Defining the term knowledge worker: Toward improved ontology and operationalization

• Date: 01 January 2021
• Published date: 01 January 2021
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1002/kpm.1647

RESEARCH ARTICLE

Defining the term knowledge worker: Toward improved

ontology and operationalization

José Osvaldo De Sordi

1

| Marcia Carvalho de Azevedo

1

|

Eliane Maria Pires Giavina Bianchi

2

| Thiago Carandina

3

1

Federal University of S~

ao Paulo (UNIFESP),

Osasco, Brazil

2

Centro Universitário Campo Limpo Paulista

(UNIFACCAMP), Campo Limpo Paulista, Brazil

3

Pontifícia Universidade Católica de Campinas

(PUC Campinas), Campinas, Brazil

Correspondence

José Osvaldo De Sordi, Federal University of

S~

ao Paulo (UNIFESP), Rua Angélica,

100, Osasco/SP 06132-380, Brazil.

Email: osdesordi@gmail.com

Funding information

Brazilian National Council for Scientific and

Technological Development (CNPq), Grant/

Award Number: 308642/2017-1

Despite the strategic value of organizational knowledge as a source of sustainable

competitive advantage, researchers have voiced their concern over the potential

imprecision and undue use of the term “knowledge worker”in the relevant research

literature. In order to identify the nature of this imprecision and discuss ways of over-

coming addressing it, we analyzed 223 articles from diverse fields that make refer-

ence to the concept of “knowledge worker”. Applying content analysis, we analyzed

the definitions identified and the types of worker considered by researchers to be

knowledge workers. It was observed that the term ‘knowledge worker’has been used

for occupations and professions with different levels of complexity, including those

that were mostly operational. In addition, we observed that the term ‘knowledge

worker’is used, in a majority of instances, without any definition being offered

(67.7%). Subsequent semantic analysis of the set of actions attributed to knowledge

workers aided in the identification of additional descriptors that assisted in the con-

ceptualization the term. In the analyzes, the sole appearance of the verb exploit in an

article in the field of Geography & Transport stood out, leading us to consider a link

between the active work conducted by knowledge workers and the exploitation-

exploration dyad in accordance with the concepts of the fields of innovation and

learning. The analysis of the article did not confirm our initial perception. After

observing the non-use of the exploitation-exploration dyad in none of the definitions

of the term knowledge worker in the 223 articles that were analyzed, and in the liter-

atures cited in these articles, we considered this fact an opportunity for contribution.

Therefore, this study presents the development of an innovative new definition for

the term knowledge worker, associating it with actions of the exploration of organi-

zational knowledge, whereas the term information worker is associated with actions

of the exploitation of organizational knowledge. We close the discussions by

addressing the impacts of these definitions for the practitioners and academics who

work with the themes of knowledge management, organizational learning, core com-

petences, and process management.

KEYWORDS

exploitation, exploration, information worker, knowledge worker, ontology

Received: 1 June 2020 Accepted: 2 June 2020

DOI: 10.1002/kpm.1647

56 © 2020 John Wiley & Sons Ltd Knowl Process Manag. 2021;28:56–70.wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/kpm