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Knowledge Application 187

a few lines of documentation will rarely be enough to facilitate knowledge transfer.
Other researchers such as Hatami, Galliers, and Huang (2003) found that a key to
organizational success in the face of global competition is the ability to capture orga-
nizational learning, to effectively reuse the knowledge through effi cient means, and
to synthesize these into more intelligent problem recognition, strategic analysis, and
choices in strategic directions. By tapping into their organization ’ s memory, decision
makers can make more intelligent business decisions. This is achieved when indivi-
duals access data, information, and knowledge residing in repositories. However,
retrieval alone is not enough. Knowledge application must follow. The success of
knowledge application appears to be a function of the characteristics of the individual,
of the knowledge content, the purpose of reuse for the particular task at hand, and
the organizational context or culture.

Knowledge Application at the Individual Level

Characteristics of Individual Knowledge Workers
Individual differences play a major role in knowledge-sharing behaviors ( Hicks and
Tochtermann 2001 ). Knowledge workers vary with respect to their familiarity with
the subject matter and their personality and cognitive styles. Cohen and Levinthal
(1990) found that sharing is more likely to occur when a foundation of prior relevant
knowledge exists. A number of studies (e.g., Ford et al. 2002 ; Kuhlthau 1993 ; Spink
et al. 2002 ) found signifi cant correlations between online searching behaviors and the
Paskian cognitive styles of holistic and operational learners. On the other hand, the
business world heavily favors the use of instruments such as the Myer-Briggs Type
Indicator (MBTI) personality style assessment ( Myers et al. 1998 ) to assess differences
in personality styles. Some research has been done to correlate MBTI type with
knowledge-sharing behaviors (e.g., Webb, 1998 ), found in a study of the consulting
fi rm Price Waterhouse Coopers that a strong outgoing personality was important in
knowledge sharing irrespective of qualifi cations and prior experience.
Characteristics of the individual who is seeking to apply or reuse knowledge are
likely to play a role in how effective they are at fi nding, understanding, and making
use of organizational knowledge. Individual characteristics may include, for example,
personality style, their preferences regarding how they best learn, and how they prefer
to receive their information, as well as how they can best be helped to put the knowl-
edge to work. This may range from something as simple as asking for and subsequently
accommodating the language the user prefers to work in to more sophisticated model-
ing of the user in terms of their abilities and their goals. One good framework that is