledge in terms of property, organizational
members share what they actually know about rules and habits, for instance by explaining the rules to
others or by asking questions. In case of knowledge in terms of meta-knowledge organizational
members are guided in order to find a source of knowledge, for instance a brochure or leaflet,
containing the house rules. Knowledge on the existence and the location of that brochure is metaknowledge. ICT can play an important role in sharing both types of knowledge. In our pilot study we
noticed that an intranet provides databases that can be consulted, but also a ‘who-is-who-guide’ in
order to guide users to sources of knowledge. Both conceptualizations of knowledge are relevant in
our study. Regarding knowledge in terms of property, we differentiate between implicit and explicit
knowledge, for instance demonstrable skills versus written information. With respect to knowledge in
terms of meta-knowledge, implicit knowledge is for instance familiarity with a person who can show a
certain skill. Explicit knowledge in this case, is for instance awareness of a book which contains
procedures to fulfill a specific task.