A Model for Tourism
Any model should align with, and contribute to, the management
goals of the tourism organization so that knowledge management
projects match business objectives (Bukowitz and Williams 2000; Zack
1999). This demands a clear identification of what knowledge is impor-
tant to support these goals (Awad and Ghaziri 2004). The literature
offers a number of possible models but their root is a stocks and flows
approach (Davidson and Voss 2002). Here, stocks are the things that
are known and flows are the means by which the knowledge is commu-
nicated to those who need it. This model works well for tourism and
offers insights and practical techniques to facilitate the transfer of tour-
ism knowledge from researchers to the industry.
Knowledge Stocks and Mapping. Stocks in an organization, or destination, comprise both explicit and tacit knowledge. Here, its management has much to contribute to tourism by demonstrating how it can be mapped, captured, and codified to ensure that it is legible, relevant and useable by the tourism industry.
The first stage of a knowledge management process is to understand
the current environment of an organization through a mapping exer-
cise (Coakes et al 2002). This is effectively an audit which maps existing
knowledge against that required and so identifies the gaps which need
to be filled (Holsapple and Joshi 1999). Typically, the audit of stocks
will include assets, programs, activities, and practices, relating these
to competing organizations (Wiig 1999). The focus of the mapping
exercise is knowledge rather than simply data or information. There-
fore, it is important for a tourism organization to understand the nat-
ure of knowledge as a resource. For example, knowledge is difficult to
own and control; the more it is used the more benefits it delivers;
investment in it is heavily front-ended; and it tends to be created in
communities of practice such as researchers (Ahmed et al 2002).
The literature also provides useful ways of thinking about and defin-
ing knowledge. Broadly, it can be thought of as the use of skills and
experience, to add intelligence to information in order to make deci-
sions or provide reliable grounds for action. More specifically, it is
‘‘understanding gained through experience or study’’ (Awad and
Ghaziri 2004:33), classified according to its ability to be codified and
communicated (Jones 2001). For tourism, this distinction is fundamen-
tal and goes a long way to explaining the failure of the industry to ade-
quately capitalize on knowledge. Polanyi (1967) provides possibly the
most useful classification, distinguishing between two types.
Tacit knowledge is difficult to codify and includes that passed from
master to apprentice. Tourism organizations and the entrepreneurial
community are rich in tacit sources, yet these are often ignored due
to a number of challenges. For example, the fact that individuals hold
tacit knowledge as the basis of their competitive advantage explains
their reluctance to share or communicate it. Moreover, by definition,
it cannot be questioned or discussed because it has not been communi-
cated to the rest of the organization. Arguably, as a result, tacit knowl-
edge and its owners are difficult to manage. However, this is not
strictly true as it does have objective and tangible consequences, such
as profitability or customer satisfaction. As such, its outputs can be
tested for quality; indeed it needs to be understood and managed be-
cause, while it is held by employees and entrepreneurs, it forms the
fragile basis for the competitiveness and operation of enterprises and
destinations. In contrast to tacit knowledge, explicit knowledge is trans-
ferable and easy to codify. Thus, it is usually the focus of an organiza-
tion’s interest, and is found in such forms as documents, databases,
files, and customer directories. Although estimates suggest that only
10% is explicit (Ahmed et al 2002), it represents the knowledge capital
that is appropriated by the organization, independent of who works
there. Effectively then, the explicit form provides the infrastructure that
people work for and within. This classification adds a second important
dimension to the application of knowledge management in tourism, the
need to identify, capture and convert tacit to explicit in order to trans-
form it into capabilities for the industry (Bukowitz and Williams 2000).
Capturing Knowledge. The next two stages of the model are critical in
ensuring that obsolete knowledge, or what is irrelevant to an organiza-
tion’s business processes and strategic objectives, is filtered out. Cap-
ture involves identifying both internal and external knowledge
suppliers for an organization or destination (Jones 2001; Wall 1998).
Internal suppliers tend to be senior employees. Around this core group
are two others: those providing operational knowledge, and peripheral
associates who manage the interface between external and internal
suppliers. The external group will include customers, consultants,
and competitors (Gamble et al 2000). Apart from leading organiza-
tions such as British Airways and Singapore Airlines, this approach
remains the exception in tourism.
Therefore, capture involves identifying business processes and their
associated knowledge centers (such as research, sales, or marketing)
and also profiling individuals in order to identify knowledge required
to achieve the organization’s goals, knowledge already held, and the
gaps. In this way, only relevant substance is included. These centers will
contain knowledge along a continuum from explicit to tacit. The for-
mer knowledge captured from documents, files and other media is
straightforward, although less-structured explicit sources such as email
files are more difficult. Capturing the tacit knowledge that resides in
the tourism industry is one of the major challenges and to date has
not been formally addressed by researchers. This is critical because
technology has traditionally depended upon explicit sources and there
has been a tendency to disregard the importance of the other.
Tacit knowledge acquisition is ‘‘a process by which the expert’s
thoughts and experiences are captured’’ (Awad and Ghaziri
2004:123) using a variety of techniques. It is now a well-defined,
three-stage procedure undertaken by a knowledge development team
who build a base using heuristics from expert interviews. The first stage
elicits information from experts; second, the information is inter-
preted and the expert’s underlying knowledge and reasoning inferred;
and third, this interpretation is used to build the rules to represent the
expert’s thought processes (Applehans et al 1999).
Codifying Knowledge. Codification organizes stocks for leveraging, ease
of use, and effective transfer, so that the right knowledge gets to the
right people at the right time. In tourism, the codification of research
results before transfer to the industry is a process that has been largely
ignored. Yet, the process of codification is relatively well defined and
follows three set stages, each designed to reduce redundant or obsolete
sources. One, strategic objectives of the knowledge management pro-
ject are identified; two, the sources that address these objectives are
identified; and, three, the knowledge is assessed and codified using
appropriate techniques. These techniques in tourism include data min-
ing to allow prediction and solutions to future events (Cho and Leung
2002; Kahle 2002). Knowledge maps or storyboards are also commonly
used and act as visual directories pointing a person in the right direc-
tion to access sources, such as a tourism human resources skills plan-
ner. The more rule-based the knowledge, the easier it is to build into
computer-based systems, such as decision tables or spreadsheets where
a list of conditions can be identified with appropriate responses (a
yield management system is an obvious example here). Production
rules tend to be similar using a modular approach to tacit knowledge
with if/then type statements. Other approaches include case-based rea-
soning which works from previous experience, and tends to be recipe
based, with ingredients and actions.
Despite the obvious importance of codification, and its central rele-
vance to transfer in tourism, it is a difficult process. It can be hindered
by organizational politics and fragmentation of sources, with knowl-
edge not always present in the proper form to be hoarded (Davenport
and Prusak 1998).
Knowledge Flows. The ultimate goal is the effective transfer and use of
knowledge to contribute to competitiveness. For the tourism industry,
while there have been significant advances in developing stocks (Ryan
1997), it is in the area of flows and transfer where the real challenge
lies. As the number of researchers and publications has grown, this
has had the effect of creating a community of practice for tourism,
although some (Tribe 1997) liken this to an academic community with
common publications and language. Its mentality may also be partly to
blame for the lack of gearing between the research community and the
tourism industry itself. Here, Tribe (1997) identifies two different
sources. That created in higher education institutions based upon dis-
ciplines and fields is mode one knowledge, while mode two is more
contextual and generated outside these by organizations such as indus-
try, government, and consultants. While this goes some way to explain-
ing the poor record of transfer, other authors state that many of the
prior conditions necessary for successful transfer and adoption are
not present in tourism.
If transfer is to be effective, then the process needs to be mapped
and understood. Hjalager’s (2002) model of four channels works well,
with transfer occurring accor