Modern epistemology has convincingly argued that culture influences the type of knowledge one values. With knowledge a major source of competitive advantage, this distinction affects how knowledge needs are identified and served. Engineering work, which is knowledge-intensive, is all the more critical as it both uses and generates knowledge for product and process innovation. Using data collected from Italian and Japanese engineers, this research first identifies the most pressing information and knowledge needs for engineers, and second examines whether their needs are consistent across countries and other broad demographics, in terms of knowledge to retrieve from past work and knowledge to capture for future projects. Text-mining and regression analyses reveal that engineers wish to retrieve narrow task and explicit knowledge domains related to experiential and systemic knowledge assets from past work, and to capture broader experiential knowledge for future projects, with some notable differences found between countries.
EXPLORING ENGINEERS’ KNOWLEDGE NEEDS IN ITALY AND JAPAN: DOES PRACTICE CONFIRM THEORY?
G. Secundo;
2014-01-01
Abstract
Modern epistemology has convincingly argued that culture influences the type of knowledge one values. With knowledge a major source of competitive advantage, this distinction affects how knowledge needs are identified and served. Engineering work, which is knowledge-intensive, is all the more critical as it both uses and generates knowledge for product and process innovation. Using data collected from Italian and Japanese engineers, this research first identifies the most pressing information and knowledge needs for engineers, and second examines whether their needs are consistent across countries and other broad demographics, in terms of knowledge to retrieve from past work and knowledge to capture for future projects. Text-mining and regression analyses reveal that engineers wish to retrieve narrow task and explicit knowledge domains related to experiential and systemic knowledge assets from past work, and to capture broader experiential knowledge for future projects, with some notable differences found between countries.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
