Knowledge Creation Task

A Knowledge Creation Task is a creation task that produces new knowledge (for an agent or an organization).

• AKA: Knowledge Creation.
• Context:
  • Task Input: existing tacit knowledge and explicit knowledge.
  • Task Output: new knowledge, such as new organizational knowledge.
  • It can (often) be modeled, as in the SECI Model of Knowledge Dimensions, as an interaction between tacit knowledge and explicit knowledge.
  • It can (often), in the SECI model, proceed through four SECI Knowledge Conversion Modes: socialization (tacit to tacit), externalization (tacit to explicit), combination (explicit to explicit), and internalization (explicit to tacit).
  • It can (often) be described, in Nonaka's theory, as a continual knowledge spiral in which each pass through the four modes builds on the previous one, so that knowledge creation is also, implicitly, knowledge accumulation.
  • It can (often) rely on a shared context in which knowledge is shared, created, and utilized, which Nonaka and Konno call Ba (a physical, virtual, or mental space).
  • It can (often) lead to innovation when people express their ideas openly and share their best working practices.
  • It can (often) be supported by computerized communication networks and large-scale databases that help combine explicit knowledge from inside or outside an organization.
  • It can range from being an Individual Knowledge Creation Task to being an Organizational Knowledge Creation Task, depending on whose knowledge it produces.
  • It can overlap with a Knowledge Discovery Task.
  • Its leading account, Nonaka's SECI model, is disputed: Stephen Gourlay argues that none of the four conversion modes is supported by evidence that cannot be explained more simply, and that different kinds of knowledge are created by different kinds of behaviour.
  • …
• Example(s):
  • Knowledge Engineering, including knowledge base population.
  • an Organizational Knowledge Creation Task, such as one that follows the SECI Model of Knowledge Dimensions.
  • a Scientific Knowledge Creation Task.
  • a Technical Knowledge Creation Task.
  • a Research Creation Task.
  • a Documentation Creation Task.
  • …
• Counter-Example(s):
  • an Item Creation Task, which produces items rather than knowledge.
  • an Information Retrieval Task, which returns existing records rather than producing new knowledge.
• See: Information Creation Task, Knowledge Destruction, Knowledge Artifact, Database Modeling, Knowledge Management Task, Knowledge Compounding Process, Organizational Learning Process, Cognitive-Agent Absorptive Capacity Measure.

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References

2026

• Wikipedia. (2026). SECI model of knowledge dimensions. Article revision of 2026-06-28. Retrieved 2026-11-10; archived snapshot of 2026-09-22.
  • QUOTE: "The SECI model of knowledge dimensions (or the Nonaka-Takeuchi model) is a model of knowledge creation that explains how tacit and explicit knowledge are converted into organizational knowledge."
  • QUOTE: "When employees express their thoughts and ideas openly and share their best working practices, it can lead to new innovations and help to make operations more efficient."
  • QUOTE: "Assuming that knowledge is created through the interaction between tacit and explicit knowledge, four different modes of knowledge conversion can be postulated: from tacit knowledge to tacit knowledge (socialization), from tacit knowledge to explicit knowledge (externalization), from explicit knowledge to explicit knowledge (combination), and from explicit knowledge to tacit knowledge (internalization)."
  • QUOTE: "The creative use of computerized communication networks and large-scale databases can support this mode of knowledge conversion: explicit knowledge is collected from inside or outside the organization and then combined, edited, or processed to form new knowledge."
  • QUOTE: "On the other hand, explicit knowledge becomes part of an individual's knowledge and will be assets for an organization."
  • QUOTE: "These four modes of knowledge conversion form a spiral of knowledge creation."
  • QUOTE: "Nonaka and Konno subsequently developed the SECI model by introducing the Japanese concept of Ba ..."
  • QUOTE: "Ba can be thought of as a shared context or shared space in which knowledge is shared, created, and utilized. It is a concept that unifies physical space such as an office space, virtual space such as e-mail, and mental space such as shared ideas."

2006

• Stephen Gourlay. (2006). “Conceptualizing Knowledge Creation: A Critique of Nonaka's Theory.” In: Journal of Management Studies, 43(7), 1415–1436. doi:10.1111/j.1467-6486.2006.00637.x; author's final manuscript, archived 2024-11-08. Retrieved 2026-11-10; abstract and introduction read from the author's manuscript.
  • QUOTE (abstract): "Nonaka’s proposition that knowledge is created through the interaction of tacit and explicit knowledge involving four modes of knowledge conversion is flawed. Three of the modes appear plausible but none are supported by evidence that cannot be explained more simply."
  • QUOTE (abstract): "A new framework is proposed suggesting that different kinds of knowledge are created by different kinds of behaviour."
  • QUOTE (introduction): "This process is a ‘spiral’ one, a metaphor suggesting that each ‘circuit’ builds on the previous one; knowledge creation is also, implicitly, knowledge accumulation".

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