Knowledge Management in Supply Chains: The Role of Explicit and Tacit Knowledge

• Author: David A. Griffith,Tobias Schoenherr,Aruna Chandra
• Published date: 01 June 2014
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/jbl.12042
• Date: 01 June 2014

Knowledge Management in Supply Chains: The Role of Explicit

and Tacit Knowledge

Tobias Schoenherr

1

, David A. Griffith

2

, and Aruna Chandra

3

1

Michigan State University

2

Lehigh University

3

Indiana State University

We theorize, building on the knowledge-based view and the theoretical distinction between explicit and tacit knowledge, that knowledge

management capability across the supply chain manifests itself in explicit and tacit knowledge, which in turn effectuates supply chain

performance. The model is tested with survey data from 195 small- and medium-sized enterprises reporting on their primary supply chain. The

results indicate that the supply chain’s knowledge management capability manifests itself in both explicit and tacit knowledge, with the latter

being influenced more strongly. Moreover, it was found that while both explicit and tacit knowledge influence supply chain performance, the

latter exerts a significantly greater impact than the former. Exploratory post hoc analyses add robustness to these findings and investigate mech-

anisms inherent to the transformation of tacit into explicit knowledge. Overall, this research contributes to academic theory development in

logistics and supply chain management by the dichotomization of knowledge types and the demonstration of their differential magnitude of

effects, and to managerial practice by providing important guidance for logistics managers structuring their knowledge management efforts

across supply chains.

Keywords: supply chain knowledge management; knowledge-based view; explicit and tacit knowledge; supply chain performance

INTRODUCTION

In today’s competitive and dynamic marketplace firms need to

leverage the strengths of their supply chains to remain competi-

tive (e.g., Kahn et al. 2006). This has led to the adage of supply

chains competing against supply chains. Within this setting, key

aspects of competitiveness are encapsulated within the knowl-

edge of logistics and supply chain partners, making knowledge

management within the supply chain an important area of study

(Craighead et al. 2009). Knowledge management is crucial for

managerial decision making in logistics and supply chain man-

agement due to the fundamental nature of knowledge for prob-

lem solving and ensuing strategy development (e.g., Kahn et al.

2006). Despite considerable research on the creation and man-

agement of knowledge (e.g., Fugate et al. 2009; Anand et al.

2010), the field has been described as still being in an embryonic

stage (Linderman et al. 2010) within the domains of logistics

and supply chain management (Grawe et al. 2011). Within this

context, supply chain knowledge can be defined as the use of

knowledge resources obtained from supply chain members for

economic gain (Craighead et al. 2009). It is the objective of the

present research to contribute to this emerging and increasingly

important domain so as to advance academic theory and provide

substantive managerial guidance.

Specifically, employing the literature on knowledge generation

(Alavi and Leidner 2001) and the knowledge-based view (KBV)

(Grant 1996), we contend that the presence of supply chain

knowledge management capability (SCKMC) manifests itself in

the two knowledge types of explicit and tacit knowledge. Draw-

ing from Gold et al. (2001), SCKMC is conceptualized as a

comprehensive and integrative set of knowledge management

competencies consisting of knowledge acquisition, knowledge

conversion, knowledge application, and knowledge protection.

We further theorize the impact of explicit and tacit knowledge

on supply chain performance, with tacit knowledge exerting a

stronger influence than explicit knowledge. Our contentions are

tested with a sample of small- and medium-sized enterprises

(SMEs), a context which provides a unique opportunity to study

knowledge management dynamics (Durst and Edvardsson 2012).

SCKMC may be especially valuable for SMEs (Narula 2004),

due to their often limited resources in developing specialized

expertise in-house (Lu and Beamish 2001).

While both explicit and tacit knowledge generated among sup-

ply chain members are important, the distinction between knowl-

edge types is critical as they may have varying effects on key

supply chain outcomes. Grawe et al. (2011) therefore encourage

researchers to examine various knowledge types, and Anand

et al. (2010) call for investigations into the “missed opportuni-

ties that may result from ignoring tacit knowledge”(p. 304).

Given the need for a further understanding of knowledge in the

supply chain, and particularly the types of explicit and tacit

knowledge, the present study works to provide a deeper under-

standing of these two types of knowledge generated within a

supply chain setting. As such, we contribute to logistics and

supply chain management research and practice in three specific

ways.

Our first contribution lies in the investigation of how SCKMC

manifests itself in two types of knowledge, an area left uninvesti-

gated in extant research. While prior studies emphasize an evolu-

tionary view of knowledge generation (Alavi and Leidner 2001),

past empirical research has seldom conceptualized this frame-

work consisting of knowledge acquisition, knowledge conver-

sion, knowledge application, and knowledge protection as

Corresponding author:

Tobias Schoenherr, Department of Supply Chain Management,

Broad College of Business, Michigan State University, North Busi-

ness College Complex, 632 Bogue St., Room N370, East Lansing,

MI 48824, USA; E-mail: schoenherr@broad.msu.edu

Journal of Business Logistics, 2014, 35(2): 121–135

© Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals